Bringing Research into Area Classrooms: Socrates Fellows
Program Teams High School Teachers with UCSD Grad Students
Building upon the success of its BioBridge science education outreach program, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has this summer launched an enhanced initiative to further bring the excitement of scientific research directly into area high school classrooms. The new program has an interesting twist: participating UCSD doctoral students in research benefit as much as high school teachers and students. More

Physical Activity in Children Declines Significantly from Age 9 to 15
The increase in childhood obesity may be due, in part, to children’s decline in physical activity as they age, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine; University of Arkansas; University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and RTI International. More

Improved Culture System for Hepatitis C Virus Infection
A University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researcher has developed the first tissue culture of normal, human liver cells that can model infection with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and provide a realistic environment to evaluate possible treatments.  The novel cell line, described in the July 16 issue of PLoS ONE, will allow pharmaceutical companies to effectively test new drug candidates or possible vaccines for the HCV infection, which afflicts about 170 million people worldwide.  Currently, there is no animal model that is effective for testing such therapies. More

UC San Diego Student and Alum
Go for Olympic Gold the Second Time Around
UC San Diego alum Julie Swail Ertel and UC San Diego senior Carrie Johnson will both compete in their second Olympic games this August when they go to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Julie Swail Ertel is a triathlete who has already won an Olympic silver medal, but for a completely different sport. Swail Ertel started out as a water polo player and was a part of the 2000 Women’s Olympic Team, but in Beijing she will join the triathlon team. More

‘I’ll Take Scripps for $500’
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
to be Featured on TV Game Show ‘Jeopardy!’
There are all sorts of ways to cement a reputation, and this Thursday, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will receive an unusual kind of immortality. The popular game show “Jeopardy!,” will feature Scripps’s history of cutting-edge ocean and earth science by awarding the institution its own category. More

UC San Diego Medical Center Among Nation’s Best
UCSD Medical Center is the only San Diego hospital ranked among the nation’s best in eight specialties in U.S. News & World Report’s new 2008 “America’s Best Hospitals” issue.  Among the five leading California hospitals in the total number of top-ranked specialties, UC San Diego Medical Center has combined innovative treatments and compassionate care to earn recognition in multiple specialties for several years in this annual survey. More

Wasps and Bumble Bees Heat Up, Fly Faster With Protein-Rich Food
Good pollen makes bees hot, biologists at UC San Diego have found. Wasps warm up too when they find protein-rich meat, a separate experiment has shown. In both cases warmer flight muscles likely speed the insects’ trips home, allowing them to quickly exploit a valuable resource before competitors arrive, the researchers report in separate studies, published this month in two scientific journals. More

UC San Diego Unveils World's Highest-Resolution Scientific Display System
As the size of complex scientific data sets grows exponentially, so does the need for scientists to explore the data visually and collaboratively in ultra-high resolution environments. To that end, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) has unveiled the highest-resolution display system for scientific visualization in the world at the University of California, San Diego. More

Liver Protein Associated with Type 2 Diabetes in Older Adults
The presence of a protein expressed by the liver which inhibits insulin action may identify individuals more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a new study led by a researcher from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, to be published July 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA.) More

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