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VOL. 26. NO.11 MARCH 21, 2006

Supporters in the capital

About 25 UCLA alumni and staff volunteers joined the throng of UC alumni and friends who convened in Sacramento March 7 for the annual UC Day to speak to lawmakers and their staffs on UC’s behalf. As President Robert C. Dynes welcomed the volunteer lobbying corps for morning and afternoon visits with legislators, Dynes urged “you alumni whose lives have truly been affected by the University of California [to] just speak from your heart.” UCLA’s delegates met with 15 legislators and staff members to present their concerns about funding for the UC in the state budget. Some were later taken on a tour of the Assembly floor by Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez, D-Norwalk, one of 17 Bruins in the Legislature.

Education Abroad

A special committee of the UC regents will examine the university's policies regarding the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP), particularly in countries where the U.S. State Department has advised citizens against travel. Currently, EAP has suspended its programs in Israel and the Philippines, said UC Acting Provost Wyatt R. Hume, who briefed the regents March 15. Apart from EAP, UC students have been free to study in Israel for many years and continue to be able to do so and to receive UC academic credit. In addition, each UC campus has procedures by which students can make arrangements to study in a program abroad and earn academic credit before returning home. An eight-member committee will conduct the EAP review.

‘Double helix’ in space

Astronomers report an unprecedented elongated double helix nebula near the center of our Milky Way galaxy, using observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The part of the nebula the astronomers observed stretches 80 light years in length. “We see two intertwining strands wrapped around each other as in a DNA molecule,” said Mark Morris, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy and lead author. “Nobody has ever seen anything like that before in the cosmic realm. Most nebulae are either spiral galaxies full of stars or formless amorphous conglomerations of dust and gas — space weather. What we see indicates a high degree of order.” The double helix nebula is approximately 300 light years from the enormous black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

Scientists invent material that increases storage capacity for hydrogen fuel

Chemists at UCLA and the University of Michigan report an advance toward the goal of cars that run on hydrogen rather than gasoline. While the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that practical hydrogen fuel will require concentrations of at least 6.5%, the chemists have achieved concentrations of 7.5% — nearly three times as much as has been reported previously — but at a very low temperature (77 degrees Kelvin). The materials, which the chemists invented in the early 1990s, are called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are like scaffolds made of linked rods — a structure that maximizes the surface area. MOFs, which have been described as crystal sponges, have pores, openings on the nanoscale in which the researchers can store gases. One gram of a MOF has the surface area of a football field. The research, conducted by Omar Yaghi, UCLA professor of chemistry, and his colleagues at the University of Michigan, could lead to a hydrogen fuel that powers not only cars, but laptop computers, cellular phones, digital cameras and other electronic devices as well.

Dental test for cancer

Researchers from the School of Dentistry have developed the first standardized saliva ribonucleic acids (RNA) test for oral cancer. Ready for further clinical testing, this new tool for detecting cancer will provide enormous clinical value in reducing the mortality and morbidity of oral cancer patients and improving their quality of life. An article on the new test appears in this month’s Journal of the American Dental Association. Traditionally, cancer researchers have used blood serum and urine to detect cancer signatures. Saliva contains the same biomarkers as those found in blood, but until recently, scientists lacked the tools that would allow them to analyze the fluid. The advent of nanotechnology enabled scientists to uncover the components of saliva, including the distinct messenger RNAs that serve as oral cancer signatures, on an atomic or molecular scale.

UC to appeal court ruling

The UC is planning to appeal a San Francisco Superior Court ruling that requires it to reimburse nearly $34 million of a controversial fee increase to students who were enrolled in selected professional schools in 2002 or earlier. In Kashmiri v. Regents, a class-action lawsuit filed in 2003, students maintained that statements made in UC catalogs and other publications promised them that professional student fees would not increase while they were enrolled. Judge James Warren agreed with the students. But UC countered that the court’s judgment is incorrect on a number of fundamental issues of law: The university maintains there was no contract regarding the amount of the fees since students were repeatedly notified that all published fee levels were subject to change without notice even though students received ample notice of the fee hike. The increases were necessitated by an unprecedented state budget crisis, UC officials said.

The groper is back

Another incident of sexual battery occurred at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 26 when a woman walking southbound in the 400 block of Kelton was “bear-hugged” from behind by a suspect who grabbed her breasts. UC Police said it was the seventh such incident to happen near campus since Dec. 15. The suspect fled on foot northbound toward Gayley. Police are urging people to report any suspicious individuals immediately. The suspect has been described as a 22-year-old white male with dark curly hair, weighing 150-180 pounds and standing 5 foot, 7 inches to 5 foot, 11 inches tall. Call (310) 825-1491 if you have any information. To see a police sketch, go to www.ucpd.ucla.edu/ucpd/bulletin_crime.html and click on sexual battery.

UC to collect up-front royalty payment of $100 million

The UC has reached a settlement with Monsanto Co., including a payment of an up-front royalty of $100 million, to resolve claims in a February 2004 lawsuit that the company infringed on UC's patent for the recombinant DNA used to make somatotropin, a dairy cow growth hormone. Bovine somatotropin is used to enhance milk production and serves as an important tool to help dairy producers improve the efficiency of their operations. The isolated DNA was discovered by UC San Francisco scientists Walter L. Miller, Joseph A. Martial and John D. Baxter. Under the settlement, Monsanto will pay UC an up-front royalty of $100 million in partial consideration for an exclusive license to the university's patent rights to the recombinant DNA to make bovine somatotropin (sold under the Monsanto brand name POSILAC® bovine somatotropin). The settlement also includes an ongoing royalty of 15 cents per dose of POSILAC® to a dairy cow with a minimum annual royalty of $5 million for the life of the last to expire of the university's exclusively licensed patents. For more information, go to
www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2006/feb27b.html

TB and people of African descent

A team of scientists has identified a cellular mechanism that may help explain the puzzle of why people of African descent are more susceptible to tuberculosis infection and why, once infected, they develop more severe states of the disease than whites. The team includes researchers from UCLA and the Harvard School of Public Health. Their findings will appear online in the Feb. 23 issue of Science Express. Approximately 8 million people worldwide are infected with TB annually, with an estimated 2 million people dying from the lung disease each year. In 2004, blacks had TB case rates that were eight times higher than whites.

Google it

UCTV has made more than 1,000 hours of programming available to be downloaded and viewed for free on the Google Video service. Google Video (http://video.google.com) is the world's first open online video marketplace, where users can search for, watch and even buy an ever-growing collection of TV shows, movies, music videos, documentaries, personal productions and more. The UCTV video collection is made up for programs from the 10 campuses and includes interviews, lectures, documentaries, musical performances and more, with guests that range from scientists and CEOs to poets and artists. UCTV is available nationwide on Dish Network satellite, cable and online, and its presence on the Google Video search engine will greatly expand UCTV's reach to millions more Web users worldwide.

Semel Institute to set up global network of resource centers

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has selected the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior to organize a global network of resource centers that will address the growing need for accessible and quality drug treatment and rehabilitation services. Richard Rawson, adjunct associate professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine, is associate director of the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs. “We feel honored to be selected to manage this important project,” Rawson said. “Improving the availability and effectiveness of drug rehabilitation services through the UNODC network will make a real difference in many, many lives.” The network will offer members training and other support and facilitate idea-sharing among centers.
Represented regions include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

WHERE ARE WE?

You’re standing in the Royce Hall first-floor south loggia, looking straight up at the ceiling. Each of the 12 medieval professions — chemistry, graphic art, literature/drama, history, education, mathematics, music, philosophy, physics, language, astronomy and biology — is represented, along with the names of great practitioners of that profession.