Image using an electron microscope shows a cilium growing from a neuron. -Gleeson lab, UC San Diego

A team led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports that newly discovered mutations in an evolved assembly of genes cause Joubert syndrome, a form of syndromic autism.

The findings are published in the January 26 online issue of Science Express.

Joubert syndrome is…

LA JOLLA, CA, February 21, 2012 – The ability to form closed systems of blood vessels is one of the hallmarks of vertebrate development. Without it, humans would be closer to invertebrates (think mollusks) in design, where blood simply washes through an open system to nourish internal organs. But vertebrates evolved closed circulation systems designed to more effectively carry blood to organs and tissues.

Precisely how that happened has remained a clouded issue. But now, a team of…

LA JOLLA, Calif., February 16, 2012 – To invade organisms such as humans, bacteria make use of a protein called flagellin, part of a tail-like appendage that helps the bacteria move about. Now, for the first time, a team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute has determined the 3D structure of the interaction between this critical bacterial protein and an immune molecule called TLR5, shedding light on how the body protects itself…

Adah Almutairi, PhD

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for making scaffolds for culturing tissue in three-dimensional arrangements that mimic those in the body. This advance, published online in the journalAdvanced Materials, allows the production of tissue culture scaffolds containing multiple structurally and chemically distinct layers using common laboratory reagents and…

L-R Michael Kats, Aleksandar Simic and Mercedeh Khajavikhan take a break in the optics laboratory.

A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, “thresholdless” laser that funnels all its photons into lasing, without any waste.

The two new lasers require very low power to operate, an…

The razor-like teeth of the piranha trap the skin and muscle of its prey in a guillotine-like bite.

It’s a matchup worthy of a late-night cable movie: put a school of starving piranha and a 300-pound fish together, and who comes out the winner?

The surprising answer—given the notorious guillotine-like bite of the piranha—is Brazil’s massive Arapaima fish. The secret toArapaima’s success lie in its…

Internet information giant Google updated ocean data in its Google Earth application this week, reflecting new bathymetry data assembled by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, NOAA researchers and many other ocean mapping groups from around the world.

The newest version of Google Earth includes more accurate imagery in several key areas of ocean using data collected by research cruises over the past three years.

"The original version of Google Ocean was a newly…

LA JOLLA, CA – February 7, 2012 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in California and the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology have developed a “biological computer” made entirely from biomolecules that is capable of deciphering images encrypted on DNA chips. Although DNA has been used for encryption in the past, this is the first experimental demonstration of a molecular cryptosystem of images based on DNA computing.

The study was published in a recent…

Jim Black is fighting the meanest, most aggressive, most common kind of brain tumor in the United States: recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).  In the United States, each year, approximately 10,000 patients are affected by GBM.  Now, a novel investigational device – available only at clinical trial sites – is offering new hope to…

LA JOLLA, CA – February 3, 2012 – Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Health, and collaborating cancer physicians have successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of an advanced blood test for detecting and analyzing circulating tumor cells (CTCs)—breakaway cells from patients’ solid tumors—from cancer patients. The findings, reported in five new papers, show that the highly sensitive blood analysis provides information that may soon be comparable to that from some types…

Branching Acropora corals dominate shallow-water coral reefs such as those pictured here from the Central Pacific. Because reef-building corals are sensitive to changes in temperature, climate change threatens the stability of coral reefs. Credit: Melissa Roth

Around the world coral reefs are facing threats brought by climate change and dramatic shifts in sea temperatures. While ocean warming has been the primary focus for…

LA JOLLA, CA – February 2, 2012 – A powerful 3D animation tool created by Graham Johnson at The Scripps Research Institute has been selected as the winning video in the ninth annual International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.

The competition, co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the journal Science, is designed to celebrate and encourage the visual communication of science for education and journalistic purposes. This year, 212 entries…