Tag Archives: ucla

UCLA Researchers Further Refine ‘Nanovelcro’ Device to Grab Single Cancer Cells from Blood

By Guest PostMarch 3, 2013Scienceact like velcro, analysis, angewandte chemie, antoni ribas, biopsy samples, blood, blood samples, braf v600e, cancer cells, cancer grow, circulate, circulating melanoma cells, circulating tumor cells, cmcs, configuration, ctcs, disease, dna structure, early stages, fatal metastases, fibers coated, genes, genetic analysis, genomic evolution, growth, hematology, histopathology, hsian rong tseng, jonsson cancer center, laser micro dissection, liquid biopsy, lmd, melanoma, melanoma cells, melanoma tumors, metastasis, method, microscopic structure, nanoscale technology, nanoscale wires, nanovelcro chip, new tumors, oncology, patient, polymer nanofiber, progression, protein antibodies, researchers, roger lo, single cell genotyping, skin cancer, tumors, ucla, velcro like, working mechanism

Improvement enables ‘liquid biopsies’ for metastatic melanoma

Researchers at UCLA report that they have refined a method they previously developed for capturing and analyzing cancer cells that break away from patients’ tumors and circulate in the blood. With the improvements to their device, which uses a Velcro-like nanoscale technology, they can now detect and isolate single cancer cells from patient blood samples for analysis.

Circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, play a crucial role in cancer metastasis, spreading from tumors to other parts of the body, where they form new tumors. When these cells are isolated from the blood early on, they can provide doctors with critical information about the type of cancer a patient has, the characteristics of the individual cancer and the potential progression of the disease. Doctors can also tell from these cells how to tailor a personalized treatment to a specific patient. (more…)

Earthquakes, Glue and Grappling Hooks: Scientists Dissect the Movement of Bacteria

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2013Scienceanti infective, avalanche motions, california nanosystems institute, combat harmful microbes, combat microbial pathogenesis, earthquakes, frequency, fruiting body, gerard wong, glide along surface, glue, grappling hooks, henry samueli school, human tissue, intensity, karin a dahmen, max gibiansky, microscopic bacteria, molecular glue, molecular mechanism, movement of bacteria, myxococcus xanthus, pathogenic bacteria, social structures, tectonic plates, tectonic plates move, therapeutic strategies, ucla, university of Illinois, urbana-champaign, wei hu, wenyuan shi

A team led by researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has discovered that microscopic bacteria have a lot in common with earthquakes — when it comes to their jolting movements.

In a new study published in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists also report that a molecular “glue” produced by the bacteria to help them adhere to surfaces also acts as a sort of transportation lubricant, helping them move and organize into rudimentary social structures. These discoveries, they say, could lead to new ways to combat harmful microbes in the long term. (more…)

New Book Traces Black Panthers’ Evolution from Local Activists to Global Anti-Imperialists

By Guest PostFebruary 6, 2013Culture, Politicsafrican american culture, african americans, algeria, american, american black power, american jazz artists, anti colonial activist, anti colonial movement, anti imperialist movement, anti war activists, assassination, black activist, black against empire, black history, black panther movement, black panther party, black panthers, black power, bobby seale, business as usual, california legislature, China, civil rights movement, civil war, communist revolutionary, criminal charges, Cuba, evolution, folk heroes, frantz fanon, free huey, global anti imperialists, history, huey newton, jim crow segregations, joshua bloom, local activists, los angeles chapter, lowndes county, malcolm x, mao zedong, marcus garvey, martin luther king, mulford act, new york chapter, non violent activism, oakland, pan africanism, panther angela, peoples republic, political asylum, political genius, political power, politics of containment, poverty, president nixon, prisoners of war, revolutionary struggles, robert hill, robin kelley, rural alabama, scot brown, sociology, stokely carmichael, tom hayden, ucla, united states, university of california, us government, viet cong, vietnam war, voluntary manslaughter, waldo e martin, zhou enlai

History has long denied the political genius of the Black Panther Party. At worst, its members have been cast as unconscionable criminals. At best, such seminal figures as party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale and early supporter Stokely Carmichael have been portrayed as outlaw folk heroes who, propelled by the progressive winds of the late 1960s, dared to take on the establishment.

But a UCLA graduate student in sociology who worked alongside former Panthers a decade ago as a community organizer in Oakland, Calif., didn’t buy the conventional wisdom. (more…)

Survey: More Freshmen than Ever Say They Go to College to Get Better Jobs, Make More Money

By Guest PostFebruary 5, 2013Economy, Educationabove average, annual survey, better job, cirp, college completion, college students, current economic situation, extra year, freshman survey, get, john h pryor, laura palucki blake, make more money, premium, pursuing higher education, recovering economy, students decisions, sylvia hurtado, top 10 percent, ucla, united states

The current economic situation in the United States has a major influence on first-year students’ decisions about which college to attend and is reflected in their reasons for pursuing higher education, according to the CIRP Freshman Survey, UCLA’s annual survey of the nation’s entering students at four-year colleges and universities.

The survey, part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), is administered nationally by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

Two out of three first-year students (66.6 percent) surveyed said they believe current economic conditions significantly affected their choice of college, up from 62.1 percent just two years earlier, when the question was first asked. (more…)

Right Target, but Missing the Bulls-Eye for Alzheimer’s

By Guest PostFebruary 3, 2013Health, Scienceabeta, abeta40, abeta42, abeta42 protein, aleksey lomakin, alzheimer's disease, america, amino acids, amyloid beta, atul deshpande, brain, bulls eye, causes of death, chemical synthesis, computer simulations, david teplow, destroy neurons, disorder, george b benedek, gregory cole, hairpin like structure, late life dementia, mingfeng yang, molecular biology, mutant abeta peptides, pearl necklace, plaques, protein, robin roychaudhuri, sally frautschy, sequence, toxic actions, toxic form, ucla

UCLA researchers discover new point of attack for drug therapy

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of late-life dementia. The disorder is thought to be caused by a protein known as amyloid-beta, or Abeta, which clumps together in the brain, forming plaques that are thought to destroy neurons. This destruction starts early, too, and can presage clinical signs of the disease by up to 20 years.

For decades now, researchers have been trying, with limited success, to develop drugs that prevent this clumping. Such drugs require a “target” — a structure they can bind to, thereby preventing the toxic actions of Abeta. (more…)

UCLA’s New Nano-Lens Microscopes Can Detect Viruses, Other Objects at Nanoscale

By Guest PostJanuary 28, 2013Scienceadenoviruses, ahmet f coskun, alon greenbaum, aydogan ozcan, california nanosystems institute, cea leti, cedric p allier, computational reconstruction techniques, electron microscopy, euan mcleod, france, H1N1, henry samueli school, human hair, influenza viral particles, led, light emitting diode, liquid lenses, microscopic objects, nanoscale lenses, nanoscale objects, onur mudanyali, optical microscopy method, optical microscopy platform, polystyrene nanoparticles, single viruses, sparse population, special liquid composition, square millimeters, ucla, volume of samples, wei luo, yves hennequin

By using tiny liquid lenses that self-assemble around microscopic objects, a team from UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has created an optical microscopy method that allows users to directly see objects more than 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Coupled with computer-based computational reconstruction techniques, this portable and cost-effective platform, which has a wide field of view, can detect individual viruses and nanoparticles, making it potentially useful in the diagnosis of diseases in point-of-care settings or areas where medical resources are limited. (more…)

Genes and obesity: Fast food isn’t only culprit in expanding waistlines — DNA is also to blame

By Guest PostJanuary 19, 2013Healthadipose, bmi, body fat response, body mass index, brian parks, cancer, control, degree of obesity, diverse mouse population, DNA, elin org, elizabeth nam, emrah kostem, environmental conditions, environmental factors, epidemic, fast food diet, fat, fat tissue, frode norheim, genetic factor, genetics, global gene expression, heart disease, high calorie diets, inbred strains, intestinal bacteria, intestinal flora, jake lusis, level, metabolic response, mice, modeling, obesity traits, sedentary lifestyles, strains, sugar, type 2 diabetes, ucla, weight gain

Researchers at UCLA say it’s not just what you eat that makes those pants tighter — it’s also genetics. In a new study, scientists discovered that body-fat responses to a typical fast-food diet are determined in large part by genetic factors, and they have identified several genes they say may control those responses.

The study is the first of its kind to detail metabolic responses to a high-fat, high-sugar diet in a large and diverse mouse population under defined environmental conditions, modeling closely what is likely to occur in human populations. The researchers found that the amount of food consumed contributed only modestly to the degree of obesity. (more…)

Pesticides and Parkinson’s: UCLA Researchers Uncover Further Proof of a Link

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2013Environment, Healthaaron lulla, aldehyde dehydrogenase, aldh, aldh activity, arthur g fitzmaurice, benomyl, benomyl exposure, brain malformations, california, carcinogenesis, case, cellular event, central valley, common chemical, culprit, damage, degeneration of neurons, disease, dopal, dopaminergic neurons, drifting particles, environmental protection agency, enzyme, genetic variations, hoa a lam, jeff bronstein, link, lisa barnhill, liver tumors, maneb, mid brain, molecular tweezers, neurologist, neuron, neurotransmitter, nigel t maidment, paraquat, parkinson's, parkinsons symptoms, pesticide, progression of disease, protein, reproductive effect, rigidity, slowed movement, speech, spray, substantia nigra, therapeutic drugs, toxicological effect, toxin, tremor, ucla, ziram, α synuclein

Study suggests potential new target in fight against debilitating disease

For several years, neurologists at UCLA have been building a case that a link exists between pesticides and Parkinson’s disease. To date, paraquat, maneb and ziram — common chemicals sprayed in California’s Central Valley and elsewhere — have been tied to increases in the disease, not only among farmworkers but in individuals who simply lived or worked near fields and likely inhaled drifting particles.

Now, UCLA researchers have discovered a link between Parkinson’s and another pesticide, benomyl, whose toxicological effects still linger some 10 years after the chemical was banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (more…)