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CELL 'TALK'

Engineers at UCLA have discovered a way to alter cell metabolism so that cells can artificially communicate with each other. Such communication, say researchers, makes coordinated cellular action possible. One benefit of this is that cells acting in unison could be directed to create greater quantities of a chemical compound that can be used to manufacture chemicals or pharmaceuticals. “Concerted biological behavior is certainly more easily achievable if cells can communicate,” said James Liao, co-author of the study and professor of chemical engineering at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. “It’s an important step toward a more biologically based means of producing chemical compounds with desired properties.” The study was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

LAB MANAGEMENT

The University of California recently signed a one-year contract extension to continue managing the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. Since October 2002, UC has managed the Berkeley laboratory under a series of contract extensions, the most recent of which was set to expire Jan. 31. Recent congressional action mandated that the Department of Energy conduct a competition for five national laboratory contracts, including the one for the Berkeley lab. The Department of Energy has not yet announced detailed plans for the Berkeley lab competition. The decision on whether UC will compete for the Berkeley lab contract is expected to be made by the regents after the Department of Energy releases its request for proposals.

CANCER ON THE NANOSCALE

UCLA researchers have received a $1.5-million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation for a new interdisciplinary program that will use nanotechnology to understand the origins of the majority of solid tumor cancers. “The W. M. Keck Epithelial Cell Cancer Biology Program will help UCLA scientists better understand the complex nature of tumors that share an epithelial cell origin such as breast, prostate, lung, bladder and pancreatic cancer,” said Leonard Rome, principal investigator for the program, director of the Jonsson Cancer Center’s Cancer Cell Biology Program Area and senior associate dean for research at the Geffen School of Medicine. Epithelial cells form the body’s coverings and linings. The new project will build on the strengths of the W. M. Keck Proteomics Center and enhance collaborations among researchers from the Jonsson center, the California NanoSystems Institute, the UCLA College and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.