Department News

Daniela Nachmanson awarded TRDRP fellowship

Daniela Nachmanson, a Ph.D. student in Bioinformatics & Systems Biology, has been awarded a TRDRP (Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program) predoctoral research fellowship.

James Yurkovich: J. Biological Chemistry - cover story

James Yurkovich, a Ph.D. student in the Bioinformatics and Systems Biology graduate program, is the lead author of a cover story in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Summary: In this study, we examined the temperature dependence of the human red blood cell metabolic network. The temperature dependence of biological functions had been previously studied at the levels of individual biochemical reactions and organism physiology (e.g., basal metabolic rates). Biology is inherently multi-scale, and there existed a gap between observing temperature dependence at the scale of an individual reaction and at the physiological level. We used a systems biology approach to define the temperature dependence of individual metabolite profiles, metabolic reaction fluxes, and the entire metabolic network. Our results provided an ex vivo characterization of temperature dependence, which is in contrast to previous studies of individual reactions that are determined through in vitro assays. Further, we provided a baseline characterization of a biochemical network given no transcriptional or translational regulation that can be used to explore the temperature dependence of metabolism. This paper was featured on the cover of the December 1, 2017 issue (Vol. 292, Num. 48); cover artwork by Rockford Penn, Technicity, LLC.

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William Greenwald awarded NIH F31 grant

Bioinformatics & Systems Biology graduate student William Greenwald has been awarded an NIH F31 predoctoral fellowship.

William Greenwald and Dylan Skola awarded 2017 ARCS Fellowship

Bioinformatics & Systems Biology graduate students William Greenwald and Dylan Skola have each been awarded an ARCS Fellowship for 2017-18.

Benjamin Kellman: Bike Ride from San Diego to San Francisco for AAAS

Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Ph.D. student Benjamin Kellman organized a bike ride from San Diego to San Francisco to raise money for AAAS.

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Niema Moshiri awarded Distinguished Teaching Award

Niema Moshiri, a Ph.D. student in the Bioinformatics and Systems Biology graduate program, has been selected by the UCSD Academic Senate as a recipient of the 2016/17 Distinguished Teaching Award for Graduate Students.

Benjamin Kellman: Biking for Science

Benjamin Kellman, a Ph.D. student in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, is biking along the California Pacific Coast to fundraise for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Ruth Williams Wins Major Math Prize

Professor Ruth Williams in the Department of Mathematics has been awarded the 2016 John von Neumann Theory Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in mathematics.

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Olga Botvinnik and Gabriel Pratt awarded 2016 ARCS award

Bioinformatics & Systems Biology graduate students Olga Botvinnik and Gabriel Pratt have each been awarded an ARCS Fellowship.

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Rachel Marty awarded NSF GROW Fellowship

Rachel Marty has been awarded an NSF GROW fellowship to conduct research in cancer immunology at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. The project entails computationally categorizing immune regions of the genome, such as HLA and KIR, and deciphering their roles in cancer. The NSF GROW (Graduate Resarch Opportunities Worldwide) Fellowship provides opportunities for students to engage in international research collaborations abroad. Rachel Marty received a B.S. in Computer Science with a specialization in Bioinformatics at UCSD and is currently in the Ph.D. program in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology at UCSD.