UC San Diego's School of Biological Sciences Newsletter
Issue 19: Spring 2026
2025 Nobel laureate and UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences alumnus Fred Ramsdell ’83 will serve as the keynote speaker at the 2026 All Campus Commencement ceremony on June 13. Also, on June 11, Ramsdell will join Dean Kit Pogliano for a School of Biological Sciences Deep Look public speaker series event on the future of American science and biomedical innovation. Details and registration information coming soon!
Eight researchers at UC San Diego, including School of Biological Sciences Professors Andrew Chisholm and Emily Troemel, have been elected 2025 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals.
Innovators from A to Z: School of Biological Sciences Professors Omar Akbari and Yunde Zhao were named as two of UC San Diego's six new senior members of the National Academy of Inventors. NAI senior members are recognized for innovative research and producing technologies that have brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society and economic progress.
UC San Diego's "Always UC San Diego" campaign highlights the real-world impact of UC San Diego research — breakthroughs that meaningfully improve lives and strengthen our shared future. The campaign features two BioSci labs: Professor Omar Akbari's research on mosquito-borne disease (see video) and Professor Rommie Amaro's studies on airborne pollutants (see video).
Biologists led by Professor Elina Zúñiga have reported new insights on the influences related to metabolism and the environment surrounding CD8 T cells, the soldiers of the immune system. Their research led to intriguing insights on the role of fatty acids in chronic infections and other persistent conditions, such as tumors.
The Goeddel Family Technology Sandbox has launched a Fellows Program, an initiative designed to build a pipeline of academic and industry facility directors and technical experts. Program fellows are highly trained specialists with expertise in instrument operation, data acquisition and analysis.
School of Biological Sciences Assistant Teaching Professor Christopher Day is piloting an artificial intelligence tutor created by UC San Diego researchers trained on materials from his genetics course. “The goal isn’t to replace the learning process,” says Day. “It’s to help students work through the problem and move toward understanding.”
Circadian clocks play a crucial role in our health and well-being. Scientists based in in the School of Biological Sciences and Center for Circadian Biology, along with their colleagues, are now getting closer to understanding how these clocks operate at their core by solving how such clocks within bacteria are able to precisely control when different genes are turned on and off during the 24-hour cycle.
Recall Pixar’s Inside Out? In the movie, all memories are stored in little “orbs” that Riley’s emotions carefully sort through. It’s a fun way to picture how our minds store memorable events. But what happens when there are no birthday parties, soccer games or simple conversations to fill those orbs? Our brains build up memories with the help of social molding. When the support is taken away, our ability to recall and interpret memories can start to negatively change.
UC San Diego BioSci In The News...
