Associate professor of medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine and Veteran¹s Affairs Medical Center, Richard S. Kornbluth, has been selected as one of nine scientists worldwide to receive one of the first Sequella Global Tuberculosis grants to develop a tuberculosis vaccine.
Kornbluth received his granted sum of $50,000 to study a method developed at UCSD to manipulate the immune system to better control the tuberculosis disease.
Scripps professor honored for contributions to ocean science
Joseph L. Reid, professor emeritus of physical oceanography in the Marine Life research Group at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, was awarded the Maurice Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union Dec. 17.
Reid was recognized for his numerous contributions to ocean science.
The award is given annually for exhibited excellence in the understanding of physical, geophysical and geological processes in the ocean. Reid has been a member of the faculty at Scripps since 1974, serving first as professor of physical oceanography before going on to become director of the Scripps Marine Life Research Group. Reid is also known for his study of ocean circulation in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
UCSD researchers find new central nervous system gene
Researchers from the UCSD School of Medicine and the Shirakawa Institute of Animal Genetics in Japan have discovered a new gene responsible for development and function in the central nervous system.
The research team described its discovery of a protein called ³NUDEL² in the December 2000 issue of the journal ³Neuron.² NUDEL combines with a protein called LIS1 to form a transport complex that helps carry neural messages from a newborn¹s just-formed brain to the rest of its body. This discovery may help scientists solve the mystery of how an egg specifically becomes a human being.
The team¹s findings may also help doctors cure or prevent human defects that occur during the neural migration process, such as epilepsy and schizophrenia.
Scientists also learned that the NUDEL/LIS1 complex may be partly responsible for cell division, proliferation and survival.
Board of Regents appoints commission to aid in growth
UC Regents Chair S. Sue Johnson and UC President Richard Atkinson announced last month the selection of the Commission on the Growth and Support of Graduate Education composed of faculty, students and administrators to help the UC system reach its goal of adding 11,000 graduate students in the next 10 years.
The commission will have to produce a report by summer concerning the necessary actions the university should take to increase enrollments and admissions for the additional graduate students.
A large number of graduate students are required at the university to assist with important research and boost the number of employees at the school.
The commission comes from the determination made by the regents earlier this year to enroll more students to remain competitive in California¹s economy.
UCSD scientists discover hydrothermal vent field
A team of scientists, consisting of members from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Duke University, the University of Washington and various other institutions found a new hydrothermal vent field Dec. 5 in the Atlantic ocean which they are calling ³The Lost City.²
The field was discovered while the scientists were studying a mountain at that location during a scientific cruise aboard the research vessel Atlantis.
The scientists say that this may be the largest system of its kind with the underwater structures rising 180 feet. They also note that it is unusual because the venting structures are made of carbonate materials and silica rather than sulfa and iron-based materials.
