News
February 1, 2006
Leading Scientists Help Guide New Nationwide Networking Infrastructure
Two of the eight experts appointed to a new Science Research Council for optical networking have appointments in the Jacobs School: Calit2 director Larry Smarr in Computer Science and Engineering; and UCSD neuroscientist Mark Ellisman, adjunct professor of Bioengineering. Full Story
January 24, 2006
Patterns in Genome Organization May Partially Explain How Microbial Cells Work
The location of a piece of real estate may be its most important feature to many Realtors, and bioengineering researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the University of Virginia have reported that the location of genes and other features distributed along the chromosomes of bacteria and simpler organisms also is fundamentally important to how microbial cells operate. Full Story
December 21, 2005
Researchers Quantify More Noise in Gene Expression
A team of researchers at UCSD led by bioengineering professor Jeff Hasty report in the Dec. 21 issue of Nature a mathematical description of “extrinsic noise" in gene expression in a technique that would apply to other types of cells and other species. Full Story
December 16, 2005
Students Engineer a Digital Solution for Senior Care Provider
A team of UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering students has designed a system that is enabling nurses at St. Paul’s Senior Homes & Services to manage patient information via an easy-to-use computer interface. Full Story
December 15, 2005
How E. coli Bacterium Generates Simplicity from Complexity
Researchers at UCSD report in the Dec. 27 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that computer simulations show that only a handful of dominant metabolic states are found in E. coli even when it is “grown” in 15,580 different environments. Full Story
November 30, 2005
Engineers Discover Why Toucan Beaks Are Models of Lightweight Strength
Marc A. Meyers, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, reports in Acta Materialia that the secret to the toucan beak's lightweight strength is an unusual bio-composite. Full Story
November 29, 2005
UCSD Establishes Graduate Training Program Integrating Biomedical and Physical Sciences with Engineering
Nine graduate programs and thirteen departments at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are collaborating in a new graduate educational program at the increasingly crucial interface of biology, medicine, and physical and engineering sciences. Full Story
November 2, 2005
Researchers Develop New Method To Find Deadly Malaria Parasite's Achilles Heel
A team of UCSD researchers led by bioengineering professor Trey Ideker has discovered that the single-cell parasite responsible for an estimated 1 million deaths per year worldwide from malaria has protein “wiring” that differs markedly from the cellular circuitry of other higher organisms, a finding which could lead to the development of antimalarial drugs that exploit that difference Full Story
November 1, 2005
Researchers Learn How Blood Vessel Cells Cope with their Pressure-Packed Job
UCSD researchers stretched cells in a workout chamber the size of a credit card to gain a better understanding of how repetitive stretching of endothelial cells that line arteries can make them healthy and resistant to vascular diseases. Full Story
October 21, 2005
Scientists Discover Secret Behind Human Red Blood Cell's Amazing Flexibility
A team of UCSD researchers discovered how a mesh-like protein skeleton gives a healthy human red blood cell both its rubbery ability to stretch without breaking, and a potential mechanism to facilitate diffusion of oxygen across its membrane. Full Story