News Archive
September 27, 2012
New Way of Fighting High Cholesterol Upends Assumptions
Atherosclerosis – the hardening of arteries that is a primary cause of cardiovascular disease and death – has long been presumed to be the fateful consequence of complicated interactions between overabundant cholesterol and resulting inflammation in the heart and blood vessels. However, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues at institutions across the country, say the relationship is not exactly what it appears, and that a precursor to cholesterol actually suppresses inflammatory response genes. This precursor molecule could provide a new target for drugs designed to treat atherosclerosis, which kills tens of thousands of Americans annually. Full Story
September 21, 2012
With $6M Grant, UC San Diego Bioengineers Take On Key Role in New NIH Common Funds Metabolomics Program
With a $6 million grant over five years, bioengineers from the University of California, San Diego will play a central role in a new program from theNational Institutes of Health (NIH) to accelerate “metabolomics”, an emerging field of biomedical research that offers a path to a wealth of information about a person’s nutrition, infection, health, disease status and more. Full Story
September 18, 2012
Five UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Graduate Students Named 2013 Siebel Scholars
Five University of California, San Diego graduate students pursuing research at the intersection of bioengineering, medicine and biology are among the 85 recipients of 2013 Siebel Scholars awards, announced by the Siebel Scholars Foundation on September 10, 2012. Full Story
August 30, 2012
Science study: 'Promiscuous' enzymes still prevalent in metabolism
Open an undergraduate biochemistry textbook and you will learn that enzymes are highly efficient and specific in catalyzing chemical reactions in living organisms, and that they evolved to this state from their “sloppy” and “promiscuous” ancestors to allow cells to grow more efficiently. This fundamental paradigm is being challenged in a new study by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego, who reported in the journal Science what a few enzymologists have suspected for years: many enzymes are still pretty sloppy and promiscuous, catalyzing multiple chemical reactions in living cells, for reasons that were previously not well understood. Full Story
August 20, 2012
Program trains professionals in medical device engineering
Dan Braun earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at the University of California, San Diego in 2006. Five years later he came back to enroll in the inaugural class of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering’s Master of Advanced Study Program in Medical Device Engineering. The cross-disciplinary program is designed to train working professionals to apply their engineering know-how and workforce experience to a new career in one of the region’s fastest growing technology sectors. Full Story
August 7, 2012
Computer models calculate systems-wide costs of gene expression
Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a method of modeling, simultaneously, an organism’s metabolism and its underlying gene expression. In the emerging field of systems biology, scientists model cellular behavior in order to understand how processes such as metabolism and gene expression relate to one another and bring about certain characteristics in the larger organism. Full Story
June 29, 2012
Gene Mutations Cause Massive Brain Asymmetry
Hemimegalencephaly is a rare but dramatic condition in which the brain grows asymmetrically, with one hemisphere becoming massively enlarged. Though frequently diagnosed in children with severe epilepsy, the cause of hemimegalencephaly is unknown and current treatment is radical: surgical removal of some or all of the diseased half of the brain. In a paper published in the June 24, 2012 online issue of Nature Genetics, a team of doctors and scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, say de novo somatic mutations in a trio of genes that help regulate cell size and proliferation are likely culprits for causing hemimegalencephaly, though perhaps not the only ones. Full Story
June 28, 2012
Flexible Electronics Push Frontier in Neonatal Neuroscience
Anyone who has seen a newborn in a hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) knows the image is shocking. Wires and electrodes designed to monitor vital signals such as heart rate, brain signals and blood oxygen levels are taped over the frail newborn’s head, face and body. Skin-to-skin contact between mom and baby that doctors say all newborns need to develop a sense of security and bonding becomes challenging, if not impossible. Parents seeing their precious baby this way may also feel terrified and helpless. A new study at the University of California, San Diego will test whether all of those bulky electronics could be replaced with a stamp-sized wearable patch of tiny circuits, sensors, and wireless transmitters that sticks to the skin like a temporary tattoo, stretching and flexing with the skin while maintaining high performance. Full Story
June 18, 2012
Medical Technologies Dominate UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge
The pitches at the UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge included technologies to cure cancer, brain-computer interfaces for patients without speech, an automated portfolio management system, sensor assisted orthopedic surgery, garbage compactors, and an enhanced dental implant. Full Story
June 7, 2012
Students Showcase Eureka Moments at Undergraduate Research Expo
A new acne medicine; a better way to simulate the collapse of supernovae; and a better way to visualize chromosomes: these were just some of the research posters on display at EUReKA, an undergraduate research expo that took place Friday at the Jacobs School of Engineering. Full Story
May 8, 2012
Grand Challenges Explorations Grant Funds Groundbreaking Health Research
The University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineeringannounced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorationswinner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bioengineering Professor Todd Coleman, in collaboration with Materials Science and Engineering Professor John A. Rogers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled “Epidermal Electronics for Continuous Pregnancy Monitoring.” Full Story
April 20, 2012
'Blinking microbubbles' for early cancer screening take grand prize at Research Expo 2012
Carolyn Schutt, a Ph.D student in bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego is developing a new imaging technique that would enable highly-sensitive light imaging deeper inside the body, improving the way we diagnose breast cancer. Schutt’s research received the grand prize April 12 at the UC San Diego Jacob School of Engineering Research Expo 2012. Full Story
April 2, 2012
Research Expo: Access Game-Changing Research and Technologies
There are many ways to engage with the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, but the only way to get face time with 230-plus graduate students working on game-changing research in a single afternoon is to attend Research Expo on April 12. Research Expo provides a glimpse into the engineering future – a future that will touch all of San Diego’s technology sectors. With $146.4 million in research expenditures in fiscal year 2010-2011, there’s a lot to look at. Full Story
March 27, 2012
Faculty researchers share their experiences turning discoveries into marketable products
Four engineering faculty members with technology transfer success stories discussed the challenges of the commercialization process during a March 14 dinner celebrating the 10th anniversary of the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement. The von Liebig Center offers seed funding and advisory services and is part of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. Full Story
March 12, 2012
A lifetime of research may be leading to a life-saving treatment for shock
A 200-patient Phase 2 clinical pilot study will be initiated this month to test the efficacy and safety of a new use, and method of administering, an enzyme inhibitor for critically ill patients developed by University of California, San Diego Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schönbein. Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications, and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding. Full Story
March 5, 2012
Smart, self-healing hydrogels open far-reaching possibilities in medicine, engineering
University of California, San Diego bioengineers have developed a self-healing hydrogel that binds in seconds, as easily as Velcro, and forms a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching. The material has numerous potential applications, including medical sutures, targeted drug delivery, industrial sealants and self-healing plastics, a team of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering researchers reported March 5 in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Full Story
February 21, 2012
Injectable Gel Could Repair Tissue Damaged by Heart Attack
University of California, San Diego researchers have developed a new injectable hydrogel that could be an effective and safe treatment for tissue damage caused by heart attacks. Full Story
February 13, 2012
New Method Makes Culture of Complex Tissue Possible in any Lab
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for making scaffolds for culturing tissue in three-dimensional arrangements that mimic those in the body. This advance, published online in the journal Advanced Materials, allows the production of tissue culture scaffolds containing multiple structurally and chemically distinct layers using common laboratory reagents and material Full Story
February 9, 2012
UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Faculty Elected to National Academy of Engineering
Three faculty members in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Peter C. Farrell, founder, chairman and CEO of ResMed, and a member of the Council of Advisors of the Dean of the Jacobs School, also was elected to the academy. Full Story
January 26, 2012
Need Muscle for a Tough Spot? Turn to Fat Stem Cells, UC San Diego Researchers Say
Stem cells derived from fat have a surprising trick up their sleeves: Encouraged to develop on a stiff surface, they undergo a remarkable transformation toward becoming mature muscle cells. The new research appears in the journal Biomaterials. Full Story