Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and their collaborators have developed a technique that allows them to speed up or slow down human heart cells growing in a dish on command — simply by shining a light on them and varying its intensity. The cells are grown on a material called graphene, which converts light into electricity, providing a more realistic environment than standard plastic or glass laboratory dishes.
Undergraduate students from UC San Diego designed and built an extremely affordable solar-powered lantern to provide not only light, but a source of income to a partner village in the Philippines. Their engineering and business savvy earned them the top spot in the Energy and Resources category at the Big Ideas social innovation competition at UC Berkeley, a third place finish at Booz Allen Hamilton’s Ideas Festival, and a spot at the Clinton Global Initiative University.
A UC San Diego-led team has identified a gene that helps prevent the harmful buildup of proteins that can lead to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. As published in Nature, the researchers found that the “Ankrd16” gene acts like a failsafe in proofreading and correcting errors to avoid the abnormal production of improper proteins.
The Gary and Mary West Emergency Department at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla has been accredited as a geriatric emergency department by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The accreditation is the first of its kind and is part of an effort to improve the quality and standards of emergency care provided to the nation’s older patients.
Using new analytic tools, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have decoded the epigenetic landscape for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a common autoimmune disease that affects more than 1.3 million Americans.
UC San Diego scientists have unraveled a decades-long mystery on how genes are activated. Until activated, human genes are blocked by structures known as nucleosomes, components that serve to package DNA inside cells. Scientists have been trying to determine how these nucleosome roadblocks clear out to allow genes to be turned on. Now, a team of scientists has identified a key factor that partially unravels nucleosomes and clears the way for genes to activate. The identification of “NDF,” or nucleosome destabilizing factor, is described May 14 in the journal Genes & Development. The researchers say the finding provides a new perspective on how genes are turned on and off—knowledge useful in the study of human diseases such as cancer, which can be caused by improper gene activity.
