Category: News
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Local group funds four UC Santa Cruz cancer researchers
The Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group continues its support for cancer research at UC Santa Cruz with new grants Oct 5, 2018 | Tim Stephens The Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group (SCCBG), a local charity supporting cancer research and patient care, has awarded three grants of $20,000 each for one-year cancer research projects at UC Santa…
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Biden Cancer Community Summit Spotlights Cancer Research at UC Santa Cruz
The Biden Cancer Community Summit Friday 9/21/18 was an opportunity to help highlight leading-edge cancer research happening at UC Santa Cruz. At this free, open-to-the-public event hosted by UCSC’s Dr. Daniel Kim and sponsored by Startup Sandbox and Nexcelom, leading cancer researchers from UCSC including Professors Robert Coffman, Olena Morozova Vaske, David Haussler, Daniel Kim,…
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Data science researchers to tackle privacy challenges in genomics
Computer scientist Abhradeep Guha Thakurta has won NSF funding to investigate ways to protect the privacy of individuals while allowing access to large genomic data sets September 11, 2018 By Tim Stephens Rapidly growing databases of human genome sequences represent a potential goldmine of information for health researchers, but access to these databases is tightly controlled…
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Historical Sketch: The Santa Cruz Workshop
Robert L. SinsheimerMay, 1985. | Genomics. Volume 5, Issue 4, November 1989, Pages 954-956. The Santa Cruz Workshop in May 1985 resulted from the convergence of several lines of thought.The first complete genome to be sequenced was that of the bacterial virus ¢Xl 74 (5400 nucleotides) by Fred Sanger in 1977. Before that, my laboratory…
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International Space Station update: direct RNA sequencing in space
“RNA sequencing is one of the most direct and unambiguous ways to measure the state of living cells. Native RNA sequencing of the type performed by Astronaut Arnold on the ISS is particularly exciting because it preserves information about nucleotide modifications that occur after transcription. We think that RNA sequencing will be invaluable for monitoring…
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Baskin fellowship provides funding for student research
Wednesday, July 18, 2018 Erin Foley Baskin School of Engineering graduate students Jordan Eizenga and Sutirtha Sengupta are this year’s recipients of the prestigious Jack Baskin and Peggy Downes-Baskin Fellowship. The Fellowship will ensure that these UC Santa Cruz engineers have the resources they need to conduct important research in two very different areas. Eizenga…
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No evidence of ‘hobbit’ ancestry in genomes of Flores Island pygmies
Pygmy population near cave where Homo floresiensis fossils were found appears to have evolved short stature independently from the mysterious ancient hominins August 02, 2018 By Tim Stephens A fossil skeleton found in a cave on Flores Island, Indonesia, in 2004 turned out to be a previously unknown, very small species of human. Nicknamed the “hobbit”…
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Biomolecular engineer Angela Brooks named Pew Scholar
June 14, 2018 | UCSC News | By Tim Stephens The Pew Charitable Trusts has named Angela Brooks, assistant professor of biomolecular engineering at UC Santa Cruz, a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. Brooks will receive a $300,000 award over four years to support her research on how mutations associated with cancer cause changes in…
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Study Shows Genes Unique to Humans Tied to Bigger Brains
June 5, 2018 by Dr. Francis Collins | NIH In seeking the biological answer to the question of what it means to be human, the brain’s cerebral cortex is a good place to start. This densely folded, outer layer of grey matter, which is vastly larger in Homo sapiens than in other primates, plays an essential role in human…
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Meet NOTCH2NL, the human-specific genes that may have given us our big brains
Two teams of researchers have identified a human-specific gene family, NOTCH2NL, that emerged first in our primate ancestors as a partial duplication of the neurodevelopmental gene NOTCH2. The genes were later repaired and made functional by a gene conversion in humans. The findings, developed in parallel between the labs of Dr. David…
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Chancellor’s awards recognize achievement in diversity, inclusion
June 05, 2018 By Scott Hernandez-Jason Underscoring the commitment by UC Santa Cruz to promote diversity, inclusion, and excellence, Chancellor George Blumenthal recognized the people and programs making contributions to these goals through their work. The 2018 Chancellor’s Achievement Awards for Diversity were presented May 29 during a reception at the Hay Barn. Before presenting the…
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One genetic change 3 million years ago made our brains big — and won us the world
June 4, 2018 BY ALEXANDRU MICU | ZME SCIENCE Two research teams have uncovered the gene family that allowed us to evolve our impressively large brains Compared to other organisms on the planet, our globs of gray matter are unusually big. That’s actually quite a fortunate turn of events since we owe them our success as a species…