xDoperunnerx - Bioengineering Disease Track 5 from their self titled release 303 Grindcore http://doperunner.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/doperunner. By: DopeRunner … Continue reading →

TIME Health social anxiety What do you do when you want to study something as complicated as what happens deep in the brain when two strangers meet? You develop a completely new way of tracking nerve connections, and then you test it in mice. Thats what Dr. Karl Deisseroth, a professor of psychiatry and bioengineering at Stanford University, and his colleagues did. We know social behavior is complicated, but to be able to delve into the brain of freely behaving mammals and to see the signal in real time predicting their social interaction was very exciting, says Deisseroth, who published his results in the journal Cell. Brain researchers have long known that certain chemicals known as neurotransmitters soar or drop depending on what were doing and how we feel. Based on these observations, drug companies have developed an armada of medications aimed at mimicking these changes to treat everything from depression, hyperactivity and even social anxiety or shyness. But theres a difference between observing hormone levels rising or falling and identifying a specific circuitamong the millions that occur in the brainresponsible for how we feel and whether we are friendly at a first meeting, say, or a little more reserved. … Continue reading →

By Kara Guzman kguzman@santacruzsentinel.com @karambutan on Twitter SANTA CRUZ >> A new treatment for skin cancer is just one possible outcome of the 15 undergraduate research projects highlighted at the Chancellor's Undergraduate Awards ceremony Friday. Senior Beau Norgeot used computer analysis to create a drug designed to make cells more receptive to chemotherapy. The bioengineering major received the day's top honor, the Steck Family Award. When melanoma, a type of skin cancer, spreads, only 20 percent of patients survive, said Glenn Millhauser, UCSC chemistry and biochemistry professor and Norgeot's adviser. What's novel about Norgeot's seven-month project, said Millhauser, is the collaboration it represents. For the first time, Norgeot brought together David Bernick, UCSC biomolecular engineering professor, with Millhauser, to link their work on computer algorithms and chemistry. Norgeot, 33, returned to UCSC in 2011 to finish his undergraduate degree after leaving in the 1990s to start three companies. He said research has given context to his classwork and shaped his campus experience. "(From research) I think what I've learned to do is ask good questions," said Norgeot, who said he plans to attend graduate school to continue his work. What distinguishes UCSC's undergraduate research is student access to faculty, said … Continue reading →