A Report on Discoveries and Achievements at the University of California
Volume 5, Number 7, July 1997
The following is a glimpse of some recent achievements by the faculty, students and staff of the University of California
Arts And Science Fellows . . . Seventeen UC faculty members were among 151 fellows elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The honor recognizes distinguished contributions to science, scholarship, public affairs and the arts. UC Berkeley had 10 fellows; UCLA, four; two fellows were from UC San Francisco and one from UC Davis.
UC In The Lead . . . The National Science Foundation awarded the UC led Consortium for Education Network Initiatives in California a $3.8 million grant to join a national high-speed computer network. This network will deliver information at least 100 times faster than today's Internet. The consortium includes UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Francisco, UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz.
Inventions Galore . . . UC topped the National Science Foundation's list of 25 institutions producing research leading to the most patented inventions. In the biomedical field, UC San Francisco ranked fifth, UCLA ninth and UC San Diego 13th. In chemistry, UC Berkeley was fifth, UCLA 15th and UC San Diego 11th. In physics, UC Santa Barbara ranked ninth, UC Berkeley 11th, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 17th, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory 19th, Los Alamos 22nd and UC San Diego 25th. In engineering and technology, UC Berkeley came in third and UCLA 14th. This confirms publicly financed scientific research is vital to private industries.
First Of Its Kind . . . UC Santa Cruz launched its new Jack Baskin
School of Engineering, the campus’ first professional school, with a $5
million gift from Santa Cruz community philanthropist Jack Baskin. The
gift is the largest private donation in UCSC’s 32-year history and represents
a major expansion of UCSC's existing programs in computer engineering and
computer science into several new fields.
More Insight Into Alzheimer's . . . Writhing balls of snakelike protein fragments may initiate the dysfunctional lesions called plaques that clog the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and similar neurological disorders. A study conducted by UC Santa Cruz and UC San Francisco is the first to show that certain clots of protein fragments must be present to trigger the harmful clumping of brain proteins, called “prions.”
Stressing Out . . . Women lawyers working more than 45 hours a week are five times as likely to feel high stress at work and three times more likely to experience a miscarriage in the first trimester than women who work less than 35 hours a week, say occupational health epidemiologists at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center. While women tended to work slightly fewer hours than their male counterparts, female lawyers were twice as likely to feel stress in the workplace than men.
Alcohol and Head Injury . . . In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at UCLA School of Medicine found that low to moderate alcohol levels in the blood can have a powerful protective effect against head injury, reducing both the area of injury and the recovery time. The study, led by Daniel F. Kelly, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at UCLA, also found that alcohol, in high doses, loses this neuroprotective effect and appears to promote other injury, such as reduced respiratory capacity and a fall in blood pressure, thus increasing the mortality rate.
Prostate Cancer Vaccine . . . Oncologist Eric Small of UC San Francisco’s Mt. Zion Cancer Center is working to develop a possible vaccine for advanced prostate cancer, the nation’s second leading cause of cancer death. According to Small, a patient’s own cells are essentially “taught” to recognize and target prostate cancer cells, then are injected back into the patient where they launch an attack on tumors in patients with advanced disease.
Eat Your Veggies . . . Researchers at UC Berkeley have discovered how folic acid deficiency leads to DNA damage, confirming the dietary importance of this B vitamin in reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer and even brain damage. The study also showed that for people deficient in folic acid, supplementing the diet with folic acid can reduce DNA damage. Folic acid or folate is found in abundance in leafy green vegetables and fruit and has long been recognized as an essential nutrient in the diet.
Detecting Gum Disease . . . Michael Newman, adjunct periodontics
professor at UCLA, and a private research team have isolated a gene that
puts almost 30 percent of the population at six times higher risk for severe
periodontitis, or gum disease. Newman and his associates developed a finger-stick
blood test that allows dentists to identify their most susceptible patients
and prevent disease before it occurs.
Genetic Defects . . . In a discovery that could have important implications for a number of neuromuscular diseases and for human aging, UC Riverside scientists have identified a possible mechanism for generating genetic defects in the so-called “power plants”, or mitochondria of animal cells that convert food to energy. Biologists Bradley Hyman and David Lunt found a certain type of gene rearrangement, termed recombination, in the mitochondria. Genetic deletions in mitochondria have been linked to such conditions as Alzheimer's disease and some types of diabetes.
An Emotional Past . . . A UC Irvine researcher has found that memories of our own emotions are edited to fit our current take on past events. Linda Levine, an assistant professor of psychology and social behavior in UCI’s School of Social Ecology, interviewed supporters of Ross Perot before he withdrew from the 1992 presidential race and again after the election in November 1992. Levine found people in the study unconsciously altered their memories of how they felt at the time of Perot’s withdrawal to make them consistent with their current opinions of Perot.
Chemotherapy and Birth Defects . . . A ground breaking study at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows for the first time in humans that chemotherapy causes some chromosome abnormalities in sperm that could lead to birth defects or abnormal pregnancy. Biophysicist Andrew Wyrobek and his team followed eight men who were diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease and undergoing chemotherapy. They then discovered as much as a fivefold increase in genetic damage that could cause birth defects in offspring.
Solving Mysteries . . . Using modern DNA fingerprinting techniques, Carole P. Meredith, a UC Davis professor and an international authority on genetic manipulation and analysis of grapevines, discovered that the Cabernet Sauvignon vine is the offspring of the Cabernet franc and the Sauvignon blanc varieties, solving a centuries-old mystery that has baffled scientists and wine aficionados alike.
Brain Dementia in AIDS Patients . . . In a discovery that provides the first opportunity to develop treatments for the brain dementia that strikes many AIDS patients, UCLA immunologist Milan Fiala and other researchers determined the means by which the AIDS virus makes its way into the brain. The researchers determined that immunologically activated monocytes, blood cells that can carry viruses to the brain, are better able to slip through the brain’s protective barrier, inevitably causing dementia.
No More Sluggish Modems . . . Fed up with slow modem connections to the Internet, UC Berkeley researchers led by Eric Brewer, an assistant professor of computer science, have devised a way to speed access to the World Wide Web by allowing users to route their web requests through a “transformational proxy” which delivers their web pages three to five times faster.
A Ripe Gene . . . A gene known to control production of proteins and believed to allow plant cells to elongate during growth also appears to play a key role in fruit ripening, according to UC Davis researchers Alan Bennett and Jocelyn Rose. The researchers, who identified and cloned the gene in tomatoes, suspect the gene could be useful for genetically engineering tomatoes and other fragile and perishable produce.
The Human Brain . . . In the first study of its kind, researchers
at the UCLA School of Medicine have found evidence that single neurons
in the human brain are involved in memory and can respond selectively to
a wide variety of facial expressions and emotions. The study, led by Itzhak
Fried, assistant professor of neurosurgery, sheds light on the role that
individual neurons play in the brain during learning and memory.
She’s No Dummy . . . A tall, blue-eyed robot named Monika will masquerade as an office worker for UC Berkeley’s new Center for the Built Environment. Loaded with sensors from head to toe, Monika’s mission is to report to center director Edward Arens and colleagues on what working conditions in commercial buildings are really like to aid the center's quest to make office workers more comfortable and productive. One of the goals is to one day have desktops set up like a car dashboards, complete with temperature gauges and vents.
Lowering Equipment Costs . . . Smaller, lower-cost high-tech equipment, such as X-ray machines, accelerators and semiconductor production tools, may result from a breakthrough insulator co-developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory electronics engineer Steve Sampayan and an engineer at an Allied Signal Federal Manufacturing and Technologies plant. The new insulator will sustain about four times the electrical voltage of similarly sized conventional insulators.
Drug Delivery System . . . In the marathon race for a microscopic-sized,
multi functional drug delivery system, chemical engineer Joseph A. Zasadzinski
thinks he and his team at UC Santa Barbara may have crafted a winner. Zasadzinski
calls his creation a vesosome, a cell-like structure with a double membrane
that can potentially carry toxic drugs to specific sites and allow the
use of multiple drugs or phased release of medication into the blood stream.
Secret Liaisons . . . A UC San Diego study has great implications for the conservation management of chimpanzees, a threatened species in captivity and in the wild. According to biologist Pascal Gagneux, female chimpanzees routinely sneak away for what could be dangerous liaisons with males from neighboring communities. If these rendezvous are discovered by the males of her community, the females could be beaten and any offspring sired outside the community killed.
Preparing For A Quake . . . Using a powerful supercomputer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory geophysicist Shawn Larsen and Berkeley seismologists simulated expected ground motions for a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. The simulation will help engineers retrofit older structures or design new buildings. The scientists modeled the localized severity of ground motion caused by an earthquake predicted to hit the Bay Area's Hayward fault within 30 years.
No Mt. Everest . . . For decades, scientists have debated what the boundary between the Earth’s molten nickel-iron core and silicate mantle looks like. Theories have suggested that the region is characterized by steep mountain ranges and deep valleys. But new research, conducted at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego led by geophysicist Michael Hedlin, found no evidence of widespread, dramatic topography in the regions at the core mantle boundary.
Marine Life Flourishing . . . Marine biologists at UC Santa Cruz
have found that species inhabiting the rocky zone along part of California’s
coast have not declined despite increased human impacts. Led by biologist
John Pearse, a team compared surveys conducted in the early 1970s to new
surveys today and found more marine species were along the Monterey Bay
coast than 25 years ago.
Self-Confidence Doesn’t Benefit All . . . High self-esteem can be an important asset for young job-seekers who don’t have college degrees, but this quality does not give African-Americans in the job market the advantage it provides non-African-Americans, a study by two UC Irvine researchers shows. Researchers David Dooley and Jo Ann Prause of UCI’s Department of Psychology and Social Behavior believe these findings indicate more attention needs to be given to what self-esteem means and how it operates for different segments of the population.
Helping the Severely Shy . . . A two-year study led by UC San Diego has shown that the medication paroxetine is extremely effective in treating social phobia. Characterized by severe shyness, this phobia can cause dropping out of school or lead to alcohol abuse and troubled relationships. While five percent of the population have this social phobia, many do not seek treatment.
Universal Emotions? . . . A UC Irvine study, funded by the National Science Foundation, suggests that all humans share a common framework for emotions that transcends even the most profound differences in culture and language. It seems English-speaking and Japanese-speaking people share strikingly similar perceptions of the relationships between terms such as love, hate and fear in their respective languages, which challenges the dominant view among anthropologists that culture is the single most important factor in how emotions evolve.
Uneven Adoption Rates . . . Opportunities for adoption among minority children and children as young as 3 living in foster care are much lower than has been known, according to a new analysis by Richard Barth, a professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare. Barth believes minority children are less likely to be adopted than Caucasian children because there have not been enough adoptive families of the same ethnic or racial background as the children, and, until recently, state law discouraged transracial adoption.
Poverty and Economic Growth . . . A two-year analysis of 74 U.S.
metropolitan regions found that serious efforts to reduce poverty in central
city areas have generally led to a broad increase in income for all residents
throughout the region. According to a study coauthored by J. Eugene Grimsby,
a professor of urban planning at UCLA, a pragmatic desire to boost the
regional economy, rather than fear or compassion, should be the chief factor
driving efforts to reduce inner-city poverty in Southern California.
An Educational Grant . . . UC Irvine will receive $200,000 from the National Science Foundation over a two-year period for the campus-wide Reform Initiative for Undergraduate Education. The grant will increase the level of scientific and technological literacy among undergraduate students.
Healthier Children . . . A national center for the study of infant
and early childhood health policy has been established at the UCLA Center
for Healthier Children, Families and Communities with a $1.25 million grant
from the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau. The center will support
researchers who are studying health-care issues that affect the growth
and development of children from birth to age 5.
An Astronomical Award . . . Great Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society awarded the 1997 Gold Medal, its highest honor, to Donald Osterbrock, professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, for his work on interstellar matter, gaseous nebulae and the nuclei of active galaxies.
A High Honor . . . Noel T. Keen, professor of plant pathology at UC Riverside, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, an honor considered one of the most prestigious in academia.
Recycling Recognized . . . Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
has been selected to receive the 1997 Department Of Energy Pollution Prevention
Award for solid waste recycling in recognition of their efforts to salvage
and recycle materials from the demolition of 22 modular buildings.
Investing in Education
Private Gifts . . . Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., one of Japan’s
top 10 pharmaceutical companies, has announced a $1 million endowment to
the UC San Diego Cancer Center to create the Chugai Pharmaceutical Chair
for Dr. David Tarin, an internationally known pathologist from Oxford University,
who is the Cancer Center director-designate . . . The UC Irvine Cancer
Center has received a $400,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute
that will provide a significant boost for the center’s genetics research
. . . UC Berkeley received $4 million from Bay Area concert pianist and
Class of '35 alumni Jean Gray Hargrove for its new music library, which
will serve students, music scholars, composers and performers into the
next century.
Compiled by Communications
Services, Office of the President, Larissa.Branin@ucop.edu