Health
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California lawmaker proposes $23 billion bond measure to fund scientific research
Support for the legislation also came from John MacMillan, a professor at UC Santa Cruz. New approaches and datasets to help treat childhood cancer are made at his institution. Additionally, his university researches climate change and builds tools to combat a warming planet. Like others, his university also has faced impacts from federal cuts. “SB…
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These Lizards Have So Much Lead in Their Blood, They Should Be Dead. Instead, They’re Thriving
“The fact that they show no measurable signs of toxicity is surprising, because in other vertebrates I’m familiar with, blood lead above 500 micrograms per deciliter is associated with obvious illness or even death,” says Donald Smith, a microbiologist at the University of California Santa Cruz who was not involved with the research, to the…
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UCSC study links immigration status to COVID deaths, survival rate
“This was the first study to really link immigration status and make it possible to link legal immigration status to excess death rates,” said Alicia Riley, and associate professor of sociology and core faculty member in the Global and Community Health Program.
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How RNA Unseated DNA as the Most Important Molecule in Your Body
Some of these molecules might get transcribed only in particular types of cells or at a particular stage in embryonic development, so it would be easy to miss their moment of action. “They are incredibly cell-type specific,” says molecular biologist Susan Carpenter of the University of California, Santa Cruz. But because of that, she says,…
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Enfoque California: El impacto del estatus migratorio durante una crisis de salud
Associate Professor of Sociology and Global and Community Health Alicia Riley joined Telemundo’s Enfoque California program to discuss her recent research on how immigration status affected mortality rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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‘Hibernation genes’ help control metabolism and feeding – and could hold untapped benefit for humans
Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Joanna Kelley commented on the potential applications of a new study. “It’s definitely not as simple as introducing the same changes in human DNA,” she said. “Humans are not capable of fasting-induced torpor, which is the reason why mice are used in these studies.”
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UC Santa Cruz researcher develops innovative CRISPRware software
Eric Malekos, a graduate student in biomolecular engineering at UC Santa Cruz with a background in computer science and mathematics, along with fellow Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology Department Ph.D. student Christy Montano A Ph.D., has created an innovative software program called CRISPRware, which makes the process of gene editing faster and easier for researchers,…
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Heat, storms, mosquitoes the big threats at Alligator Alcatraz, experts say
Assistant Professor Carlos Martinez said that what he has seen so far of the facility is “alarming and disturbing.” While many of the health concerns about Alligator Alcatraz are the same as those for any detention center — overcrowding, inadequate sanitation and food, inadequate medical care — he said some, like the heat and mosquitoes,…
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’We couldn’t live without it’: the UCSC Genome Browser turns 25
Nature covers the UC Santa Cruz resource that serves as an essential tool for navigating the human genome and understanding its structure, function, and clinical impact, in conversation with Distinguished Professor of Biomolecular Engineering David Haussler, Director of Public Platforms for the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute Max Haeussler, Bioinformatics Programmer Angie Hinrichs, and Director…
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EPA employees put names to ‘declaration of dissent’ over agency moves under Trump
“People are going to die,” said Carol Greider, a Nobel laureate and professor of molecular and cellular biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who also signed the letter. She described last week’s East Coast heat wave as evidence of the ways people are feeling the effects of climate change. “And if we don’t…
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25 years later: Inside the cut-throat race to decode the human genome
Distinguished Professor of Biomolecular Engineering David Haussler, Executive Director of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute Lauren Linton, and Director of the UCSC Genome Browser Project Jim Kent recall their critical roles in the original project to sequence the human genome.
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Wake Up, America. Cutting Health and Science Funding Costs Lives
Nobel Laureate and UC Santa Cruz Distinguished Professor Carol Greider coauthored an opinion article explaining why billions of dollars in NIH funding is worth the price. The article calls on senators to demand that the Trump administration reverse devastating cuts to the NIH that will cause unnecessary deaths, cost billions in economic activity, and have…