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	©2004 The Regents of the University of California

VOL. 25. NO.10 FEBRUARY 23, 2005

LIBRARY MEETS CHALLENGE

A closing gift from the Ahmanson Foundation has enabled the UCLA Library to complete a three-year challenge launched by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to establish an endowment for preservation and conservation. The library has raised $750,000, which has been matched by the Mellon Foundation to create a $1.5-million endowment. The Ahmanson Foundation also provided a generous lead gift, and significant contributions were made by the Robert G. and Janet S. Dunlap Trust, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Steinmetz Foundation and many individuals. “We are deeply grateful to these visionary donors for enabling us to match the Mellon Foundation’s challenge and for helping to preserve library materials for current and future generations of students and scholars,” said University Librarian Gary E. Strong.

KILLER IN DISGUISE

Camouflaging an impotent AIDS virus in new “clothes” enables it to hunt down metastasized melanoma cells in living mice, reports a UCLA AIDS Institute study in the Feb. 13 online edition of Nature Medicine. “For the past 20 years, gene therapy has been hampered by the lack of a good carrier for therapeutic genes that can travel through the blood and aim itself at a precise location, thereby minimizing harmful side effects,” said Irvin S.Y. Chen, director of the UCLA AIDS Institute. “Our approach proves that it is possible to develop an effective carrier and reprogram it to target specific cells in the body.”

UC ADVOCATES IN SACRAMENTO

More than 300 UC alums and friends convened in Sacramento Feb. 15 for the annual UC Day. Organized by the Alumni Associations of the University of California (AAUC), the event drew advocates from UC’s 10 campuses for meetings with more than 80 legislators to stress the university’s myriad contributions to the state. A 30-member delegation of UCLA staff and alumni met with 15 legislators and staff and urged them to keep the state competitive by supporting UC. The AAUC gave Regent Joanne Corday Kozberg the Advocate of the Year award and Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nuñez the Legislator of the Year award. The day’s events kicked off with a welcome address by UC President Robert C. Dynes.