UC San Diego Campus on Fast Track to Fewer Cars
More than half of the daily commuters to the UC San Diego campus are pedaling bikes, riding shuttle buses or carpooling with fellow students, staff and faculty, an alternative transportation milestone for one of the nation’s greenest universities. More

UC San Diego Health Sciences Announces Collaboration
with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development
University of California, San Diego Health Sciences leaders have announced that they have executed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C. (J&JPRD), with the objective of developing future collaborations in biomedical research and education to advance human health. More

American Heart Association Bestows Award
on UC San Diego Pioneer in Peripheral Artery Disease
University of California, San Diego Professor Michael Criqui, M.D., M.P.H., has been awarded the American Heart Association’s 2008 Distinguished Achievement Award, sponsored by the AHA’s Council on Epidemiology and Prevention. The award, given only once every three years, is presented to an individual who has made substantial professional contributions to the field. More

The Smart Way to Study
Combine the aphorisms that “practice makes perfect” and “timing is everything” into one and you might get something resembling findings published in this month’s issue of Psychological Science. Proper spacing of lessons, the researchers report, can dramatically enhance learning. And larger gaps between study sessions result in better recall of facts. More

Scientists Seek to Block Progression of Alzheimer’s
Disease with Novel Medication that Targets the Source
UC San Diego Researchers Calling for Volunteers for Nationwide Clinical Trial
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Research Center (ADRC) are conducting studies on an experimental medication to block nerve damage and inflammation in the brain that can lead to progressive memory loss and behavioral changes in people with Alzheimer’s disease. While current Alzheimer’s disease therapies focus on improving symptoms, this study aims to attack the root of the disease progression. Nationwide, 400 volunteers with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease are needed to further test this new approach. More

“Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” Game
Provides Clue to Efficiency of Complex Networks
Results could remove bottlenecks from the Internet and biological systems
As the global population continues to grow exponentially, our social connections to one another remain relatively small, as if we’re all protagonists in the Kevin Bacon game inspired by “Six Degrees of Separation,” a Broadway play and Hollywood feature that were popular in the 1990s. More

UC San Diego Leaders Tapped as Key Members
of President-Elect Barack Obama’s Administration Transition Teams
Two prominent scholars at UC San Diego have been named by President-elect Barack Obama to serve on his transition teams. Peter Cowhey, dean of the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, has been chosen as a Co-Leader of the President-Elect transition team preparing for the new administration’s Special Representative for Trade Policy. Nobel laureate, Mario Molina, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has been named as Co-Leader of the transition team assigned to develop plans for the nation's science and technology policy. More

UCSD Libraries to Host Campus Visit
by Renowned Author Joyce Carol Oates Nov. 23
Joyce Carol Oates, one of the nation’s leading novelists, will visit the UC San Diego campus on Sunday, Nov. 23, to attend an afternoon reception where she will read from her most recent works.  The event, sponsored by the UC San Diego Libraries and the Friends of the UCSD Libraries, will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. at the UC San Diego Faculty Club. More

How Eating Red Meat Can Spur Cancer Progression
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, led by Ajit Varki, M.D., have shown a new mechanism for how human consumption of red meat and milk products could contribute to the increased risk of cancerous tumors.  Their findings, which suggest that inflammation resulting from a molecule introduced through consumption of these foods could promote tumor growth, are published online this week in advance of print publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). More

UC San Diego Physician Defies Gravity
with Four Kids Who Spend Their Lives in Wheelchairs
Erik Viirre, M.D., Ph.D., a University of California, San Diego School of Medicine physician who specializes in diseases of the inner ear, recently completed his fifth weightless flight with Zero Gravity Corporation. Aboard the same plane were four paraplegic children who left their wheelchairs on earth as they floated free in a zero-gravity environment. More

UC San Diego Welcomes Student Veterans with New Initiatives
UC San Diego has initiated several new programs designed to help student veterans as the campus gears up for an expected increase in the number of students who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The university currently has about 200 undergraduate students who have served in the military. UC San Diego’s new initiatives include a student veteran orientation, early enrollment privileges, and outreach efforts to local community colleges and military bases. More