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The Latest

Chronic Diseases Driven by Metabolic Dysfunction

Progress in treating chronic illness, where the cause of the problem is often unknown, has lagged. Chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease defy easy explanation, let alone remedy. In a new paper, a researcher at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, posits that chronic disease is essentially the consequence of the natural healing cycle becoming blocked, specifically by disruptions at the metabolic and cellular levels.

Building a Better Brain-in-a-Dish, Faster and Cheaper

Writing in the current online issue of the journal Stem Cells and Development, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe development of a rapid, cost-effective method to create human cortical organoids directly from primary cells.

UC San Diego and Deerfield Management Create Poseidon Innovation to Advance Disease-Curing Therapeutics

University of California San Diego and Deerfield Management announce today the creation of Poseidon Innovation, LLC to advance disease-curing therapeutics. Through Deerfield’s $65-million commitment in Poseidon, UC San Diego investigators will have the funding and support to weather risky early-stage processes and expedite the drug-development cycle, allowing patients to receive treatment faster.

Neutrophil Nanosponges Soak up Proteins That Promote Rheumatoid Arthritis

Engineers have developed neutrophil “nanosponges” that can safely absorb and neutralize a variety of proteins that play a role in the progression of rheumatoid arthritis. Injections of these nanosponges effectively treated severe rheumatoid arthritis in two mouse models. Administering the nanosponges early on also prevented the disease from developing. The nanosponges are nanoparticles of biodegradable polymer coated with the cell membranes of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell.

SDSC Awarded a Three-Year NSF Grant for Data Reproducibility Research

Researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), an Organized Research Unit of UC San Diego, have been awarded a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant worth more than $818,000 to design and develop cyberinfrastructure that allows researchers to efficiently share information about their scientific data and securely verify its authenticity while preserving provenance and lineage information.

New National Training Program Aims to Mainstream Glycosciences

Over the next five years, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, will award approximately $20 million to four academic centers to launch a new national Career Development Consortium for Excellence in Glycosciences.