News
November 19, 2009
Systems Biology Approach Provides Insulin Resistance Insights
Researchers from the University of California, San Diego recently offered the sharpest-yet picture of how core biochemical pathways in skeletal muscle cells and fat cells are altered in people who suffer from insulin resistance—a primary defect in type 2 diabetes and obesity. Taking a systems biology approach, the bioengineers and medical researchers also determined how a common class of drugs for treating insulin resistance—TZDs—alter these same core pathways. This led the team to uncover previously unknown effects of TZDs and insights that could lead to improved drug therapies for insulin resistance. Full Story
November 3, 2009
University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Ranked 9th in the World
The University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is the 9th best in the world for engineering/technology and 15th in the world for computer sciences, according to an academic ranking of the top 100 world universities published by the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Full Story
October 8, 2009
UCSD Researchers Pave the Way for Effective Liver Treatments
A combination of bioengineering and medical research at the University of California, San Diego has led to a new discovery that could pave the way for more effective treatments for liver disease. Full Story
September 25, 2009
Bioengineer is One of Five UCSD Recipients of NIH Awards to Encourage High-Risk Research and Innovation
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced $348 million in awards nationwide to encourage investigators to explore bold ideas that have the potential to catapult fields forward and speed the translation of research into improved health. Bioengineering Assistant Professor Adam Engler is one of five researchers from the University of California, San Diego to have been awarded such a grant in 2009. Full Story
September 25, 2009
Comprehensive Understanding of Bacteria Could Lead to New Insights into Many Organisms
Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) and other institutions have constructed a complete model, including three dimensional protein structures, of the central metabolic network of the bacterium Thermotoga maritima (T. maritima). Full Story
September 22, 2009
Siebel Foundation Awards Top UC San Diego Bioengineering Graduate Students
As breakthrough discoveries in bioengineering become more crucial to fundamental global issues, including health, food production and water supplies, UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering’s top ranked bioengineering department continues to be on the cutting edge of this field. The Siebel Foundation has recognized the Jacob School’s pioneering efforts with a $2 million endowment to fund scholarships for some of its top bioengineering graduate students. Full Story
July 16, 2009
UC San Diego NanoTumor Center and NanoTecNexus Win Telly Award for Educational Video
The University of California, San Diego NanoTumor Center and NanoTecNexus (NTN) (formerly NanoBioNexus)—a leading nanotech education organization—won the 2009 Bronze Telly Award for the production of a video on approaches to fighting cancer using nanotechnology. The three minute video, entitled “Fighting Cancer with Nanotechnology,” is embedded below and can be viewed at NanoTecNexus, YouTube and around the Web. Full Story
July 13, 2009
New Drugs Faster from Natural Compounds: a UC San Diego Breakthrough
Researchers have invented computational tools to decode and rapidly determine whether natural compounds collected in oceans and forests are new—or if these pharmaceutically promising compounds have already been described and are therefore not patentable. This University of California, San Diego advance will finally enable scientists to rapidly characterize ring-shaped nonribosomal peptides (NRPs)—a class of natural compounds of intense interest due to their potential to yield or inspire new pharmaceuticals. The study will be published in the July 13 online issue of journal Nature Methods. Full Story
July 7, 2009
Jacobs School Undergrads Go International this Summer with PRIME
Twenty four Jacobs School undergraduates are among the 33 University of California, San Diego undergraduates working as researchers in laboratories across the Pacific Rim and India this summer. Full Story
June 26, 2009
Bioengineering Grad Students are Finalists in $250K Global Business Plan Competition
University of California, San Diego bioengineering graduate students led by Raj Krishnan are among just 16 finalist teams from across the globe who will compete on June 30, 2009 for $250,000 in a global business plan competition. Full Story