News
September 11, 2019
Study uncovers metabolic cause for rare eye disease
An international team of researchers has discovered a cause for a rare eye disease affecting the macula that leads to loss of central vision, called macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel). Using genetic and metabolic data from patients with MacTel, researchers found that the disease is driven by reduced levels of the amino acid serine and accumulation of toxic lipids called deoxysphingolipids. Full Story
September 5, 2019
Synthetic Biologists Extend Functional Life of Cancer Fighting Circuitry in Microbes
Bioengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a method to significantly extend the life of gene circuits used to instruct microbes to do things such as produce and deliver drugs, break down chemicals and serve as environmental sensors. Most of the circuits that synthetic biologists insert into microbes break or vanish entirely from the microbes after a certain period of time—typically days to weeks—because of various mutations. But in the September 6, 2019 issue of the journal Science, the UC San Diego researchers demonstrated that they can keep genetic circuits going for much longer. Full Story
August 26, 2019
NIH awards researchers $3.1 million grant to improve treatment of common pediatric heart condition
An international team of researchers received a five-year, $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to discover new and better ways to treat a pediatric congenital heart condition known as tetralogy of Fallot, which affects a total of 85,000 individuals in the United States. Full Story
August 19, 2019
New bioengineering master's degree bridges engineering and medicine
The University of California San Diego Department of Bioengineering is launching a new master’s degree meant to provide engineering students with exposure to the practice of medicine. The Master of Science in Bioengineering; Medical Specialization is a one-year program at the Jacobs School of Engineering that will prepare engineering students for careers in the biomedical industry, or bolster students’ clinical exposure in preparation for medical school. Full Story
August 5, 2019
Neuroscience and AI can improve each other
Despite their names, artificial intelligence technologies and their component systems, such as artificial neural networks, don?t have much to do with actual brain science. Bioengineering professor Gabriel Silva is dedicated to understanding how the brain works as a system ? and how that knowledge can be used to design and engineer new machine learning models. Full Story
June 27, 2019
Graduating IDEA Scholars embrace new challenges
Among the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering’s class of about 1,600 students that graduated with baccalaureate degrees on June 15 were 41 IDEA Scholars. These students from first generation or underrepresented backgrounds in engineering chose to go above and beyond the already taxing coursework required to earn an engineering degree, and participate in mentoring programs, technical workshops, serve as peer education leaders, and push and support each other through to graduation. Full Story
June 17, 2019
UC San Diego undergraduates awarded Strauss Scholarship for biology, music outreach
Two UC San Diego undergraduate students were named Donald A. Strauss Foundation Public Service Scholars, and were awarded a $15,000 prize to pursue their social change and public service projects. Full Story
June 14, 2019
Graduating students honored at Ring Ceremony
On June 15, about 1,600 students will earn baccalaureate degrees in engineering, making the Jacobs School the third largest engineering school in the country, and second in the number of women earning engineering baccalaureates. All of these students are exceptional and have made a positive impact on our community, but 11 students were selected from among their peers as particularly outstanding. Full Story
June 13, 2019
Changing the World One Startup at a Time
UC San Diego celebrates a year of innovation, including several engineering startups and technology license deals. Full Story
May 28, 2019
Fast-Food Breakfast Combo May Feature Digestive Enzymes on the Prowl and Diabetes
In a paper recently published online in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, physicians and bioengineers at the University of California San Diego used a new set of fluorescent peptides to illuminate a molecular digestive enzyme mechanism that occurs after consumption of a typical fast-food chain American-style breakfast, one that may be contributing to the prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Full Story