Recent News

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    Biology Professor Authors Book about “The Guidance Groove”

    Professor Carolyn Kurle has developed a new way to help her students—and people in general—to live more authentic lives. She recently published a book, The Guidance Groove: Escape Unproductive Habits, Trust Your Intuition and Be True, to help people integrate their feeling/intuitive selves when navigating life’s ups, downs and challenges. Here’s a deeper look inside the book and Kurle’s experiences that helped motivate its creation.

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    Neurobiology Student Matthew Uzelac Awarded Goldwater Scholarship

    Matthew Uzelac, a UC San Diego senior majoring in Neurobiology and Biochemistry, has been selected to receive a scholarship from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation.

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    Enhancing Immune Defenses: Researchers Unveil the Secrets of Specialized T Cells to Conquer Tumors

    Immunologists uncover new approaches to enhance protection from tumors and infections

    Our immune system has an ingenious trick up its sleeve. It remembers past foes, stopping potential sickness in its tracks through a phenomenon known as immunological memory. This is thanks to specialized cells—tissue-resident memory T cells—which reside in vital organs like the small intestine, lungs and other areas. Consider them as frontline guards, stationed exactly where trouble could strike. The endurance of these cells is extraordinary, protecting us from infections we fought decades ago.

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    Researchers Engineer Bacteria That Can Detect Tumor DNA

    Advanced biosensor leverages gene swapping to identify colon cancer

    Pushing into a new chapter of technologically advanced biological sensors, scientists from the University of California San Diego and their colleagues in Australia have engineered bacteria that can detect the presence of tumor DNA in a live organism.

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    Neurobiology Professor Gentry Patrick Named to Endowed Chair

    Patrick now holds the Kavli and Dr. William and Marisa Rastetter Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Neurobiology, established to support the research of a neurobiology faculty member who is committed to furthering equity, diversity and inclusion

    Gentry Patrick, a professor of neurobiology and director of the Center for Empathy and Social Justice in Human Health at the University of California San Diego, has been named as the inaugural holder of the Kavli and Dr. William and Marisa Rastetter Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Neurobiology.

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    Fly Toolkit Created for Investigating COVID-19 Infection Mechanisms

    ‘Fly-to-bedside’ resource offers a shortcut for developing drug therapies needed for long COVID and future coronavirus outbreaks

    Millions of deaths and ongoing illnesses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted scientists to seek new ways of understanding how viruses so skillfully enter and reprogram human cells.

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    Queer Identity Empowers UC San Diego Scientists to Challenge Norms, Chart New Discoveries

    Whether they're engineers, climate scientists or neurobiologists, researchers at UC San Diego say their LGBTQ+ identity makes them better scientists

    Scientists, at their core, are questioners. They look beyond accepted norms, to what could be. For the five UC San Diego scientists in this feature, queer identity is a major factor in why they push against assumptions and dogma.

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    New Insight into How Plant Cells Divide

    New findings could help researchers engineer plants that are more adaptable to changing environments

    Every time a stem cell divides, one daughter cell remains a stem cell while the other takes off on its own developmental journey. But both daughter cells require specific and different cellular materials to fulfill their destinies.

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    New Genetic Technology Developed to Halt Malaria-Spreading Mosquitoes

    As envisioned, first-of-its-kind African mosquito suppression system would reduce child mortality and aid economic development

    Malaria remains one of the world’s deadliest diseases. Each year malaria infections result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, with the majority of fatalities occurring in children under five.

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    Plants Pollinated by Honey Bees Produce Lower-quality Offspring

    Dominant in the San Diego region, foreign honey bees visit nearly twice as many flowers as native bees

    As key pollinators, bees play a foundational role in the region's floral diversity. But not all bees have the same influence on the plants they pollinate, new research from University of California San Diego scientists has revealed

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