Just east of Cardiff lies the San Elijo Lagoon, one of the few remaining protected wetlands in th e area. The County of San Diego manages the San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve, which encompasses 1,000 acres and 7.5 miles of trails. Locals interested in preserving the area first organized in 1970 into what has become the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, a non-profit group with the mission to preserve, protect and enhance the San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve and its watershed.…

Behavioral genetics is the field of biology that studies the links between genes and behavior. The controversial implications are of interest to biologists, psychologists and philosophers alike as it begs questions about free will and human nature. Experimental ventures into the field not only pre-date the discovery of DNA, but extend back before the turn of the 20th century to Francis Galton’s work in the late 1860’s, which explored the heredity of giftedness and…

Current methods for drug development are one of the major factors standing between society and affordable health care. Often the possible side effects of a drug are not discovered until after massive amounts of money have been invested in their testing. This testing includes exposing hundreds of people to the drug in clinical…

We often find ourselves wondering what makes us human. One effective way of getting meaningful answers is to apply a rigorous scientific approach to finding what we share with other animals, then start looking for how we differ. Take dancing for instance. Finding animals that, though far from truly dancing, show some of the physical abilities involved in dancing may lead to clues about the neural circuitry that underlies the…

The Future of Personalized Cancer Treatment: An Entirely New Direction for RNAi Delivery

May 18, 2009

By Debra Kain

In technology that promises to one day allow drug delivery to be tailored to an individual patient and a particular cancer tumor, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have developed an efficient system for delivering siRNA into primary cells. The work will be…

Press Releases

Good fences make good neighbors:

Missing genomic "fence posts" explain inactivated tumor suppressor genes in breast cancer

May 14, 2009

La Jolla, CA-Our genome is a patchwork of neighborhoods that couldn't be more different: Some areas are hustling and bustling with gene activity, while others are sparsely populated and in perpetual lock-down. Breaking down just a few of the molecular fences that separate them blurs the lines and leads to the…

Binge drinking has one goal: extreme inebriation. This approach to alcohol use is increasingly common in society, especially among teens. Surprisingly, binge drinking is not considered the same as alcohol abuse; in fact, many people who commonly binge drink do not drink enough to meet the criteria for clinical alcohol dependency disorders. Despite the lack of clinical information on…

Expression of Infrared Fluorescence Engineered in Mammals

Research led by Nobel Prize winner Roger Tsien may provide prototype for future studies in animal models

May 7, 2009

By Debra Kain

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego – led by 2008 Nobel-Prize winner Roger Tsien, PhD – have shown that bacterial proteins called phytochromes can be engineered into infrared-fluorescent proteins…

Trying to define what stories qualify as science fiction may be as useless an endeavor as trying to herd cats, but it is an essential skill for science fiction authors. The famous science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein once said they include “realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method.” With the explosion of…

April 27, 2009

By Daniel Kane

UC San Diego computer science Ph.D. student Yuvraj Agarwal presented this work on April 23 at the USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation (NSDI 2009).

Personal computers may soon save large…

Type 1 diabetes results from autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells, an essential component in blood sugar regulation. Over a decade ago, there was substantial excitement when researchers launched projects aimed at overcoming the disease with transplanted beta cells. Work has continued, and several roadblocks emerged, just a few of which include the extensive resources required to collect the pancreas from deceased…

Salk Receives $6.6 Million Grant to Develop Stem Cell-Based Treatments for Incurable Diseases

April 30, 2009

La Jolla, CA -- The Salk Institute for Biological Studies has been awarded a $6.6 million grant – the largest single award in the latest competition -- by the California Institute Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for research aimed at translating basic science into clinical cures. The funds are part of $67.7 million Early Translational Grants CIRM provided to 15 research…