Department News
Non-Coding RNA Relocates Genes When It’s Time To Go To Work
November 10, 2011Cells develop and thrive by turning genes on and off as needed in a precise pattern, a process known as regulated gene transcription. In a paper published in the November 9 issue of the journal Cell, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say this process is even more complex than previously thought, with regulated genes actually relocated to other, more conducive places in the cell nucleus.
Coauthors include Bioinformatics and Systems Biology faculty members Michael G. Rosenfeld, M.D. and Pieter C. Dorrestein, Ph.D.
Dr. Lawrence Goldstein Keynote Speaker at World Stem Cell Summit
October 4, 2011Dr. Lawrence Goldstein - Director of UC San Diego's stem cell program in Pasadena for World Stem Cell Summit
Researchers Sequence Dark Matter of Life
September 19, 2011Researchers have developed a new method to sequence and analyze the dark matter of life—the genomes of thousands of bacteria species previously beyond scientists’ reach, from microorganisms that produce antibiotics and biofuels to microbes living in the human body.
Scientists from UC San Diego, the J. Craig Venter Institute and Illumina Inc., published their findings in the Sept. 18 online issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology. The breakthrough will enable researchers to assemble virtually complete genomes from DNA extracted from a single bacterial cell. By contrast, traditional sequencing methods require at least a billion identical cells, grown in cultures in the lab. The study opens the door to the sequencing of bacteria that cannot be cultured—the lion’s share of bacterial species living on the planet.
The UC San Diego coauthors are computer science postdoctoral researcher Hamidreza Chitsaz; mathematics professor Glenn Tesler; and computer science professor Pavel Pevzner.
Roger Chang and Colleagues Construct Metabolic Network of Algae
August 15, 2011Ph.D. candidate Roger Chang and colleagues including Prof. Bernhard Palsson and alumnus Jason Papin, have reconstructed the metabolic network for the algae strain Chalydomonas einhardtii, a potential source of biofuel.
Article at Molecular Systems Biology.
Additional coverage in Science, New Energy and Fuel, and Biomass Magazine.
Andrew McCammon Among Three UCSD Professors elected to the National Academy of Sciences
May 13, 2011The National Academy of Sciences today elected three professors at the University of California, San Diego to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors bestowed on U.S. scientists and engineers.
Andrew McCammon, the Joseph E. Mayer Chair of Theoretical Chemistry, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and pharmacology, and faculty in the Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, has invented theoretical methods for accurately predicting and interpreting how molecules interact with one another, methods that play a growing role in the design of new drugs and other materials.
Tiny Talk on a Barnacle's Back
May 10, 2011Even the merest of microbes must be able to talk, to be able to interact with its environment and with others to not just survive, but to thrive. This cellular chatter comes in the form of signaling molecules and exchanged metabolites (molecules involved in the process of metabolism or living) that can have effects far larger than the organism itself. Humans, for example, rely upon thousands of products derived from microbially produced molecules, everything from antibiotics and food supplements to ingredients used in toothpaste and paint.
Remarkably, most of what’s known about how microbes communicate with each other is the result of indirect observation and measurements. There has been no general or informative technique for observing the manifold metabolic exchange and signaling interactions between microbes, their hosts and environments. Until now. In a paper published in the May 5 online issue of the journal Angewandte Chemie, researchers at UC San Diego and Scripps Institution of Oceanography report using a new form of imaging mass spectrometry to dramatically visualize multiplex microbial interactions.
Two coauthors are from the Bioinformatics & Sytems Biology Program: Prof. Pieter C. Dorrestein and Prof. Nuno Bandeira.
Nearly 30 Percent of New CIRM Awards go to UC San Diego Stem Cell Researchers
May 4, 2011UC San Diego scientists garnered 8 of the total 27 of Basic Biology III awards announced today by the Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee (ICOC) of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state agency created by California voters to pursue the promise of stem cells in science and medicine. “Basic science has been our strength at UC San Diego because we have dedicated time and energy to developing our expertise in stem cells,” said Larry Goldstein, PhD, director of the UC San Diego Stem Cell Program. “Through our excellence in scientific research fundamentals, UCSD stem cell researchers are creating the basis for future advances in this exciting field.”
Dr. Andrew McCammon elected to National Academy of Sciences
May 3, 2011The National Academy of Sciences today elected three professors at the University of California, San Diego to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors bestowed on U.S. scientists and engineers. Herbert Levine, J. Andrew McCammon and David T. Sandwell were among the 72 new members and 18 foreign associates elected to the academy today "in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research."
NSF Graduate Research Fellowships awarded to Kate Hoff and Jeremy Davis-Turak
April 6, 2011The National Science Foundation has awarded Graduate Research Fellowships to Ph.D. students Kate Hoff and Jeremy Davis-Turak in the Graduate Bioinformatics Program.
Professors Leor Weinberger & Gene Yeo receive $50K Sloan Research Fellowships
February 15, 2011The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded research fellowships to seven young faculty members at the University of California, San Diego, the largest group from a single institution to be recognized this year. Recipients include Bioinformatics & Systems Biology faculty members Leor Weinberger and Gene Yeo.