BMSE News
BMSE grads win prestigious fellowships
April 6th, 2011John Ballew has been awarded a Whitaker Fellowship for 2010-11
John Ballew, a 5th yr BMSE graduate student in the Daugherty lab has been awarded a Whitaker International Fellowship Grant to Sweden. John is currently performing part of his thesis research at The Royal Institute of Technologies in Stockholm, Sweden.
Jessica Kubicek-Sutherland has been awarded a 2011 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Fellowship
BMSE 2nd year graduate student, Jessica Kubicek-Sutherland, from the Mahan lab has been awarded a 2011 NSF GRFP fellowship in the Lifesciences-Microbiology field of study. The award will provide full funding for 3 years.
Herschel Watkin has been awarded a Whitaker Fellowship for 2011-12
Herschel Watkins, a 3rd year BMSE graduate student in the Plaxco lab, has been awarded a Whitaker International Fellowship Grant to Italy. Herschel will be studying at the University of Rome beginning Winter 2012 for one year.
Genomic Sequencing of Marine Sponge Published; Revealed Early Genetic Complexity and Roots of Cancer
August 4th, 2010This week’s publication of the complete genomic sequence of a living marine sponge reveals genes dating back hundreds of millions of years – a result far exceeding the expectations of the scientific world.
Physicists Help Biologists to Understand Protein Folding; Results Help Further Basic Medical Research
July 17th, 2010Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have created a microscopic device to assist biologists in making very fast molecular measurements that aid the understanding of protein folding. This development may help elucidate biological processes associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Since proteins in the body perform different functions according to their shape, the folding process is considered a key area of study.
New Book by UCSB Author Offers a Formula for Alzheimer’s Disease Management and Prevention
May 25th, 2010With the aging of nearly 80 million baby boomers, Alzheimer’s disease is an impending epidemic that requires a new approach to prevention as well as management of the disease, according to a UC Santa Barbara professor who has co-authored a new book on the topic.
UCSB Engineer Wins Guggenheim Fellowship
April 23rd, 2010Hyongsok "Tom" Soh, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and of Materials in UC Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering, is one of only two recipients nationwide of a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in engineering. From a field of 3,000 applicants, a total 180 Fellowships were awarded this year in the United States and Canada to artists, scientists, and scholars “on the basis of achievement and exceptional promise.” 23 of those Fellowships were in the natural sciences category, which includes engineering.s.
Prof Waite Discovers a Metal-based Biological Strategy for Hard Flexible Coatings
April 23rd, 2010
Iron-Clad Fibers: A Metal-Based Biological Strategy for Hard Flexible Coatings
Matthew J. Harrington, Admir Masic, Niels Holten-Andersen,
J. Herbert Waite, Peter Fratzl
Science, vol 328: 216-220, April 9, 2010
The extensible byssal threads of marine mussels are shielded from abrasion in wave-swept habitats by an outer cuticle that is largely proteinaceous and approximately fivefold harder than the thread core. Threads from several species exhibit granular cuticles containing a protein that is rich in the catecholic amino acid 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa) as well as inorganic ions, notably Fe3+. Granular cuticles exhibit a remarkable combination of high hardness and high extensibility.
We explored byssus cuticle chemistry by means of in situ resonance Raman spectroscopy and demonstrated that the cuticle is a polymeric scaffold stabilized by catecholato-iron chelate complexes having an unusual clustered distribution. Consistent with byssal cuticle chemistry and mechanics, we present a model in which dense cross-linking in the granules provides hardness, whereas the less cross-linked matrix provides extensibility.
UCSB Alumna Carol W. Greider Shares Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
October 5th, 2009Carol W. Greider, a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Greider shares the Nobel with Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Jack W. Szostak. The three were honored for the discovery of "how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase."
Federal Stimulus Grants Support Diverse Research at UCSB
September 28th, 2009With funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), more than 40 grants already have been awarded to research projects at UC Santa Barbara. In addition, 79 proposals are currently under review by their respective federal granting agencies. Also known as the economic stimulus package, the ARRA was passed by Congress in February.
UCSB Researchers Develop Drug Delivery System Using Nanoparticles and Lasers
September 9th, 2009Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have developed a new way to deliver drugs into cancer cells by exposing them briefly to a non-harmful laser. Their results are published in a recent article in ACS NANO, a journal of the American Chemical Society.
The Invasive Green Mussel May Inspire New Forms of Wet Adhesion
August 27th, 2009The green mussel is known for being a notoriously invasive fouling species, but scientists have just discovered that it also has a very powerful form of adhesion in its foot, according to a recent article in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The stickiness of the mussel’s foot could possibly be copied to form new man-made adhesives.