Recent News

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  Paving a Path to Conserving Wild Elephant Populations

  Shermin de Silva researches the ecology, social dynamics and communication of elephants. In recognition of Earth Day 2025, de Silva provides an inside look at a new book she has published on elephant behavior and conservation, along with questions to consider to protect their future.

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  Gene Identified That Blocks Healing after Spinal Cord Injury

  With no approved therapies for spinal cord injuries, scientists are looking into the body’s healing mechanisms for clues on recovery. Researchers found that a gene named RYK inhibits wound healing, offering hope for new treatments for paralysis after spinal cord injury.

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  Researchers Develop an LSD Analogue with Potential for Treating Schizophrenia

  UC San Diego biologist’s lab is the first to apply modern 3D electron microscopy techniques to psychedelic-treated brain tissue

  Researchers have developed a new drug closely related to LSD that harnesses the psychedelic’s therapeutic power with reduced hallucinogenic potential. The research highlights the new drug’s potential as a safer and more effective treatment option for conditions like schizophrenia.

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  Advanced Imaging Reveals Mechanisms That Cause Autoimmune Disease

  Those who suffer myasthenia gravis experience muscle weakness that can affect the muscles we use to blink, smile and move our bodies. Researchers at UC San Diego’s School of Biological Sciences used a cutting-edge imaging technique to uncover new details about the mechanisms underlying the disease.

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  Virus Infects Cells with a Protective Cloaking Mechanism

  Discovery of jumbo phage’s stealth compartment could be leveraged to engineer new therapies to treat antibacterial-resistant infections

  Viruses known as “jumbo phage” are a new hope against the rising antibacterial infection crisis. Researchers have discovered how jumbo phage are able to infect bacteria so efficiently. They found a compartment that protects and hides valuable DNA material from the bacteria’s immune defense system.

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  Groundbreaking Study Uncovers How Our Brain Learns

  Sophisticated synapse imaging used in NIH-funded project tracks changes within neurons as learning unfolds, offering new insights for brain-like AI systems

  How do we learn new things? Neurobiologists using cutting-edge visualization techniques have revealed how changes across our synapses and neurons unfold. The findings depict how information is processed in our brain’s circuitry, offering insights for neurological disorders and brain-like AI systems.

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  A Look into the Bonner Butterfly Garden

  Zoie Andre, an undergraduate researcher in the Perry Lab, and Eleanor Terner, a recent graduate and co-founder of the Bonner Butterfly Garden, share their thoughts on their project

  The Bonner Butterfly Garden is a quaint garden offering a variety of native plants for students to admire and study. The garden is a thriving ecosystem boasting a diverse variety of native San Diego plants known to attract butterflies and other pollinators. Here’s an inside look.

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  Researchers Uncover Metabolism Link to Proteins Important in Infections, Cancer and Autoimmunity

  Cells release proteins called type one interferons to fight viruses and cancers. One type is known for generating bursts of type one interferons in short periods. Biologists have linked this production to metabolism, a finding that could help empower immune responses against infections and disease.

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  UC San Diego Biologist and Collaborators Receive $1 Million Keck Award

  The award will support ongoing research into the role of inflammation in animals from birds to mammals, work that also has implications in human medicine

  A multi-institutional research team that includes UC San Diego biologist Kim Cooper has been awarded a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to study the role of inflammation in animals, which has implications for health and skeletal development in humans.

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  AI Accelerates the Search for New Tuberculosis Drug Targets

  While a TB outbreak grows in Kansas, a biotech company spun off from UC San Diego-developed technology leverages deep learning to screen for new antimicrobial candidates

  As one of the largest tuberculosis outbreaks in the U.S. unfolds in Kansas, UC San Diego researchers and their colleagues have published research describing the use of artificial intelligence tools to screen for new antimicrobial candidates to treat the disease.

To read more about the School of Biological Sciences happenings, see the News Archives.