Health & Behavior

Research

The Latest

Researchers Find an Unexpected Protein Function in Sea Urchin Embryo Development

Scripps researchers are using sea urchins to help understand proteins relevant to human and environmental health. Cell proteins called drug transporters have been known to prevent chemotherapy and other drugs from reaching cells in disease treatment. Hamdoun and his colleagues have identified the role of a drug transporter in the early life stages of the sea urchin gut. The results could lead to new ways to target cancer drug resistance and to prevent birth defects.

SDSC Receives 2015 HPCwire Editors’ Choice Award for ‘Comet’ Supercomputer

The San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego, is a recipient of this year’s HPCwire and Editors’ Choice Awards for its new Comet supercomputer that entered production earlier this year as a result of a National Science Foundation grant worth nearly $24 million including hardware and operating funds.

Bioengineering Professor Featured in Top 100 List on African-American Influential Site

Bioengineer Todd Coleman, from the University of California, San Diego, has been named one of 100 outstanding individuals for 2015 by The Root, a premier news, opinion and culture site for African-American influencers. Other names on the list include tennis player Serena Williams, ballerina Misty Copeland and hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar. Coleman will present his research at the prestigious TEDMED conference Nov. 18 to 20 in Palm Springs. His talk will focus on multi-disciplinary research and bioelectronics. He is part of the event’s Techno-Utopia session.

RNA-Based Drugs Give More Control Over Gene Editing

In just the past few years, researchers have found a way to use a naturally occurring bacterial system known as CRISPR/Cas9 to inactivate or correct specific genes in any organism. CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing activity runs continuously, though, leading to risk of additional editing at unwanted sites. Now, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, Ludwig Cancer Research and Isis Pharmaceuticals demonstrate a commercially feasible way to use RNA to turn the CRISPR-Cas9 system on and off as desired — permanently editing a gene, but only temporarily activating CRISPR-Cas9.

New Findings on Fat Cell Metabolism Could Lead to New Approaches for Treating Diabetes and Obesity

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego report new insights into what nutrients fat cells metabolize to make fatty acids. The findings pave the way for understanding potential irregularities in fat cell metabolism that occur in patients with diabetes and obesity and could lead to new treatments for these conditions.

Renowned Surgeon Christopher J. Kane Named to Joseph D. Schmidt, MD Presidential Chair in Urology

Christopher J. Kane, M.D., a renowned specialist in prostate cancer and an expert in robotic and other minimally invasive procedures for urologic surgery at the University of California, San Diego, has been appointed the inaugural holder of the Joseph D. Schmidt, MD Presidential Chair in Urology in the School of Medicine.