January 7, 2020
UC San Diego researchers studied nearly 900 vertebrate species and found that bats have unusual gut microbiomes that more closely resemble those of birds than other mammals, raising questions about how evolutionary pressures change the gut microbiome.
January 24, 2020
Approximately one-quarter of patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them, with five to 10 percent developing an opioid use disorder or addiction. In a new study, UC San Diego researchers found that opioid dependence produced permanent changes in the brains of rats.
February 3, 2020
Researchers led by UC San Diego built a device that sorts and separates cancer cells from the same tumor based on how “sticky” they are. They found that less sticky cells migrate and invade other tissues more than their stickier counterparts, and have genes that make tumor recurrence more likely.
February 25, 2020
Scientists work to understand circadian rhythms at the molecular level to help develop innovative therapies for fixing biological clock dysfunctions caused by inherited conditions, modern habits, shift working or aging.
March 13, 2020
UC San Diego nanoengineers offer a research roadmap describing four challenges that need to be addressed in order to advance a promising class of batteries, all-solid-state batteries, to commercialization. The researchers describe their work to tackle these challenges over the past three years.
May 18, 2020
Researchers from the Colorado School of Mines have been using multiple supercomputers, including SDSC’s Comet system, to study certain characteristics of zirconia for wider applications of the super-strong material.
June 2, 2020
Roboticists at the University of California San Diego have developed flexible feet that can help robots walk up to 40 percent faster on uneven terrain such as pebbles and wood chips. The work has applications for search-and-rescue missions as well as space exploration.
June 24, 2020
UC San Diego researchers have discovered that a single treatment to inhibit a gene called PTB in mice converts native astrocytes, brain support cells, into neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. As a result, the mice’s Parkinson’s disease symptoms disappear.
July 21, 2020
Researchers investigating the ways that plants protect themselves—from insects to pathogens—have discovered an “on-off” switch that controls plant defensive mechanisms. The finding lays the groundwork for improved plant disease resistance and food stability.
August 3, 2020
UC San Diego researchers discovered that people with an inactive RNA-editing enzyme respond better to cancer immunotherapy, and inhibitors of the enzyme help mice with difficult-to-treat cancers live longer.
