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    • Closeup of Omar Akbari holding up and staring at a tube of tiny mosquitos

      Mosquitoes Engineered to Repel Dengue Virus

      Researchers develop the first mosquitoes synthetically designed to neutralize many types of the widespread infectious disease

      An international team of scientists has synthetically engineered mosquitoes that halt the transmission of the dengue virus.

    • Group photo of Kit Pogliano, Stuart Brody, Hannah Grunwald and Kimberly Cooper

      Hannah Grunwald and Stuart Brody Honored at 2019 Founding Faculty Awards

      Recognizing her fundamental role in developing the first CRISPR/Cas9-based approach to controlling genetic inheritance in a mammal, Biological Sciences graduate student Hannah Grunwald was awarded the 2019 Biology Founding Faculty Award for Graduate Excellence.

    • Microscopic greyscale image of neurons

      UC San Diego neurobiologist part of $2 million project to study brain, motor-skill learning

      Researchers to develop neuronal circuit simulator, could lead to smarter computers and new treatments for memory loss

      Despite massive investment in recent years, humanity’s knowledge of the brain, which has about 86 billion neurons and more than a quadrillion synapses (or connections), is relatively limited.To better understand the organ, a University at Buffalo-led research team has been awarded a $2 million National Science Foundation grant to build an interdisciplinary research program that explores how the brain learns and stores information.

    • Figure of Pro-AG

      New CRISPR-based Gene-Drive System in Bacteria Defeats Antibiotic Resistance

      Taking advantage of powerful advances in CRISPR gene editing, scientists at the University of California San Diego have set their sights on one of society’s most formidable threats to human health.

    • Cressida Madigan wearing a white shirt in a black blazer and glasses, standing in front of a tree.

      Cressida Madigan Selected as Searle Scholar

      Cressida Madigan, an assistant professor in UC San Diego’s Division of Biological Sciences, has been named a 2019 Searle Scholar.

    • Microscopic photo of longated red-colored cells surrounding blue-colored cells on a black background

      CRISPR-Resistant Viruses Build ‘Safe Rooms’ to Shield Genomes from DNA-Dicing Enzymes

      UC San Diego biologist co-authors Nature study investigating ‘jumbo phages’

      Bacteria and the viruses that infect them are engaged in a molecular arms race as ancient as life itself. Evolution has equipped bacteria with an arsenal of immune enzymes, including CRISPR-Cas systems, that target and destroy viral DNA. But bacteria-killing viruses, also known as phages, have devised their own tools to help them outmaneuver even the most formidable of these bacterial defenses.

    • Stephen Hedrick

      Immunology Association Names Stephen Hedrick to its Inaugural Class of Distinguished Fellows

      UC San Diego Division of Biological Sciences Distinguished Professor Stephen Hedrick has been named to the inaugural class of distinguished fellows by the American Association of Immunologists (AAI).

    • Emerald Liu wearing a navy polo standing in front of a green colored wall

      Former Navy Jet Tech Takes Student Veterans Under Her Wing

      UC San Diego’s Student Veterans Resource Center serves diverse military-connected students

      The tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 roused powerful emotions across the nation. For Emerald Liu, UC San Diego’s Student Veteran of the Year, it was the catalyst in her decision to join the military. Only a freshman in high school at the time, Liu watched on television as the twin towers collapsed amid thick, gray smoke and decided then that she would give back and serve her country.

    • A figure showing the Endoplasmic Reticulum stress surveillance (ERSU)

      Researchers Identify Key Players in Cell Division

      New findings help answer foundational questions about cell genesis and survival

      One of the most fundamental questions in biology lies at the heart of cell division. All living cells have the ability to regenerate through cell division, when a mother cell gives rise to two daughter cells. Although cell division has been studied extensively and is considered an essential process for the continuation and evolution of all living organisms, a central question remains: How are the mother and daughter cell components produced and fully maintained?

    • A figure with three rows of pictures and diagrams depicting the expanding population of chemotactic bacteria

      Quantitative Biology Opens Trail to Ecological Exploration, Evolutionary Prediction

      Two studies reveal new insights about movement of bacterial populations

      One of the best studied topics of molecular biology is bacterial chemotaxis—the movement of bacterial cells in response to chemical stimuli. While scientists at UC San Diego thought they—and the science community in general—knew everything there was to know about how and why bacterial cells moved around, they were surprised to realize how little they understood about how bacteria moved around as a group. New findings on this latest research are published as rare back-to-back articles in Nature, Nov. 6, 2019.

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