News Archive
May 5, 2025
Self-assembling Molecules Take the Spotlight at Research Expo 2025
Materials science and engineering Ph.D. student Liya Bi won the grand prize at the 43rd annual Jacobs School of Engineering Research Expo for his work studying how molecules organize themselves into highly ordered patterns on metal surfaces. Full Story
April 30, 2025
Using Bacteria as Living Test Tubes to Study Human Gene Mutations and Find New Drug Leads
Traditional methods of studying human gene mutations are often laborious and costly. Now bioengineers at UC San Diego have developed a new simple approach to rapidly check on human gene changes and also screen chemicals as potential drugs by turning everyday bacteria into living test tubes. Full Story
April 25, 2025
This Injected Protein-like Polymer Helps Tissues Heal After a Heart Attack
Researchers have developed a new therapy that can be injected intravenously right after a heart attack to promote healing and prevent heart failure. The therapy both prompts the immune system to encourage tissue repair and promotes survival of heart muscle cells after a heart attack. Researchers tested the therapy in rats and showed that it is effective up to five weeks after injection. Full Story
April 25, 2025
AI Helps Unravel a Cause of Alzheimer's Disease and Identify a Therapeutic Candidate
A new study found that a gene recently recognized as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease is actually a cause of it, due to its previously unknown secondary function that triggers a pathway that disrupts how cells in the brain turn genes on and off. Full Story
April 23, 2025
Childhood Exposure to Bacterial Toxin May Be Triggering Colorectal Cancer Epidemic Among the Young
In an effort to explain a modern medical mystery, an international team of researchers led by bioengineers at the University of California San Diego has identified a potential microbial culprit behind the alarming rise in early-onset colorectal cancer: a bacterial toxin called colibactin. Full Story
March 31, 2025
UC San Diego Bioengineer Inducted Into 2025 Class of the AIMBE College of Fellows
Bioengineering professor Daniela Valdez-Jasso was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She was recognized for her research exploring the roles of biomechanical forces in the progression of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Full Story
March 27, 2025
Bioengineer Elected AAAS Fellow
Karen Christman, a professor in the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering and the Sanford Stem Cell Institute, was elected a 2024 AAAS Fellow. Full Story
March 20, 2025
How a Y Chromosome Gene May Shape the Course of Heart Valve Disease
Bioengineers have shed new light on how a type of heart valve disease—aortic valve stenosis—progresses differently in males and females. The research paves the way for treatments that can be tailored to a patient's biological sex. Full Story
March 10, 2025
Sam Ward Appointed Vice Dean for Research at School of Medicine
Sam Ward, P.T., Ph.D., professor in the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Radiology at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, has been appointed vice dean for research. Full Story
March 5, 2025
A New Way to Predict Cancer's Spread? Scientists Look at 'Stickiness' of Tumor Cells
By assessing how "sticky" tumor cells are, UC San Diego researchers have found a potential way to predict whether a patient's early-stage breast cancer is likely to spread. The discovery could help doctors identify high-risk patients and tailor their treatments accordingly. Full Story
February 27, 2025
Bioengineer elected to the National Academy of Inventors
Lingyan Shi was elected as a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors. She is an expert in imaging and spectroscopy technologies, such as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) nanoscopy. This imaging technique can visualize chemical signatures such as molecular bonds in cells, tissues or animals without the need for fluorescent markers typically used in biological microscopy. The technology can be a powerful tool for diagnosing and assessing the impact of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and aging processes, as well as for drug discovery. Full Story
February 5, 2025
UC San Diego Professor Honored by Sony and Nature for Bioengineering Research
Bioengineering Professor Kiana Aran is one of three inaugural winners of the Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature. She is recognized for her pioneering work fusing biology with electronics to enhance precision medicine—including the development of CRISPR-Chip, a CRISPR-powered electronic chip designed to detect genetic mutations in real time. The award is a collaboration between the Sony Group Corporation and Nature. Full Story
January 23, 2025
Scaling up Neuromorphic Computing for More Efficient and Effective AI Everywhere and Anytime
Neuromorphic computing—a field that applies principles of neuroscience to computing systems to mimic the brain’s function and structure—needs to scale up if it is to effectively compete with current computing methods. In a review published Jan. 22 in the journal Nature, 23 researchers, including two from the University of California San Diego, present a detailed roadmap of what needs to happen to reach that goal. The article offers a new and practical perspective toward approaching the cognitive capacity of the human brain with comparable form factor and power consumption. Full Story
January 21, 2025
Why Our Biological Clock Ticks: Research Reconciles Major Theories of Aging
Researchers at UC San Diego have published results that shed new light on an old question: what causes aging at the molecular level? Their findings, published in Nature Aging, describe a never-before-seen link between the two most accepted explanations: random genetic mutations and predictable epigenetic modifications. Full Story
January 16, 2025
Jacobs School Faculty Receive Awards to Accelerate Innovation to Market
Stephanie Fraley, Nicole Steinmetz, Kiana Aran and Sheng Xu all received Accelerating Innovation to Market awards from the Office of Innovation and Commercialization. In addition, Jacobs School affiliates Erin Walsh and Nadir Weibel also received awards. Full Story
January 14, 2025
Genetic Tweak Optimizes Drug-making Cells by Blocking Buildup of Toxic Byproduct
Scientists led by UC San Diego have developed a new strategy to enhance pharmaceutical production in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, which are commonly used to manufacture protein-based drugs for treating cancer, autoimmune diseases and much more. By knocking out a gene circuit responsible for producing lactic acid—a metabolite that makes the cells’ environment toxic—researchers eliminate a primary hurdle in developing cells that can produce higher amounts of pharmaceuticals like Herceptin and Rituximab, without compromising their growth or energy production. Full Story
December 3, 2024
Nanoscale Bumps and Grooves Trigger Big Changes in Cell Behavior
The surfaces that cells come into contact with can influence how the cells grow, function, and communicate — shaping metabolism and even cellular health. Now, engineering researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a platform for studying the ways that nanoscale growing surfaces can impact cellular behavior. Full Story
December 2, 2024
How Artificial Intelligence Could Automate Genomics Research
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have demonstrated that large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-4, could help automate functional genomics research, which seeks to determine what genes do and how they interact. Full Story
November 1, 2024
UC San Diego Part of National Hub for Large-scale Neuromorphic Computing
Bioengineering professor Gert Cauwenberghs at the University of California San Diego is one of four researchers leading a new hub that will provide access to open and heterogeneous neuromorphic computing hardware systems. The Neuromorphic Commons Hub, also known as THOR, is based at the University of Texas San Antonio and funded by a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation. It aims to deploy and manage a large-scale community research infrastructure. Full Story
October 28, 2024
Digestive Enzyme Escaping from the Gut and into Many Organs May Cause Aging in Rats
The mucosal layer in the small intestine degrades with age in rats, allowing digestive enzymes to slowly escape and leak into organs outside the intestine, including the liver, lung, heart, kidney and brain. Full Story