UC Santa Barbara Awarded $2 Million for Alzheimer's Research

The University of California, Santa Barbara has been awarded nearly $2 million from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation for innovative research in Alzheimer's disease. The grant will support an interdisciplinary investigation of the microtubule associated protein tau, which makes up the neurofibrillary tangles that are found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The research effort will be led by MCDB Professor Kenneth Kosik, co-director of UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute and Harriman Professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Other members of the team are MCDB Professor Stuart Feinstein, Frank Doyle, Omar Saleh, and Linda Petzold. Prof. Kosik will head the Larry L. Hillblom Center for Neurodegeneration Research at UC Santa Barbara, which will exist for the duration of the four-year, $1,970,291 project.
(press release)

New Stem Cell Endowed Chair for MCDB

UC Santa Barbara has received a $3 million gift from William K. Bowes, Jr. to establish an endowed chair in MCDB for the director of the campus's planned Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering. The professorship will be named in memory of Bowes's mother, Ruth Garland, a distinguished physician who was one of the first women to graduate from the Stanford School of Medicine, where she later taught. Garland was born in Santa Barbara and raised in Ojai.
(press release)

Chemicon Fellowship Awarded

Dr. Sherry Hikita, the Director of the UCSB Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, has been awarded the Chemicon fellowship. Funded through the generosity of Chemicon, a subsidiary of Millipore Inc., the fellowship provides three years of support. As Director, Sherry will oversee renovation of a new CIRM shared stem cell laboratory facility on the third floor of Bio-2 and continue her studies of human embryonic stem cell differentiation.

UCSB Awarded $2.26 M Grant for Stem Cell Lab

Santa Barbara is one of 17 institutions in the state to be awarded a grant by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to construct laboratory facilities for stem cell research. The grant, written by MCDB Chair Dennis Clegg and NRI Associate Director Lincoln Johnson, will be used to support the design and development of a shared laboratory to expand existing stem cell studies and to stimulate new investigations of the biology and engineering of stems cells at UCSB and other nearby research institutions on the central coast. The lab will be located in the Bio-2 building and directed by Dr. Sherry Hikita.
(press release)

Scientists Find Clues to Nervous System's Origins

UCSB scientists have discovered significant clues to the evolutionary origins of the nervous system. The discovery came about through study of the genome of Amphimedon Queenslandica, a sea sponge and member of a group considered to be among the most ancient of all animals. This research, led by MCDB Professor and NRI Co-Director Ken Kosik, is highly interdisciplinary and includes EEMB Professor Todd Oakley as well as computer scientists, biologists, and neuroscientists.
(press release)

Morse named Wilcox Chair in Biotechnology

MCDB Professor Dan Morse is the first scholar appointed to the Wilcox Family Chair in Biotechnology. The Wilcox professorship was established recently with a $700,000 gift from Gary and Susan Wilcox, who are both distinguished UCSB alumni, volunteer leaders, and longtime campus benefactors. Professor Morse's research is focused on the molecular mechanisms of biomineralization, with additional emphasis on biomolecular materials and biomimetic synthesis of new high-performance composites. He is also director of the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies. "I am humbled and deeply grateful to the Wilcox family and to UCSB for this honor," said Prof. Morse.
(press release)

Stem Cell Pioneer Joins MCDB as Adjunct Professor

James "Jamie" Thomson has accepted an Adjunct Professor appointment in MCDB and will operate a satellite laboratory in UCSB's California NanoSystems Institute, where he will carry out collaborative projects with UCSB biologists and engineers. Professor Thomson's main laboratory will remain at the University of Wisconsin, where he is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Anatomy in the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, and is the holder of the Jim Kress Endowed Chair. He also has appointments at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, the Genome Center of Wisconsin, and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and serves as the scientific director of the WiCell Research Institute. Professor Thomson was the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells in 1998, and has continued to be a leader in the field of stem cell research. Dale Carlson, a spokesperson for The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, was quoted as saying "This is a great coup for Santa Barbara. He is one of the finest, if not the very finest, researcher in the field. But it's also a great coup for the State of California."
(SB Independent Article)

Erkki Ruoslahti joins MCDB faculty, establishes Burnham branch at UCSB

Internationally renowned cell biologist Erkki Ruoslahti has established a branch of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research at UCSB, which will be known as the Vascular Mapping Center. Ruoslahti retains his primary appointment as Distinguished Professor with the Burnham, and will also be Distinguished Professor in the MCDB Department. His lab will focus on developing applications for vascular "zip codes," based on technology discovered in his laboratory. Vascular zip codes are molecular signatures in blood and lymphatic vessels that are specific to individual tissues and disease sites. Ruoslahti has discovered ways to selectively target drugs to tumor blood vessels in mice and suppress the growth of those tumors.

Targeting peptides discovered in Ruoslahti's laboratory are providing a platform for integrating nanotechnologies into the design of new therapies for cancer and heart disease. A partnership of 25 scientists, primarily from Burnham and UCSB, has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology with a $13 million grant to design nanotechnologies that detect, monitor, treat, and eliminate "vulnerable" plaque, the probable cause of death in sudden cardiac arrest. Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D. Ph.D., joined Burnham in 1979 and served as its President and CEO from 1989 through December 2001, at which time he was appointed distinguished professor. Dr. Ruoslahti is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the European Molecular Biology Organization. He has been recognized internationally with many honors, including Canada's Gairdner International Award and the 2005 Japan Prize in Cell Biology.
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Chuck Samuel Named 2006 AAAS Fellow

Congratulations to MCDB Professor and Charles A. Storke II Chair Chuck Samuel, who has been honored by election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science! Chuck was recognized for "pioneering studies in the interferon field, particularly biochemical analyses that provided understanding of how interferons inhibit virus multiplication and how viruses antagonize interferon action".
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