Latest News from: University of California San Diego

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Released: 17-Sep-2020 3:40 PM EDT
Scientists to Explore New Frontiers in Parkinson’s Disease Research with $7.2M Grant
University of California San Diego

Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s has announced a three-year, $7.2 million grant to scientists at UC San Diego and Germany to support research on LRKK2, a gene linked to Parkinson’s disease. The new funding expands efforts using cryo-EM technology to produce previously unseen views of LRKK2.

Released: 16-Sep-2020 7:05 PM EDT
Making space weather forecasts faster and better
University of California San Diego

To improve the ability to forecast space weather, a multidisciplinary team of researchers, including Professor Boris Kramer at the University of California San Diego, received $3.1 million from the National Science Foundation. The researchers, led by Professor Richard Linares at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will also work on speeding up the forecasting abilities that are currently available.

Released: 14-Sep-2020 3:05 PM EDT
Robots to Help Children Touch the Outside World
University of California San Diego

A team of University of California researchers is working to improve telepresence robots and the algorithms that drive them to help children with disabilities stay connected to their classmates, teachers and communities. The effort is funded by a $1 million grant from the National Robotics Initiative at the National Science Foundation.

Released: 10-Sep-2020 3:30 PM EDT
Add human-genome produced RNA to the list of cell surface molecules
University of California San Diego

Bioengineers at UC San Diego have shown that human-genome produced RNA is present on the surface of human cells, suggesting a more expanded role for RNA in cell-to-cell and cell-to-environment interactions than previously thought.

Released: 10-Sep-2020 2:10 PM EDT
National Science Foundation Funds Development of a Science Gateway for New Materials Discovery
University of California San Diego

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1 million Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE) grant to a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego, the University of Minnesota, Carnegie Mellon University, and Cornell University to create the X-ray Imaging of Microstructures Gateway (XIMG), a science gateway designed to make it possible for global material sciences researchers to study the behavior of new and existing materials using X-ray diffraction.

Released: 10-Sep-2020 12:35 PM EDT
Sleuthing Their Way to Discovery with a New Microscope
University of California San Diego

Researchers develop the new "transient vibrational sum-frequency generation microscope," giving them a thorough view of molecular systems—not just single traits of molecules.

Released: 10-Sep-2020 8:45 AM EDT
Cash Transfers More Effective than Workforce Training in Improving Lives of Rwandans
University of California San Diego

In the head-to-head comparison of a workforce-training program and direct cash transfers for Rwandans, cash proves superior in improving economic outcomes of unemployed youths, while training outperforms cash only in the production of business knowledge, according to a new University of California San Diego study.

   
Released: 9-Sep-2020 3:50 PM EDT
The Marshmallow Test Revisited
University of California San Diego

Children will wait longer for a treat to impress others, new psychology experiments show.

4-Sep-2020 2:55 PM EDT
Artificial Intelligence Aids Gene Activation Discovery
University of California San Diego

With the aid of artificial intelligence, UC San Diego scientists have solved a long-standing puzzle in human gene activation. The discovery described in the journal Nature could be used to control gene activation in biotechnology and biomedical applications.

   
Released: 8-Sep-2020 2:15 PM EDT
Campaign for UC San Diego Raises Record-Breaking $344.4M
University of California San Diego

Donors gave generously to the University of California San Diego in fiscal year 2019-2020 resulting in a record-breaking year for the Campaign for UC San Diego: $344.4 million was raised, bringing the campaign total through June 30, 2020 to $2.27 billion.

Released: 3-Sep-2020 8:05 AM EDT
New anode material could lead to safer fast-charging batteries
University of California San Diego

Scientists at UC San Diego have discovered a new anode material that enables lithium-ion batteries to be safely recharged within minutes for thousands of cycles.

Released: 1-Sep-2020 1:05 PM EDT
National Science Foundation-funded CloudBank Now Operational
University of California San Diego

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego and its partners at the University of Washington (UW), UC Berkeley, and Strategic Blue have entered production operations of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded CloudBank program, which aims to simplify the use of public clouds across computer science research and education.

Released: 27-Aug-2020 1:55 PM EDT
Machine Learning Helps Plasma Physics Researchers Understand Turbulence Transport
University of California San Diego

UC San Diego researchers published a study that used the 'Comet' supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center on campus showing how machine learning produced a model for plasma turbulence.

Released: 26-Aug-2020 6:20 PM EDT
Overlooked ‘Housekeeping’ Gene Plays Unexpected Role in Seizures
University of California San Diego

Molecules known as tRNAs are often overlooked in studies of disease processes. Researchers have now found that a mutation in a tRNA gene called n-Tr20—expressed only in the brain—can disrupt the landscape of entire cells, leading to chain reactions that alter brain function and behavior.

Released: 24-Aug-2020 2:20 PM EDT
OpenTopography Collaboration Awarded New Four-Year Grant
University of California San Diego

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has renewed funding for OpenTopography, a science gateway that provides online access to Earth science oriented high-resolution topography data and processing tools to a broad user community advancing research and education in areas ranging from earthquake geology to ecology and hydrology.

Released: 19-Aug-2020 9:05 PM EDT
Affirmative Action Incentivizes High Schoolers to Perform Better, New Research Shows
University of California San Diego

Affirmative action is a contentious issue across the globe, hotly debated in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Nigeria and Brazil, as well as in the United States. While the direct effects of affirmative action on college admissions are well known, new evidence from India shows that affirmative action has indirect benefits on the behavior of underrepresented high school students, who tend to stay in school longer when they know higher education is within reach.

Released: 17-Aug-2020 11:00 AM EDT
Extrachromosomal DNA is common in human cancer and drives poor patients outcomes
University of California San Diego

The multiplication of genes located in extrachromosomal DNA that have the potential to cause cancer drives poor patient outcomes across many cancer types, according to a Nature Genetics study published Aug. 17, 2020 by a team of researchers including Professors Vineet Bafna and Dr. Paul Mischel of the University of California San Diego and Professor Roel Verhaak of Jackson Laboratories.

Released: 14-Aug-2020 12:15 PM EDT
Supercomputers Help Uncover 'Noisy' Neutron Star Collisions
University of California San Diego

A series of simulations using multiple supercomputers, including Comet at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego, suggests that when the neutron stars’ masses are different enough, the result is far noisier. The models predicted an electromagnetic ‘bang,’ which isn't present when the merging stars' masses are similar, according to researchers.

Released: 13-Aug-2020 12:10 PM EDT
Flipping a metabolic switch to slow tumor growth
University of California San Diego

The enzyme serine palmitoyl-transferase can be used as a metabolically responsive “switch” that decreases tumor growth, according to a new study by a team of San Diego scientists, who published their findings Aug. 12 in the journal Nature. By restricting the dietary amino acids serine and glycine, or pharmacologically targeting the serine synthesis enzyme phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase, the team induced tumor cells to produce a toxic lipid that slows cancer progression in mice.

Released: 7-Aug-2020 12:55 PM EDT
Supercomputers Simulate Environmental Changes in Chesapeake Bay
University of California San Diego

Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) researchers used supercomputer simulations to examine impacts of both regional and global changes affecting the Chesapeake Bay. They discovered that historical increases in fertilizers and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have forced the bay to behave increasingly like a small sea on a continental shelf rather than a traditional estuary.

Released: 6-Aug-2020 2:35 PM EDT
New Science Behind Algae-based Flip-flops
University of California San Diego

UC San Diego researchers formulated polyurethane foams, made from algae oil, to meet commercial specifications for midsole shoes and the foot-bed of flip-flops. Their latest result, in a series of recent research publications, offers a complete solution to the plastics problem—at least for polyurethanes.

Released: 31-Jul-2020 12:45 PM EDT
Scientists Explore Signals for a Quantum Universe
University of California San Diego

New research findings about the origin of structure in the universe could lead to more connections between cosmology and the study of quantum information.

Released: 29-Jul-2020 2:05 PM EDT
New fabrication method brings single-crystal perovskite devices closer to viability
University of California San Diego

Nanoengineers at UC San Diego developed a new method to fabricate perovskites as single-crystal thin films, which are more efficient for use in solar cells and optical devices than the current state-of-the-art polycrystalline forms of the material.

Released: 23-Jul-2020 4:50 PM EDT
Scientists Team Up to Create Spongy Droplets that Mimic Cellular Organelles
University of California San Diego

Taking a bottom-up approach to synthetic biology, UC San Diego chemists and physicists show that lipid sponge droplets can be programmed to internally concentrate specific proteins, host and accelerate biochemical transformations and control enzymatic reactions.

Released: 22-Jul-2020 6:00 PM EDT
Novel ‘On-off’ Switch Discovered in Plant Defenses
University of California San Diego

Researchers investigating plant defenses—from threats spanning insects to pathogens—have discovered an “on-off” switch. The finding lays the groundwork for improved plant disease resistance and food stability.

20-Jul-2020 5:10 PM EDT
Non-invasive blood test can detect cancer four years before conventional diagnosis methods
University of California San Diego

An international team of researchers has developed a non-invasive blood test that can detect whether an individual has one of five common types of cancers, four years before the condition can be diagnosed with current methods. The test detects stomach, esophageal, colorectal, lung and liver cancer. Called PanSeer, the test detected cancer in 91% of samples from individuals who had been asymptomatic when the samples were collected and were only diagnosed with cancer one to four years later.

Released: 20-Jul-2020 3:25 PM EDT
New Model Connects Respiratory Droplet Physics with Spread of Covid-19
University of California San Diego

Engineers have incorporated a new understanding of the impact of environmental factors on droplet spread into a mathematical model that can be used to predict the early spread of respiratory viruses including COVID-19, and the role of respiratory droplets in that spread.

   
13-Jul-2020 12:25 PM EDT
Researchers Discover Two Paths of Aging and New Insights on Promoting Healthspan
University of California San Diego

Scientists have unraveled key mechanisms behind the mysteries of aging. They isolated two paths that cells travel during aging and engineered a new way to genetically program these processes to extend life. The researchers also identified a master circuit that guides these aging processes.

15-Jul-2020 5:00 AM EDT
A Nanomaterial Path Forward for COVID-19 Vaccine Development
University of California San Diego

From mRNA vaccines entering clinical trials, to peptide-based vaccines and using molecular farming to scale vaccine production, the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing new and emerging nanotechnologies into the frontlines and the headlines. Nanoengineers at UC San Diego detail the current approaches to COVID-19 vaccine development, and highlight how nanotechnology has enabled these advances, in a review article in Nature Nanotechnology published July 15.

   
Released: 14-Jul-2020 7:35 PM EDT
Does Remote Instruction Make Cheating Easier?
University of California San Diego

Today, colleges across the nation are making critical decisions for the coming academic year. For some, all courses will be online; for others, the decision may be to have some classes offered in person, and the rest conducted in remote or hybrid formats. Higher education is embracing virtual learning in what could become the norm in a post-pandemic future—leading to the question: Does remote instruction and cheating go hand in hand?

10-Jul-2020 6:35 PM EDT
Trade Wars with China Could Cost U.S. Universities $1.15 Billion
University of California San Diego

Uncertainties around the trade war between the U.S. and China have hurt businesses and weighed on the global economy. However, new research from the University of California San Diego also shows lesser known consequence: up to $1.15 billion in reduced tuition to U.S. universities.

Released: 9-Jul-2020 3:15 PM EDT
$18M Boost to Materials Science Research at UC San Diego
University of California San Diego

The National Science Foundation has awarded University of California San Diego researchers a six-year $18 million grant to fund a new Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).

Released: 7-Jul-2020 3:05 PM EDT
Supercomputer Simulations Help Researchers Predict Solar Wind Storms
University of California San Diego

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire used SDSC's Comet supercomputer to validate a model using a machine learning technique called Dynamic Time Lag Regression (DTLR) to help predict the solar wind arrival near the Earth’s orbit from physical parameters of the Sun.

Released: 2-Jul-2020 7:45 PM EDT
UC San Diego Receives $1.6 Million to Better Prepare Young Adults for Engineering and Technical Careers
University of California San Diego

Longtime University of California San Diego supporter Buzz Woolley has pledged $1.6 million over the next three years to fund an innovative new initiative that will significantly expand the region’s engineering and technical workforce.

Released: 1-Jul-2020 4:15 PM EDT
National Science Foundation Awards $5 Million to Develop Innovative AI Resource
University of California San Diego

The NSF has awarded the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego a $5 million grant to develop a high-performance resource for conducting artificial intelligence (AI) research across a wide swath of science and engineering domains.

Released: 29-Jun-2020 7:05 AM EDT
Asymptomatic Testing Central to UC San Diego’s Return to Learn for Fall Quarter
University of California San Diego

The University of California San Diego today announced the next step in its Return to Learn program, which will guide an incremental repopulation of the campus while offering broad, asymptomatic testing for faculty, staff and students on a recurring basis to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

   
Released: 26-Jun-2020 10:30 AM EDT
Poseidon Innovation Announces Funding for Three UC San Diego Researchers
University of California San Diego

UC San Diego and Deerfield Management created Poseidon Innovation to support researchers working to advance disease-curing therapeutics by funding early stage projects and expediting the drug-development cycle. Poseidon announces it is funding three researchers.

Released: 25-Jun-2020 4:35 PM EDT
Politics Driving Personal Economic Decisions Amid COVID-19
University of California San Diego

A new working paper from researchers at the University of California San Diego’s Rady School of Management and the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, details how political persuasion is driving stock market optimism.

Released: 25-Jun-2020 1:55 PM EDT
Supercomputer Simulations Show How DNA Prepares Itself for Repair
University of California San Diego

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston recently used the Comet supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego to uncover the novel ways in which DNA prepares itself for repair.

Released: 24-Jun-2020 6:55 PM EDT
Voter ID laws discriminate against racial and ethnic minorities, new study reveals
University of California San Diego

Voter ID laws are becoming more common and more strict, and the stakes for American democracy are high and growing higher by the year. New research from the University of California San Diego provides evidence that voter ID laws disproportionately reduce voter turnout in more racially diverse areas. As a result, the voices of racial minorities become more muted and the relative influence of white America grows.

Released: 23-Jun-2020 4:05 PM EDT
SDSC’s Sherlock Cloud Announces 'Skylab' Cloud Solution
University of California San Diego

The Sherlock Division of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego has broadened its secure Cloud solutions portfolio to offer Skylab, an innovative customer-owned Cloud platform solution that provides a self-standing, compliant environment for secure workloads in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud.

Released: 23-Jun-2020 8:00 AM EDT
Researchers develop low-cost, easy-to-use emergency ventilator for COVID-19 patients
University of California San Diego

A team of engineers and physicians at the University of California San Diego has developed a low-cost, easy-to-use emergency ventilator for COVID-19 patients that is built around a ventilator bag usually found in ambulances. The team built an automated system around the bag and brought down the cost of an emergency ventilator to just $500 per unit--by comparison, state of the art ventilators currently cost at least $50,000. The device's components can be rapidly fabricated and the ventilator can be assembled in just 15 minutes.

Released: 22-Jun-2020 12:25 PM EDT
Georgia Tech Engineers Simulate Solar Cell Work Using Supercomputers
University of California San Diego

Because of silicon’s relatively high cost, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) have emerged as a lower-cost and highly efficient option for solar power, according to a recent study by Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) researchers.

Released: 18-Jun-2020 8:00 AM EDT
Using LEGO to test children’s ability to visualize and rotate 3D shapes in space
University of California San Diego

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a test that uses children’s ability to assemble LEGO pieces to assess their spatial visualization ability. Spatial visualization is the ability to visualize 3D shapes in one’s mind, which is tied to increased GPAs and graduation rates in STEM college students.

   
16-Jun-2020 2:30 PM EDT
Nanosponges Could Intercept Coronavirus Infection
University of California San Diego

Nanoparticles cloaked in human lung cell membranes and human immune cell membranes can attract and neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell culture, causing the virus to lose its ability to hijack host cells and reproduce.

   
Released: 16-Jun-2020 1:10 PM EDT
SDSC Sherlock Cloud adds Google Cloud Platform to Extend its Multi-Cloud Service
University of California San Diego

The Sherlock Division of the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California San Diego has expanded its multi-Cloud solution, Sherlock Cloud, to include the Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Released: 15-Jun-2020 10:00 AM EDT
Pioneering Scientist and Innovator Larry Smarr Retires
University of California San Diego

After 20 years at UC San Diego, Larry Smarr will step down as the director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) and retire as a distinguished professor from the Jacobs School of Engineering’s Computer Science and Engineering Department at the end of this month.

Released: 10-Jun-2020 4:50 PM EDT
How Stimulus Dollars are Spent will Affect Emissions for Decades
University of California San Diego

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have led to a record crash in emissions. But it will be emission levels during the recovery—in the months and years after the pandemic recedes—that matter most for how global warming plays out



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