News

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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


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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


UC San Diego NanoTumor Center and NanoTecNexus Win Telly Award for Educational Video

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


New Drugs Faster from Natural Compounds: a UC San Diego Breakthrough

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


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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


Bioengineering Grad Students are Finalists in $250K Global Business Plan Competition

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


At ENSPIRE Engineering Undergrads Inspire Local Eighth Graders

June 16, 2009

At ENSPIRE Engineering Undergrads Inspire Local Eighth Graders

Imagine 420 eighth graders arriving at your doorstep and expecting you to inspire, teach, entertain and feed them all day. This is exactly the challenge the undergraduates from UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering took on earlier this year at ENSPIRE, one of the many events that make up Engineers Week at UC San Diego. Full Story


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June 2, 2009

Cancer Diagnostics Startup from UC San Diego Bioengineering Win Entrepreneurship Competition

  A team of bioengineering graduate students from the Jacobs School of Engineering won first place at the UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge for the business plan they built around their new early cancer diagnostic technology. The bioengineering students have already formed a startup company, Biological Dynamics, and they are currently seeking funding from investors. Full Story


How Oxidative Stress May Help Prolong Life

May 29, 2009

How Oxidative Stress May Help Prolong Life

  Oxidative stress has been linked to aging, cancer and other diseases in humans.  Paradoxically, researchers have suggested that small exposure to oxidative conditions may actually offer protection from acute doses.  Now, scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have discovered the gene responsible for this effect.  Full Story


Technology for Early-Cancer Diagnosis Leads Bioengineering Grad Student to Many Prizes and a Startup Company

May 11, 2009

Technology for Early-Cancer Diagnosis Leads Bioengineering Grad Student to Many Prizes and a Startup Company

For breakthroughs aimed at early-stage cancer diagnostics, Raj Krishnan, a bioengineering Ph.D. student at the University of California, San Diego has taken home three first place awards at graduate research competitions this year. Not pausing to polish his awards, Krishnan has co-founded Biological Dynamics, a startup company aimed at transferring the new cancer diagnostic technology from the laboratory to the clinic. Full Story