Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a miniature, ultra-low power injectable biosensor that could be used for continuous, long-term alcohol monitoring. The chip is small enough to be implanted in the body just beneath the surface of the skin and is powered wirelessly by a wearable device, such as a smartwatch…
Gecko-Inspired Adhesives Help Soft Robotic Fingers Get a Better Grip
A team of California researchers has developed a robotic gripper that combines the adhesive properties of gecko toes and the adaptability of air-powered soft robots to grasp a much wider variety of objects than the state of the art. Researchers will present their findings at the 2018 International Conference on Robotics and Automation May 21…
Flexible Ultrasound Patch Could Make It Easier to Inspect Damage in Odd-Shaped Structures
Researchers have developed a stretchable, flexible patch that could make it easier to perform ultrasound imaging on odd-shaped structures, such as engine parts, turbines, reactor pipe elbows and railroad tracks—objects that are difficult to examine using conventional ultrasound equipment. The ultrasound patch is a versatile and more convenient tool to inspect machine and building parts…
A Wearable System to Monitor the Stomach’s Activity Throughout the Day
A team of researchers has developed a wearable, non-invasive system to monitor electrical activity in the stomach over 24 hours–essentially an electrocardiogram but for the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract. Applications include monitoring GI activity for patients outside of a clinical setting, which cuts down costs. Monitoring for longer periods of time also increases the likelihood of…
Polygenic Risk Score May Identify Alzheimer’s Risk in Younger Populations
UC San Diego Launches Data Science Institute
A new institute at the University of California San Diego, which will be celebrated tomorrow at a campus dedication, is building on the university’s strengths of multidisciplinary collaboration and data science to allow researchers across the campus to incorporate data science into their respective disciplines to better understand and make predictions about the world around us. The cross-disciplinary Halicioğlu Data Science Institute,…
Researchers Use Human Neural Stem Cell Grafts to Repair Spinal Cord Injuries in Monkeys
Led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, a diverse team of neuroscientists and surgeons successfully grafted human neural progenitor cells into rhesus monkeys with spinal cord injuries. The grafts not only survived, but grew hundreds of thousands of human axons and synapses, resulting in improved forelimb function in the monkeys.…
Novel Technologies Reveal Key Information About Depleted East Pacific Green Sea Turtles
Researchers Develop Remote-controlled Cancer Immunotherapy System
A team of researchers has developed an ultrasound-based system that can non-invasively and remotely control genetic processes in live immune T cells so that they recognize and kill cancer cells. There is a critical need to non-invasively and remotely manipulate cells at a distance, particularly for translational applications in animals and humans, researchers said. The…
Researchers Develop a Remote-Controlled Cancer Immunotherapy System
A team of researchers has developed an ultrasound-based system that can non-invasively and remotely control genetic processes in live immune T cells so that they recognize and kill cancer cells. There is a critical need to non-invasively and remotely manipulate cells at a distance, particularly for translational applications in animals and humans, researchers said. The…
New Application for Acoustics Helps Estimate Marine Life Populations
The Ocean Is Losing Its Breath— Here’s the Global Scope
In the past 50 years, the amount of water in the open ocean with zero oxygen has gone up more than fourfold. In coastal water bodies, including estuaries and seas, low-oxygen sites have increased more than 10-fold since 1950. Scientists expect oxygen to continue dropping even outside these zones as Earth warms. To halt the…
Scientists Decipher Mechanisms Underlying the Biology of Aging
Understanding the factors that control aging has been one of humanity’s endless pursuits, from the mystical fountain of youth to practical healthful regimens to prolong life expectancy. A team of scientists at the University of California San Diego has helped decipher the dynamics that control how our cells age, and with it implications for extending…
Drug-delivering Micromotors Treat Their First Bacterial Infection in the Stomach
Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have demonstrated for the first time using micromotors to treat a bacterial infection in the stomach. These tiny vehicles, each about half the width of a human hair, swim rapidly throughout the stomach while neutralizing gastric acid and then release their cargo of antibiotics at the desired…
Electrolytes Made from Liquefied Gas Enable Batteries to Run at Ultra-low Temperatures
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a breakthrough in electrolyte chemistry that enables lithium batteries to run at temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius with excellent performance — in comparison, today’s lithium-ion batteries stop working at -20 degrees Celsius. The new electrolytes also enable electrochemical capacitors to run as low…
Scientists Report Large-Scale Surface Melting Event in Antarctica during 2015-16 El Niño
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, a landbound mass of ice larger than Mexico, experienced substantial surface melt through the austral summer of 2015-2016 during one of the largest El Niño events of the past 50 years, according to scientists who had been conducting the first comprehensive atmospheric measurements in the region since the 1960s. The…
Chemists Recreate Nanoparticle Skin Requires for Melanin Production
Study Finds Bacteria Living in Marine Sponge Produce Toxic Flame Retardant-Like Compounds
New Nano-Implant Could One Day Help Restore Sight
A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego and La Jolla-based startup Nanovision Biosciences Inc. have developed the nanotechnology and wireless electronics for a new type of retinal prosthesis that brings research a step closer to restoring the ability of neurons in the retina to respond to light. The researchers demonstrated this…
Analyzing Copies of Genes Offers New Treatment Possibilities for Ovarian Cancer
Study Finds Algae-Eating Fish are Critical to Coral Reef Health
‘Exceptional’ Nanosensor Architecture Based on Exceptional Points
Researchers from the University of California San Diego have developed a novel design for a compact, ultra-sensitive nanosensor that can be used to make portable health-monitoring devices and to detect minute quantities of toxins and explosives for security applications. The study addresses one of the major challenges of nanosensor design: how to increase sensitivity while reducing…
Semiconductor-Free Microelectronics Now Possible, Thanks to Metamaterials
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have fabricated the first semiconductor-free, optically-controlled microelectronic device. Using metamaterials, engineers were able to build a microscale device that shows a 1,000 percent increase in conductivity when activated by low voltage and a low power laser. The discovery paves the way for microelectronic devices that are faster…
Dysfunction in Neuronal Transport Mechanism Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have confirmed that mutation-caused dysfunction in a process cells use to transport molecules within the cell plays a previously suspected but underappreciated role in promoting the heritable form of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but also one that might be remedied with existing therapeutic enzyme inhibitors. The…
Synthetic Membranes Created to Mimic Properties of Living Cells
Biochemists at the University of California San Diego have developed artificial cell membranes that grow and remodel themselves in a manner similar to that of living mammalian cells. The achievement, detailed in a paper published in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, follows the successful design last year in the same laboratory…