On Friday, September 5th 2008, the San Diego Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT San Diego CA-4), co-sponsored by UC San Diego Medical Center and International Relief Teams of San Diego, Inc., has been activated to deploy to the Southeast to prepare for the anticipated medical needs of Hurricane Ike victims. The 35-person team of local medical volunteers is led by Irving "Jake" Jacoby, M.D., Emergency Medicine physician and Medical Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response at UC San Diego Medical Center. The San Diego DMAT team will depart from San Diego to Los Angeles on Saturday, September 6. More

Tiny particles in air called aerosols create smog, seed clouds, and control how much of the sun's heat makes it through the atmosphere, yet these particles are the least understood aspect of climate research. Now, UC San Diego and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are working together to tackle the role of aerosols in climate change-specifically how aerosols from pollution, oceans and wildfires contribute to shifting weather. More

In a collaborative study at the University of California, San Diego, investigators from neurosciences, chemistry and medicine, as well as the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) have investigated how proteins involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease interact to form unique complexes. Their findings explain why Alzheimer's patients might develop Parkinson's, and vice versa. The new and unique molecular structures they discovered can now be used to model and develop new drugs for these devastating neurological diseases. Their findings will be published in the September 3 issue of Public Library of Science (PLoS) ONEon September 4, 2008. More

Mexico City once topped lists of places with the worst air pollution in the world. Although efforts to curb emissions have improved the situation, tiny particles called aerosols still clog the air. Now, atmospheric scientists from UC San Diego and six other institutions have sorted through the pall that hangs over the city to precisely identify aerosols that make up the haze and chart daily patterns of changes to the mix. More

A record estimated 28,561 students will begin arriving on the University of California, San Diego campus Sept. 22 prior to the start of fall quarter classes Sept. 25. Among the 2008 total students are an estimated 4,300 incoming freshmen members of the Class of 2012, 1,800 new transfer and 1,050 graduate students. More

Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UC SD) in La Jolla have found evidence explaining why a common chemotherapy drug, cisplatin, may not always work for every cancer patient. They have shown that when a variant version of a key protein that normally causes cell death is active, patients may be resistant to the cancer-killing drug. More

In a study that underscores the important role that individual genetic profiles will play in the development of new therapies for disease, a multi-institutional research team—led by Kang Zhang, MD, PhD professor of ophthalmology and human genetics at Shiley Eye Center at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine—has made two important discoveries related to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in adults over the age of 60. More

The University of California, San Diego is listed as first among Division II National Collegiate Athletic Association schools in the 6th annual "Collegiate Power Rankings" announced by the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA). More

Influential and iconoclastic film critic, abstract painter and UC San Diego Professor Emeritus of Visual Arts Emanuel "Manny" Farber died Aug. 17 at his home in San Diego's North County. He was 91. Called the "Mount Rushmore of Film Criticism" by filmmaker Paul Schrader and once described by art critic Peter Plagens as "the last honorable man," Farber was a major force in American culture for more than 50 years. More

Influential and iconoclastic film critic, abstract painter and UC San Diego Professor Emeritus of Visual Arts Emanuel "Manny" Farber died Aug. 17 at his home in San Diego's North County. He was 91. Called the "Mount Rushmore of Film Criticism" by filmmaker Paul Schrader and once described by art critic Peter Plagens as "the last honorable man," Farber was a major force in American culture for more than 50 years. More