News
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STING in the world of biosensor technology
By Nathan Boyd How could you go about finding one particular bee in a hive bustling with activity? Extending this analogy to early cancer and pathogen detection gives the sense of what is required when cell biologists search for one type of biomolecule in a crowded and constantly-changing environment. In his laboratory at the University…
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Neanderthal genome yields insights into human evolution and evidence of interbreeding
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information Office After extracting ancient DNA from the 40,000-year-old bones of Neanderthals, scientists have obtained a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome, yielding important new insights into the evolution of modern humans. Among the findings, published in the May 7 issue of Science, is evidence that shortly after early modern humans…
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Nadine Gassner receives 2010 Ellen Weaver Award for mentoring women in science
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information OfficeNadine Gassner, associate director of the UC Santa Cruz Chemical Screening Center, has been chosen to receive the 2010 Ellen Weaver Award for mentoring young women in science.The Ellen Weaver Award, presented by the Northern California Chapter of the Association of Women in Science (NCC-AWIS), is given to a woman who is…
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Nader Pourmand and Ion Torrent
By Richard Hughey, Computer Engineering Dept, UCSC Biomolecular engineering’s Nader Pourmand is profiled in a Bio-IT world article discussing the third-generation sequencing company ION Torrent Systems. Inventions of Pourmand, Stanford professor Ron Davis, and colleagues have led to a method of sequencing genomes with a CMOS chip, a technology that, as with computers, could lead to extraordinarily inexpensive…
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New UCSC training program fosters ethics and justice discourse in science and engineering
By Branwyn Wagman This spring the University of California, Santa Cruz will launch a unique graduate-level training program funded by a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to cross-train scientists and engineers in humanities and social sciences, and vice versa. Science and engineering students will work alongside social science and humanities students to identify…
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Scientists propose a “genome zoo” of 10,000 vertebrate species
By Branwyn Wagman, Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering, UC Santa Cruz SANTA CRUZ, CA–In the most comprehensive study of animal evolution ever attempted, an international consortium of scientists plans to assemble a genomic zoo–a collection of DNA sequences for 10,000 vertebrate species, approximately one for every vertebrate genus. Known as the Genome 10K Project, it…
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Nanopore project wins $1.1 million NIH grant
By Tim Stephens, Public Information Office The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has awarded a $1.1 million grant to researchers in the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz to support their work on nanopore technology for analyzing DNA. Led by biomolecular engineers Mark Akeson and David Deamer, the UCSC nanopore group…
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Databases and Genome Browsers
The advent of the human genome project and subsequent projects to sequence genomes of other species and multiple individuals has driven the need for tools that can visualize vast amounts of genomics data. Software for genome browsing has had a vast impact in the arenas of human medical and genetics research, enabling researchers to process…
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Five faculty members win 2009 NSF CAREER awards
By Daniel Strain, UCSC Public Information Office Five UC Santa Cruz faculty members have won prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2009. Three of the recipients are faculty in the Jack Baskin School of Engineering: William Dunbar, assistant professor of computer engineering; Pascale Garaud, assistant professor of…
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UCSC arts and science faculty collaborate for exhibition at Sesnon Gallery
By Scott Rappaport, University Relations “Full Disclosure”–an exhibition opening on October 7 at UCSC’s Sesnon Gallery–is built upon the idea of “failure” as a path to learning. The show is an intimate look at the process of trial and error that lies behind the complex work of artists and scientists. Co-curated by associate professor of…
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Antarctic expedition studies survival strategies of Weddell seals
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information Office Eight years after her last major expedition to Antarctica, biologist Terrie Williams is back on the ice. This time, however, her team began the expedition during the Antarctic winter, the harshest season in the harshest environment on Earth. From a remote field site on the Antarctic sea ice,…
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UCSC bioinformatics experts are partners in national cancer genetics project
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information OfficeResearchers in the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will establish a Cancer Genome Data Analysis Center as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a $275 million collaborative project led by the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute.The…