News
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Paul Koch named dean of physical and biological sciences
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information Office UC Santa Cruz has appointed Paul Koch to serve as dean of the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences, effective August 1. Koch, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences, has served as interim dean since July 2011. An internationally recognized paleontologist, ecologist, and geochemist, Koch joined the…
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UC Santa Cruz ranked 7th worldwide among younger universities
By Guy Lasnier, UCSC Public Information Office UC Santa Cruz is ranked seventh in the world among the 100 best universities less than 50 years old, according to an analysis by Times Higher Education (THE). UCSC ranked first in the world in the key citation index (30 percent of the final score) that measures the influence of an…
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Grad students present impressive array of research projects at symposium
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information Office The 8th Annual Graduate Research Symposium featured graduate student researchers from across the divisions explaining their work to a diverse and appreciative audience at the University Center on Friday, May 11. Topics included Hawaiian prison songs, Japanese-American history, habitat restoration, nanotechnology, stem cell research, and distant planets. “The…
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Updated tutorials on UCSC Genome Browser now available
By Scott Lathe, OpenHelix The University of California, Santa Cruz Bioinformatics Group and OpenHelix today announced the availability of free updated tutorial suites on the UCSC Genome Browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu/), a powerful and popular freely available web-based tool for mining genomic data. The two updated tutorial suites include a general Introduction to the Genome Browser and an Introduction to Custom…
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UC Santa Cruz builds national data center for cancer genome research
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information Office The emerging field of “personalized” or “precision” medicine holds great promise in the fight against cancer. If scientists can identify the genetic changes that drive each patient’s cancer cells, they can use that information to develop targeted treatments. But achieving this goal will require massive amounts of genomic…
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New DNA sequencer uses nanopore concepts pioneered at UC Santa Cruz
By Tim Stevens, UCSC Public Information For more than 15 years, researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have been developing technology to analyze DNA strands as they pass through a tiny pore in a membrane, called a “nanopore” because it is just 1.5 nanometers wide at its narrowest point. Now, Oxford Nanopore Technologies of Oxford,…
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Genome 10K ‘Alignathon’ harnesses community effort to show relationships between species
By Branwyn Wagman Anticipating the need to make sense of the glut of whole-genome data arising from the Genome 10K project, the project’s data analysis wing has announced a friendly competition to find more powerful ways to align whole genomes with each other to discover the similarities and the changes brought about by evolution. The…
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Decoding cancer
By Camille Mojica Rey, UCSC Public Information Office “If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we find a cure for cancer?” It’s a familiar question that embodies a collective frustration Americans have over the lack of a cure for cancer. Few diseases touch as many lives, and no diagnosis is more…
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UCSC sponsors SACNAS national conference in San Jose, October 27-30
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information Office An estimated 3800 students and scientists will attend the 2011 SACNAS National Conference to be held October 27-30 in San Jose. As a major sponsor of the event, UC Santa Cruz will be hosting a reception at the Tech Museum on October 26 and a field trip on…
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Baskin School of Engineering promotes increased participation of women in computing
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information Office During the past two years, the number of women majoring in computer science at UC Santa Cruz has increased by 40 percent. Charlie McDowell, professor of computer science and associate dean for undergraduate affairs in the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at UCSC, said adding new women to…
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2011 UCSC Foundation Forum: On the front lines of the cancer war
By Dan White, UCSC Public Information Office The UC Santa Cruz Foundation Forum, “At the Dawn of Personalized Medicine,” presented a rare, front-lines look at the future of personalized cancer diagnosis and treatment. More than 200 guests listened to the discussion at the UCSC Music Recital Hall with J. Michael Bishop, University Professor and chancellor…
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UCSC ranked third in research influence in world university survey
In a recent analysis of the world’s top universities, UC Santa Cruz ranked third in research influence as measured by the number of times its published work is cited by academics. Published as part of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-2012, the analysis, conducted by Thompson Reuters, measured overall research influence based on…