UC San Diego Health and Tri-City Healthcare District announced today that they have entered into an exclusive, long-term strategic affiliation designed to enhance the delivery of high quality health care to patients in North San Diego County.
The most severe strep infections are often the work of one strain known as M1T1, named for the type of tentacle-like M protein projecting from the bacterium’s surface. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have uncovered a new way M1 contributes to strep virulence — the protein’s ability to hold off antimicrobial peptides. The study is published October 14 by Cell Host & Microbe.
Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have found that the breast cancer drug tamoxifen gives white blood cells a boost, better enabling them to respond to, ensnare and kill bacteria in laboratory experiments. Tamoxifen treatment in mice also enhances clearance of the antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogen MRSA and reduces mortality.
Many leukemias are caused by loss of the enzyme Pten. Some anti-leukemia treatments work by inhibiting another enzyme called Shp2. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have now found that mice lacking both of these enzymes can’t produce and sustain enough red blood cells. The study, published October 12 by PNAS, helps explain why anemia is a common side effect of anti-cancer drugs that target enzymes involved in tumor growth.
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine’s Rob Knight, PhD, and his team built a microbiome analysis platform called QIIME (pronounced “chime” and short for “Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology”). This software will now be more readily accessible to hundreds of thousands of researchers around the world through BaseSpace, a cloud-based app store offered by Illumina, a San Diego-based company that develops life science tools for the analysis of genetic variation.
Under its new 4D Nucleome Program, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund has awarded three grants totaling more than $30 million over five years to multidisciplinary teams of researchers at University of California, San Diego.
First introduced in the United States in 2007, electronic cigarettes have risen dramatically in part because they are popularly considered safer and more socially acceptable than combustible cigarettes and because there are fewer restrictions on their purchase and use. A study by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, points to aggressive online marketing tactics that make purchasing e-cigarettes easy for all ages.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say that hepatic fibrosis, which involves scarring of the liver that can result in dysfunction and, in severe cases, cirrhosis and cancer, may be as much a consequence of genetics as environmental factors.
UC San Diego Health has been designated a member of the National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC), a consortium of leading academic medical centers working to accelerate research, education and improved treatment options for people with depressive and bipolar illnesses. UC San Diego Health joins 22 other institutions in the nationwide nonprofit network.
The votes are in and more than 100 physicians from UC San Diego Health were named “Top Docs” in the annual San Diego Magazine “Physicians of Exceptional Excellence” annual survey. These physicians represent 41 diverse specialties, from family medicine, surgery and oncology to obstetrics, cardiology and emergency medicine.
A collaborative program aimed at reducing the burden of cancer among Hispanic/Latinos in San Diego and Imperial counties through research and community outreach has received a $13 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The five-year grant renews funding for a partnership started in 2008 between San Diego State University and Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $13 million grant over five years to develop and disseminate new stem cell-based technologies and assays for studying autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other mental health diseases to a consortium of researchers at the University of California, San Diego and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, working in tandem with leaders in the biotechnology sector.
In 2014, only 10 of the nation’s 132 pharmacy schools achieved a 100 percent pass rate on first-time attempts at the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX). The University of California, San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences was one of them, passing all 54 students who took the exam for the first time.
Albert La Spada, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics, cellular and molecular medicine and neurosciences at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has received a 2015 Harrington Scholar award to advance his work on a therapy for Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7), a rare but devastating neurological disorder that can lead to blindness and progressive loss of physical coordination.
Approximately 20 million Americans will experience some type of gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, in their lives. In some cases, patients suffer resulting heart burn or acid regurgitation so severe that they require surgery to repair damage to their esophagus. A clinical trial at UC San Diego Health is using a new, FDA-approved device that reconstructs the esophagus through the mouth and requires no incisions.
More than five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Of them, 400,000 also have Down syndrome. Both groups have similar looking brains with higher levels of the protein beta amyloid. In fact, patients with Down syndrome develop the abnormal protein at twice the rate. Results of a pilot study confirms the pathogenic role of beta amyloid in dementia as seen in both AD and Down syndrome.
A prospective longitudinal study of U.S. Marines suggests that reduced heart rate variability – the changing time interval between heartbeats – may be a contributing risk factor for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The findings are reported in the September 9 online issue of JAMA Psychiatry by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have elucidated a genetic interaction that may prove key to the development and progression of glaucoma, a blinding neurodegenerative disease that affects tens of millions of people worldwide and is a leading cause of irreversible blindness.
Using “mini-brains” built with induced pluripotent stem cells derived from patients with a rare, but devastating, neurological disorder, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say they have identified a drug candidate that appears to “rescue” dysfunctional cells by suppressing a critical genetic alteration.
Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have documented the accuracies of three new tests for more rapidly diagnosing drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis (TB), which are much harder and more expensive to treat and which, experts say, represent a major threat to global public health.
In some patients, aggressive cancers can become resistant to chemotherapy and radiation treatments. In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers identified a pathway that causes the resistance and a new therapeutic drug that targets this pathway.
From comprehensive stroke care when every second counts to stitching deep cuts and evaluating flu symptoms, UC San Diego Health provides the highest quality of care when patients arrive through the emergency room doors. Now, as part of a long term partnership between UC San Diego Health and El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC), patients in the Imperial Valley will receive the same specialty emergency care.
An international research team, headed by Joseph Vinetz, MD, professor of medicine at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and director of the UC San Diego Center for Tropical Medicine and Travelers Health, has been awarded a 5-year, $1.89 million cooperative agreement to carry out translational research studies of leptospirosis, an infectious and sometimes fatal bacterial disease endemic in much of the world.
Four University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers have been selected to receive the newly established National Cancer Institute (NCI) Outstanding Investigator Award. The multi-million dollar awards fund new projects that have an unusual potential in cancer research over seven years.
Degenerating neurons in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) measurably responded to an experimental gene therapy in which nerve growth factor (NGF) was injected into their brains, report researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in the current issue of JAMA Neurology.
Patty Maysent, MPH, MBA, has been appointed interim Chief Executive Officer of UC San Diego Health, bringing to the role more than 25 years of exceptional executive experience in hospital leadership and health services management.
The Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTRI) at University of California, San Diego has received a five-year Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) for approximately $52 million from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science, part of the National Institutes of Health.
The introduction of a new prescription smoking-cessation aid, varenicline, in 2006 has had no significant impact on the rate at which Americans age 18 and older successfully quit smoking, according to a study led by researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
The mechanisms that allow the liver to repair and regenerate itself have long been a matter of debate. Now researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a population of liver cells that are better at regenerating liver tissue than ordinary liver cells, or hepatocytes. The study is the first to identify these so-called “hybrid hepatocytes,” and show that they are able to regenerate liver tissue without giving rise to cancer.
Protein Kinase C is a family of enzymes that controls the activity of other proteins in a cell by attaching chemical tags. That simple act helps determine cell survival or death. When it goes awry, a number of diseases may result. In a study, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reveal a more accurate structure of PKC, providing new targets for fine-tuning the enzyme’s activity as needed to improve human health.
Donald L. Durden, MD, PhD, pediatric researcher at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center has identified and developed a novel therapeutic target for neuroblastoma, the second most common solid-tumor childhood cancer. The agent, named SF1126, acts by inhibiting the part of the cancer cell engine that promotes tumor angiogenesis and growth.
Cost of radiation therapy among Medicare patients varied most widely because of factors unrelated to a patient or that person’s cancer, report University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers in the Journal of Oncology Practice.
Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that more than one in four female sex workers in two Mexican cities on the U.S. border entered the sex trade younger than age 18; one in eight before their 16th birthday. These women were more than three times more likely to become infected with HIV than those who started sex work as adults.
Ethiopians have lived at high altitudes for thousands of years, providing a natural experiment for studying human adaptations to low oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. One factor that may enable Ethiopians to tolerate high altitudes and hypoxia is the endothelin receptor type B (EDNRB) gene. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now find that mice with lower-than-normal levels of EDNRB protein are remarkably tolerant to hypoxia.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have demonstrated a direct connection between two signaling proteins and liver fibrosis, a scarring process underlying chronic liver disease, the 12th leading cause of death in the United States.
Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have established the safety and dosing of a new drug for treating blood cancers.
UC San Diego Health, with the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has entered into a multi-year affiliation agreement with La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology (LJI) designed to deepen existing collaborative relationships, boost basic research of diseases of the immune system and more quickly introduce new clinical treatments and therapies.
A new study by researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reveals a protein’s critical – and previously unknown -- role in the development and progression of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a fast-growing and extremely difficult-to-treat blood cancer. The study was published July 23 in Cell Stem Cell.
The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences has awarded James McKerrow, MD, PhD, director of the UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, with a 2015 New Therapeutic Uses Award to test a chronic pain drug Chagas disease, a parasitic infection.
Tapping the potential of metabolomics, an emerging field focused on the chemical processes of metabolism, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a new and pivotal player in diabetic kidney disease.
Researchers at the University of California, School of Medicine found a new combination that effectively treats hepatitis C (HCV) patients co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV).
Once again, UC San Diego Health and its hospitals are ranked #1 in San Diego, and recognized among the best in the nation, by U.S. News & World Report for 2015-16. The annual U.S. News “Best Hospitals” rankings distinguish hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging health conditions.
UC San Diego Health and AccentCare have created a jointly owned home health services agency to serve UC San Diego Health patients in San Diego and surrounding communities.
From the smell of flowers to the taste of wine, our perception is strongly influenced by prior knowledge and expectations, a cognitive process known as top-down control. In a University of California, San Diego School of Medicine study, a research team led by Takaki Komiyama, PhD, assistant professor of neurosciences and neurobiology, reports that in mouse models, the brain significantly changed its visual cortex operation modes by implementing top-down processes during learning.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and the School of Medicine have found that the three-dimensional shape of the cerebral cortex – the wrinkled outer layer of the brain controlling many functions of thinking and sensation – strongly correlates with ancestral background. The study opens the door to more precise studies of brain anatomy going forward and could eventually lead to more personalized medicine approaches for diagnosing and treating brain diseases.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center are working with GSK on a bench-to-bedside project to treat leukemia and other diseases by eliminating cancer stem cells. The collaboration is part of GSK’s Discovery Partnerships with Academia (DPAc) program, where academic partners become core members of drug-hunting teams.
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