A UCLA professor is developing a new microscopic sensor to monitor the chemical signaling of major neurotransmitters in the brain. Anne Andrews, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences, received the National Institutes of Health’s $6 million Transformative Research Award last week for her research, which aims to understand psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. Andrews uses synthetic […]
Category Archives: Science & Health
Artificial intelligence technology optimizes anti-pest drug combination
Researchers at UCLA and two other universities have discovered an effective drug combination against common agricultural pests by using artificial intelligence technology. In a study published earlier this month, researchers in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Iowa State University created a combination of four different drugs […]
Campus Queries: Why have this year’s California wildfires been so destructive?
Campus Queries is a series in which Daily Bruin readers and staff present science-related questions for UCLA professors and experts to answer. Q: Why have this year’s wildfires across California been more destructive in loss of property and human life compared with other years? More than a dozen fires spread throughout Northern California last week, […]
Researchers develop method to analyze distinct brain cell types
UCLA researchers have created a new research tool to identify different types of brain cells that regulate social and emotional behavior. In a study published Oct. 11, researchers from various departments including the David Geffen School of Medicine developed a technical method called Act-seq, which analyzes cell’s gene expressions. The Act-seq method helps distinguish the […]
$9.7 million grant to fund UCLA’s research on autism spectrum disorder
A research grant from the National Institutes of Health will fund research on and treatment for autism spectrum disorder at UCLA. The five-year $9.7 million grant will support the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior’s Center for Autism Research and Treatment, which researches individual variations of autism spectrum disorder, its genetic causes and […]
Mental health screenings, treatment services now free for all students
UCLA is reaching out to all students to provide free mental health screenings and treatment services this year. The UCLA Grand Depression Challenge, a universitywide research initiative that aims to decrease the health and economic effects of depression, is expanding efforts to offer internet-based treatment and optional drop-in support groups, according to the UCLA Grand […]
Alumna creates company to develop nonhormonal endometriosis treatment
Tanya Petrossian is fighting against an overlooked epidemic that affects more than 10 percent of girls and women worldwide. Petrossian, who received her bachelor’s and doctorate degrees at UCLA, founded EndoCyclic Therapeutics in 2017 to develop the world’s first nonhormone therapeutic treatment for endometriosis, a chronic disease that Petrossian was diagnosed with in February. “I […]