Location: California

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In a study published in the current online issue of JAMA Psychiatry, an international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, report finding a highly accurate blood-based measure that could lead to development of a clinical test for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk in males as young as one to two years old. The test could be done in community pediatric settings.

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Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a broadly useful technique for building new drug molecules and other chemical products.

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Researchers identify a control mechanism for glutamine uptake in breast cancer cells and its importance for response to select chemotherapies.

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Philanthropists Gene P. and Mindy Stein, through the Tikun Olam Foundation, have made a $1 million gift to establish the Stein Tikun Olam Infant-Family Mental Health Initiative at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).

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UCLA Health System and the Sound Body Sound Mind Foundation have formed a partnership to provide practical ways to combat childhood obesity and promote healthy lifestyles in Los Angeles.

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Twenty California journalists are gathering this week for the USC Annenberg California Health Journalism Fellowship.

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The benefits of weight loss surgery, along with a treatment plan that includes exercise and dietary changes, are well documented. In addition to a significant decrease in body mass, many patients find their risk factors for heart disease are drastically lowered and blood sugar regulation is improved for those with Type 2 diabetes. Some patients, however, do not experience the optimal weight loss from bariatric surgery. The presence of a specific methane gas-producing organism in the gastrointestinal tract may account for a decrease in optimal weight loss, according to new research by Ruchi Mathur, MD, at Cedars-Sinai.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a key piece in the complex molecular puzzle underlying heart failure – a serious and sometimes life-threatening disorder affecting more than 5 million Americans.

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UC San Diego Health System was this week named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Truven Health Analytics. This is the third time UC San Diego Health System has been recognized for this prestigious honor.

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To better characterize the microbial activities in the thawing permafrost, a team including scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) reported on the application of multiple molecular technologies - “omics” - in a paper published online March 4, 2015 in Nature.

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Working at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS), researchers studied quartz from the San Andreas Fault at the microscopic scale, the scale at which earthquake-triggering stresses originate. The results could one day lead to a better understanding of earthquake events.

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The Glaucoma 360 Annual Gala showcases the visionaries and catalysts who share Glaucoma Research Foundation's mission to prevent vision loss from glaucoma by investing in innovative research, education, and support with the ultimate goal of finding a cure.

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Researchers at UC Davis have developed and characterized a molecule that interferes with the internal regulation of cancer cells, causing them to self-destruct. This novel mechanism was found to be effective against glioma cells – responsible for a usually fatal type of brain cancer – and could be applicable to other highly aggressive cancers.

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When subjects in a smoking cessation program tweet each other regularly, they’re more successful at kicking the habit, according to a study by UC Irvine and Stanford University researchers. Specifically, daily “automessages” that encourage and direct the social media exchanges may be more effective than traditional social media interventions for quitting smoking.

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Drivers have been slow to adopt electric vehicles due to “range anxiety,” the fear of becoming stranded with an empty battery. This phenomenon was recently addressed in a study that aims to explain range anxiety and determine whether hands-on experience can reduce drivers’ stress.

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Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a mechanism that causes long-term memory loss due to age in Drosophila, the common fruit fly, a widely recognized substitute for human memory studies.

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A powerful method for analyzing and predicting nature’s dynamic and interconnected systems is now providing new forecasting and management tools for Canada’s premier fishery.

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For the first time, researchers have produced a 3-D image revealing part of the inner structure of an intact, infectious virus, using a unique X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The virus, called Mimivirus, is in a curious class of “giant viruses” discovered just over a decade ago.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have published a pair of studies showing how the primary protein responsible for multidrug chemotherapy resistance changes shape and reacts to therapeutic drugs.

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Commentary provides evidence that the degree of income inequality can lead to a long list of health issues.

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An on-board air filtration system developed specifically for school buses reduces exposure to vehicular pollutants by up to 88 percent, according to a study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

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Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona today announced that Michael Ayers has joined the Institute as associate director of Government Relations. In this role, he will develop and execute strategies to fortify Sanford-Burnham’s leadership role within Florida’s emerging life-sciences industry. Michael’s scope of responsibilities includes working with the Florida legislature, U.S. Congress, as well as state and federal government agencies to advance the Institute’s mission at its Lake Nona campus. Ayers will report to the vice president of Public Affairs.

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Scientists have captured the first detailed microscopy images of ultra-small bacteria that are believed to be about as small as life can get. The research was led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley. The existence of ultra-small bacteria has been debated for two decades, but there hasn’t been a comprehensive electron microscopy and DNA-based description of the microbes until now.

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Don Moir, an ALS patient, wrote a love letter to his wife and was able to audibly say “I love you, Lorraine” for the first time in 15 years, thanks to a digital solution by the Not Impossible team, Speak Your Mind Foundation and HP’s #BendTheRules.

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Deciphering the nature of dark matter – the mysterious substance that makes up about 85 percent of the matter in the universe yet has never been directly seen – is one of the most important quests in particle physics today. As the lead laboratory in the Department of Energy for the SuperCDMS SNOLAB project, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is playing an important role in tracking it down.

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The Scripps Research Institute scientists have captured the first images showing how immune molecules bind to a site on the surface of Marburg virus and have described an antibody that binds to both Marburg and Ebola viruses, pointing to new antibody treatments to fight an entire family of viruses.

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The Movement Disorder Center at UC San Diego Health System has been designated the 41st Center of Excellence in the National Parkinson Foundation’s (NPF) global network.

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Steven Schonholz, MD, FACS, will present a scientific poster on how BioZorb is used in the treatment of breast cancer at the 32nd Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference, in Miami Beach, Fla., Feb. 26 to March 1.

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A Scripps Institution of Oceanography-led study on how natural and man-made sources of nitrogen are recycled through the Lake Tahoe ecosystem provides new information on how global change may affect the iconic blue lake.

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Feb 24, 2015 San Diego, CA: Professors leading four new research centers at the University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering will speak at Research Expo on April 16, 2015. The faculty talks will focus on cutting-edge research in wearable sensors, extreme events research, sustainable power and energy, and visual computing. Learn more about the agile research centers project here.

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A new study led by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the University of California (UC), San Diego School of Medicine shows that certain stem cell culture methods are associated with increased DNA mutations.

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Writing in the February 25 online issue of the journal PLOS ONE, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with collaborators from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), have definitively shown for the first time that the culture conditions in which stem cells are grown and mass-produced can affect their genetic stability.

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Much speculation has occurred in the media over possible heightened aggression in those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. A study by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute found no evidence of increased aggressive behavior toward strangers in an animal model of the condition.

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Scientists have observed an increase in carbon dioxide’s greenhouse effect at the Earth’s surface for the first time. They measured atmospheric carbon dioxide’s increasing capacity to absorb thermal radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface over an eleven-year period at two locations in North America. They attributed this upward trend to rising CO2 levels from fossil fuel emissions.

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Writing in the February 25 online issue of Nature, an international team of scientists, headed by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, report finding new links between inflammation and regeneration: signaling pathways that are activated by a receptor protein called gp130.

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An international team of researchers working at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has demonstrated that a bent silicon crystal can bend the paths of focused, very energetic electron beams much more than magnets used today. The method could be of interest for particle accelerator applications such as next-generation X-ray lasers that will help scientists unravel atomic structures and motions in unprecedented detail.

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The Center for Digital Transformation (CDT) at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business will host its inaugural signature Conference “Road to Reinvention: Leadership in the Digital Age,” on March 19 at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center, 100 Academy in Irvine, California.

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Although essential marine omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D have been shown to improve cognitive function and behavior in the context of certain brain disorders, the underlying mechanism has been unclear. In a new paper published in FASEB Journal* by Rhonda Patrick, PhD and Bruce Ames, PhD of Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), serotonin is explained as the possible missing link tying together why vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acids might ameliorate the symptoms associated with a broad array of brain disorders.

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In Nature Genetics, DOE JGI researchers and longtime collaborators at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and Clark University conducted the first broad, comparative phylogenomic analysis of mycorrhizal fungi to understand the basis for fungal symbiotic relationships with plants.

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More than 683,684 nurses in the United States and Canada hold certifications, an increase of more than 87,111 certificants compared to 2012 survey data. Certified Nurses Day is March 19.

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Chronic wasting disease (CWD) affects North American elk and deer, but has not been observed in humans. Using a mouse model that expresses an altered form of the normal human prion protein, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have determined why the human proteins aren’t corrupted when exposed to the elk prions. Their study identifies a small loop in the human prion protein that confers resistance to chronic wasting disease.

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Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that the inflammatory molecule LTB4 promotes insulin resistance, a first step in developing type 2 diabetes. What’s more, the team found that genetically removing the cell receptor that responds to LTB4, or blocking it with a drug, improves insulin sensitivity in obese mice. The study is published Feb. 23 by Nature Medicine.

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Two new three-year research projects are supporting the role of the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) as a leading center for studying exotic new materials that could enable future innovative electronic and photonic applications. SIMES is a joint institute of Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

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PTSD. Four letters we immediately associate with soldiers and horrific wartime tragedies. But unfortunately, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can affect anyone who has experienced a traumatic event—including children with serious medical diagnoses. To learn more about this devastating disorder in kids, we talked to Jeffrey I. Gold, PhD, director of the Pediatric Pain Management Clinic at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).

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UCLA researchers have found that radiation therapy is the most common treatment for men with prostate cancer regardless of the aggressiveness of the tumor, risk to the patient and overall patient prognosis. These findings lay the groundwork for improved treatment assessment by physicians and to better inform men fighting the disease.

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Graphene – a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon with highly desirable electrical properties, flexibility and strength – shows great promise for future electronics, advanced solar cells, protective coatings and other uses, and combining it with other materials could extend its range even further.

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A new Joint Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Research on Substance Use has been launched by the Division of Global Public Health in the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and San Diego State University’s School of Social Work. The program will emphasize research devoted to studying the use and misuse of alcohol and drugs – and related social and health consequences.

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Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine used algae as a mini-factory to produce a malaria parasite protein. The algae-produced protein, paired with an immune-boosting cocktail suitable for use in humans, generated antibodies in mice that nearly eliminated mosquito infection by the malaria parasite. The method is the newest attempt to develop a vaccine that prevents transmission of the malaria parasite from host to mosquito.