New strategies pinpoint breast cancer risk, spare many from agony

With the help of donations from state tax filers, the California Breast Cancer Research Program funds innovative research. Studies have led to simple tests that guide treatment by distinguishing non-invasive forms of the cancer from aggressive types.

Electric car charging

Smarter power

As the nation's power system ages and grows insufficient, UC researchers are building a smarter, greener electric grid for the future.

Seabirds

Crossing borders to kick-start novel research

Scientists in Mexico and at UC study the breeding habits of a remarkable seabird for possible clues about behavioral evolution and how animals may develop immunities. The project is one of many research collaborations supported by UC MEXUS.

First-ever Zoobiquity conference teams docs, vets to seek cures

Lions, tigers and people - oh, my. A new research initiative will match medical and veterinary students from different UC campuses to work on projects important to both animal and human health.

Legislators tap grad students for expertise

In early June, 20 UC graduate students met with state lawmakers to discuss the variety and importance of their research. Several students were asked for their input on key policy issues, such as conservation and energy.

Graduate students take their research to the Capitol

They delivered a message to legislators: graduate student research is central not only to the future of UC, but to that of the state and the nation as well.

Devin K. Binder

Proving a concept and leaping the `valley of death`

An instrument to quickly detect traumatic brain injury, a vaccine to save unborn calves from a deadly bacterium and a technology to clean up grimy water are among research projects getting a boost from a new UC program. New grants will help move critical research out of the lab and into the market.

Ovarian cancer: UC researchers play key role in new treatments, analysis

For many women, a diagnosis of ovarian cancer is a death sentence. More than 14,000 women die of it each year. With symptoms that mimic other ailments, it often is diagnosed at a late stage. The five-year survival rate is just 31 percent; when the cancer becomes resistant to traditional chemotherapy, newer drugs have held it at bay for a few months at best.

Combining a prevention pill with community treatment programs

UC's California HIV/AIDS Research Program has funded studies to test a HIV prevention pill among high-risk HIV-uninfected people in the state.

Screening those at the highest risk for lung cancer

UC's Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program administers the California Cancer Research Fund, made possible by taxpayers who donate money by checking line 413 on their state income tax forms. TRDRP will utilize that fund to focus on lung cancer screening, including new tests to detect the disease in its early and treatable stages.

David Rowitch

Stem cell research heads to the clinic

For more than a decade, stem cell science has raised hopes of cures for a host of diseases and illnesses. Now, the research pace has picked up with lab discoveries moving to tests of therapies for patients.

Monitoring tower

There's something in the California air

UC professors built and worked in towers as part of the largest single atmospheric research effort in the state. The data they've collected will guide policymakers dealing with air pollution.