From Bench to Bedside in One Year:
Stem Cell Research Leads to Potential
New Therapy for Rare Blood Disorder
A unique partnership between industry and academia has led to human clinical trials of a new drug for a rare class of blood diseases called myeloproliferative disorders, which are all driven by the same genetic mutation and can evolve into leukemia. In just one year, collaborative discoveries by stem cell researchers moved from identification of the most promising drug candidate to clinical trials for a new drug to fight the degenerative blood disorder. More

Survivor Gives First-Hand
Account of Life on Schindler’s List
By the time World War II ended, Leon Leyson had lost two brothers, survived the Krakow Ghetto in Poland and narrowly escaped death countless times. He was just 15. Leyson is the youngest survivor on the now-famous Schindler’s List, drafted by industrialist Oskar Schindler, who went on to save about 1200 Jews from death in Nazi concentration camps. Now a resident of Orange County and the father of a UCSD alumna, Leyson gave a talk Friday on campus, sponsored by UCSD’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. More

Going Far, Doing Good:
Making Twelve Best Friends in One Week
Scores of UCSD students, fanned across the globe last month for spring break. They took part in alternative spring breaks, a program that allows students to take one-week service trips to many destinations, from China, to Russia and Guatemala. This year, This Week@UCSD has asked two students to write first-person essays about their experiences. Read the second essay in the series about Shaina Patel's one-week stint in Guatemala. More

Popularity Grows for 'Voluntourism'
UCSD survey shows all generations will travel to help others
About 40 percent of Americans say they're willing to spend several weeks on vacations that involve volunteer service, with another 13 percent desiring to spend an entire year. But where volunteers want to go and how long they want to stay is linked to which generation they belong. More

This Shore Thing Isn’t Always a Sure Thing
Many Turn Out to Watch Grunion Fish Spawn on Beaches
An adventurous crowd of kids and adults stayed up well past their bedtime April 7 in hopes of witnessing a late-night, ocean wonder — the mysterious grunion run. The night marked the 2008 season launch of Birch Aquarium at Scripps’s naturalist-guided grunion runs, and the grunion — and humans — were out in full force. More

Protein Data Bank Archives 50,000th Molecule Structure
The Protein Data Bank this month reached a significant milestone in its 37-year history as the 50,000th molecule structure was released into its archive, joining other structures vital to pharmacology, bioinformatics, and education. With its origins in a handwritten petition circulated at a scientific meeting, the PDB is the single worldwide repository for the three-dimensional structures of large molecules and nucleic acids. More

UC San Diego Hosts Fiesta de las Estrellas on
April 17 to Benefit Student Undergraduate Scholarships
More than 50 promising UC San Diego students' lives have been touched by the generosity of members of the UCSD Hispanic Scholarship Council, which created Fiesta de las Estrellas more than a decade ago to raise scholarship funds for deserving students of great promise. The council will hold the 11th annual Fiesta de las Estrellas fundraiser on Thursday, honoring the achievements of six Estrellas—community and business leaders who have consistently worked to improve the world in which we live. More

Leading Scholar of the Bible,
David Noel Freedman, Dies at 85
One of the world’s foremost experts on the Bible, David Noel Freedman, died April 8, 2008. Holder of the Endowed Chair in Hebrew Biblical Studies at UC San Diego since 1992, Professor Freedman was 85 and had been author and editor of more than 300 scholarly books. His son David said Freedman died from a myocardial infarction at the son’s home in Petaluma, Calif. More

Chief Operating Officer of Chemistry
and Biochemistry Receives 2008 Betsy Faught Award
Marjorie Hardy, chief operating officer of the department of chemistry and biochemistry, has been named the recipient of the 2008 Betsy Faught Award. The award recognizes excellence and outstanding achievement in the management of general campus academic units.  More