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A photo of Jason De León.

Second annual cohort of Chancellor’s Award for Community-Engaged Research to incorporate social justice into undergraduate courses

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A photo of Jason De León.

Professor Jason De León, one of five 2020-21 recipients of the Chancellor’s Community-Engaged Research Award. (Photo Credit: UCLA)

UCLA undergraduates will soon have the opportunity to gather primary source documents about California Indian dance, interview migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, study emerging online platforms for community organizing, and other community research-based subjects.

Five faculty have been chosen to receive the second annual Chancellor’s Award for Community-Engaged Research.  The five $10,000 research grants, offered by the UCLA Center for Community Learning and the Chancellor’s office, will support the faculty in developing courses that will engage students in research projects in conjunction with community partners.

In each course, students will carry out research activities in partnership with local community organizations. The course will advance their professor’s research goals and also benefit the communities that the partners serve.

Over the next academic year, the five faculty will participate in a workshop on best practices for teaching undergraduate community-engaged research and attend quarterly meetings to advance their course design. By the end of spring 2021, each faculty will have a new course syllabus, ready to be offered to undergraduates in 2021-22 or 2022-23.

Shalom Staub, director of the UCLA Center for Community Learning, said that the faculty selected for this year’s award will employ anti-racist and decolonial methodologies to tackle critical issues.

“The five award recipients embody the highest standards of scholarship combined with a deep commitment to racial, economic, and gender justice,” Staub said. “Through the new courses emerging from these awards, undergraduates will have the opportunity to learn community-engaged research methodology, contribute to their faculty’s ongoing research, and produce work of value to community partner organizations.”

Though the course topics vary widely, each one places an emphasis on studying the act of community engagement in itself: How can academic institutions and researchers remain respectful, ethical and collaborative when working with the communities they are studying?

Tria Blu Wakpa, professor of world arts and cultures/dance, will develop a course called “The Politics and Possibilities of California Indian Dance.” Students will gather primary and secondary documents about and related to California Indian dances and write annotated bibliographies. They will share all of this information with California Indian representatives of the Tongva, Chumash, Ohlone, and Winnemem Wintu nations, who will draw on these texts to revitalize and innovate their dances.

“The course will show that collaborating and consulting with Native peoples when writing about their dances is vital given the problematic relationships between universities and Indigenous peoples, tribally-specific contexts and understandings that undergird Native dances, and Indigenous protocols around what information is appropriate to share,” Blu Wakpa said.

Another course, “Community-Engaged Approaches to Environmental Toxicants, Chronic Illness, and Gender,” will introduce students to the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Oral Histories of Environmental Illness Archive, which has recorded interviews with women who have experienced illness as a result of chemicals and environmental toxins (in beauty products and while working in nail salons, for example).

Rachel Lee, professor in the departments of English, gender studies and the UCLA Institute of Society and Genetics, will teach the course. She wants students to investigate and make contact with community organizations that could benefit the individuals in the oral history archive, enabling the students to learn from them about advocacy and activism.

“It’s always striking to me how much knowledge is had by the organizers. They are the teachers here,” Lee said.

Jason de Leon, professor of anthropology and Chicana/Chicano studies, said community-engaged coursework can show students that they are capable of doing fieldwork and taking ownership of research projects.

“There is no substitute for hands-on learning,” de Leon said. “There’s a transformation that happens when you put people into a situation where they’re no longer passive learners, and they’re put into the driver’s seat to do the work.”

In De Leon’s course, students will interview and conduct focus groups with migrants who have been held in federal detention centers at the U.S./Mexico border, as well as people who have worked in the detention centers or live in the cities where the centers are located. Their work will be incorporated into an art exhibition called Hostile Terrain 94, part of the Undocumented Migration Project.

“We really hope that we can develop a rich collaboration with the communities, to feel like they are really collaborating with us,” he said. “What can we do in the community to help?”

Rounding out the 2020 cohort is Jennifer Chun, department of Asian American studies, and Gaye Theresa Johnson, Chicano/Chicana studies and African American studies. In conjunction with the Asian Pacific Islander American Leadership Development Project, Chun’s course will instruct students on developing relationships and practices of accountability, transparency, and reciprocity in the writing of organizational case studies and movement histories.

Johnson’s course will assign students to different local social welfare organizations such as Hunger Action LA to complete a project for that organization, while studying the intersecting social justice issues that determine the organization’s central organizing principles.

“In these tumultuous times, it is more important than ever for students to be actively engaged in the world around them,” Chancellor Gene Block said. “The Chancellor’s Award for Community-Engaged Research recognizes and supports those faculty who are providing exceptional undergraduate learning opportunities, empowering students to conduct research that will benefit the community and amplify voices that are often silenced. I look forward to seeing the positive impact the courses will have on both the Bruins who take part and the communities they will serve.”

 

A photo of the Colgan-Coral Reef.

Discovery opens up new path in study of marine evolution and biodiversity

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A photo of the Colgan-Coral Reef.

Two studies — one of reef-dwelling marine snails, the other of similar mollusks called nudibranchs — show for the first time that new species of both groups may be emerging as a result of host-switching, (Photo Credit: Sara Simmonds/UCLA)

New UCLA research indicates that an evolutionary phenomenon never before observed among marine life could help explain why there is such immense biodiversity in the world’s coral reefs and the ocean beyond.

Two studies — one of reef-dwelling marine snails, the other of similar mollusks called nudibranchs — show for the first time that new species of both groups may be emerging as a result of host-switching, in which populations of these animals that rely on a single species of coral for food and habitat switch to a new coral species, leading to wide genetic and physical differentiation. The phenomenon had only been seen previously in viruses, insects and several other organisms.

“This is the first time that anyone has seen this, but no one has ever looked,” said UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Paul Barber, whose lab conducted both studies. “This very well could be the tip of the iceberg.”

The findings suggest the possibility that the formation of new and distinct marine species through host-shifting may occur among other marine organisms as well, Barber said, opening up new avenues for research into the causes of marine biodiversity.

On land, new species are typically thought to evolve when natural barriers like mountains, canyons or rivers separate individuals or groups from one another. The ocean, however, has different barriers, including reef structures and currents, both of which contribute to host-shifting among snails and nudibranchs, the researchers note.

The larvae of snails and nudibranchs that subsist on a single species of coral will at times be swept away by ocean currents; if they aren’t lost or eaten, they can land on an entirely different coral species, where they imprint and spend their whole lives. Eventually, the scientists say, a generational line of snails or nudibranchs will evolve to prefer that particular coral and form a new species.

“It’s pretty likely that the corals are helping the nudibranchs form new species, in a way,” said Allison Fritts-Penniman, lead author of the nudibranch study, which reported a three-fold increase in known species for this group. “The more corals they can live on, the more different nudibranch species can evolve.”

The two new papers may mark the beginning of marine speciation discoveries — for nudibranchs and snails, which are common but understudied, as well as more broadly, said Sara Simmonds, lead author of the snail study, which used genomics to catch speciation in the act.

“Finding that divergence and speciation can happen in the oceans even with gene flow is an important discovery, not just for the marine environment but also for understanding evolution and speciation in general,” Simmonds said.

Both studies focused on a relatively small area of the western Pacific Ocean known at the Coral Triangle, which has one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world, including 600 different coral species.

“If there are so many corals, and so many of them have these strong associations, this very well could be an incredibly important process in generating all of this diversity,” said Barber, who also stressed the importance of protecting reef systems like the Coral Triangle from the devastating effects of climate change and industry-related threats.

Preserving the Coral Triangle

The Coral Triangle spans roughly 6.3 million square miles, accounting for about 1.6% of the world’s oceans, and is bordered by several countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. With hundreds of coral species and thousands of species of fish and other marine organisms, it is, Barber says, one of the most biodiverse, least studied and most threatened locations in the world.

While coastal development, unsustainable tourism and habitat destruction through “bomb fishing” with homemade explosives all pose significant dangers to the region, the biggest threat is climate change, which is damaging the reefs that underpin the Triangle’s biodiverse ecosystem. Ocean warming, acidification and rising sea levels are causing mass coral bleaching, in which coral expel living algae from their tissues and turn completely white; this can lead to coral death if the stressful conditions continue for too long. The World Wildlife Fund predicts that at the current rate of climate change, the Coral Triangle will disappear by 2100.

Major climate change–induced damage to the region’s biodiversity also puts the economies of the surrounding countries at risk, Barber notes, and a collapse of the marine ecosystem would result in the destruction of the region’s vast fishing industry and subsequent food insecurity for hundreds of millions of people.

Continuing to carry out research to boost our understanding what generates biodiversity in the Coral Triangle and other reefs is one of the major keys to protecting them in the fight against climate change, Barber said.

Even the public is getting involved in furthering that understanding, with citizen snorkelers and divers all over the world contributing to an effort by the nonprofit iNaturalist, a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society, to search for new coral-associated nudibranch species and helping scientists with the fieldwork needed for further study.

“The Coral Triangle is the world’s largest, most biodiverse marine ecosystem,” said Barber. “There is still so much to learn from it.”

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom.

Photo of community members at Royce Hall.

UCLA Announces Formal Launch of the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture

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The UCLA College has announced the formal establishment of the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture following a two-year campaign that raised an additional $4 million in external match funds.

The Center was initiated in October 2017 by a $5 million grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). The additional matching funds include major gifts from George and Tina Kolovos, who established the George P. Kolovos Family Centennial Term Chair in Hellenic Studies, and from Demos and Carol Anagnos, who established the Aris Anagnos Family Chair in Hellenic Studies.

Photo of community members at Royce Hall.

UCLA SNF Center faculty and community members celebrate a lecture by Artemis Cooper at Royce Hall in October 2019. Courtesy of the UCLA SNF Center.

In addition, endowments have been created to support graduate students—a major priority of the UCLA SNF Center—as well as undergraduate scholarships, expansion of library holdings in Hellenic studies, and annual performing arts programs. Multiple gifts from members of the Hellenic community and Hellenic organizations indicate strong support and sustained interest in the establishment of a Center at UCLA.

Said Dean of Humanities David Schaberg, “I am immensely grateful to all those who have contributed their vision, leadership, and financial resources to help establish a permanent home for Hellenic studies at UCLA. This new center will help scholars shine a light on one of the world’s great cultures and its continued impact on society today.”

Led by Professor of Byzantine Art and Archaeology and inaugural holder of the Kolovos Chair Sharon Gerstel, the Center brings together scholars in areas including archaeology, anthropology, classics, Greek language, philosophy, art history, history, digital humanities, and the sciences. Gerstel, an award-winning scholar who has conducted research in Greece for more than 30 years, has been instrumental in establishing the Center’s long-term vision. Under her leadership, the Center has established courses in Modern Greek language and culture, strengthened connections with cultural and educational institutions in the United States, Greece and Cyprus, and forged partnerships with Hellenic organizations in Southern California.

“We are well on our way to establishing UCLA as the premier destination in the country for scholars and students of Hellenic studies while engaging the local Greek community in the Center’s activities and events,” Gerstel said. “Our work will ensure that the rich history, language and cultural heritage of Greece—from its earliest days until the Modern era—will be studied, discussed and presented for generations to come, not only to the university community, but also to the general public.”

Since its inception, the Center has become a vibrant cultural hub for the Los Angeles Hellenic community. Collaborations with UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance and the Los Angeles Greek Festival have brought major artists to UCLA. The visiting professorship of the Greek film director Tassos Boulmetis introduced hundreds of UCLA students to the study of Greek cinema. The Center has also sponsored musical performances of rebetiko and is fostering the production of new works in theater and opera by local Greek and Greek American artists.

The Center’s initiatives like Kouvenda bring students and community members together for the study of Greek language and a new program Ergastirio, held in collaboration with The Ohio State University, initiates a series of conversations among academics, authors and cultural producers with the aim of promoting the practice of writing and teaching Greek America in the context of U.S. multiculturalism, the Greek diaspora, and European American culture and history. UCLA is also working with the prestigious Benaki Museum in Athens to create innovative programming, including at the Patrick Leigh Fermor House in Kardamyli, Greece, a cultural center housed in the late writer’s residence.

“Hellenic studies draws its vibrancy not only from Greece’s rich history, but also from the fact that its subject is living, lively, and global,” said Stelios Vassilakis, Chief of Programs and Strategic Initiatives at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. “This is reflected in the amazing show of support from members of the Greek-American community whose donations made the creation of the Center possible. SNF is proud to have been able to help kick this off, and we look forward to seeing all that the Center will continue to offer the field, the communities of the Greek diaspora, and the public at large.”

Picture of Tracy Johnson

Tracy Johnson named dean of the UCLA Division of Life Sciences

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Tracy Johnson, professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology and holder of the Keith and Cecilia Terasaki Presidential Endowed Chair, has been named dean of the division of life sciences in the UCLA College, effective Sept. 1.

Picture of Tracy Johnson

Tracy Johnson. Photo Credit: Hadar Goren

An award-winning scientist whose research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of gene regulation, particularly RNA splicing, chromatin modification and the intersection between these reactions, Johnson has been a member of the faculty since 2013 and has served as associate dean for inclusive excellence in the division of life sciences since January 2015.

“I am deeply humbled to serve as UCLA’s next dean of the division of life sciences. Our life sciences researchers and educators are consistently at the leading edge of scientific and educational innovation, and our international reputation for excellence has allowed the division to attract truly exceptional students,” said Johnson, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor.

“These extraordinary times provide an opportunity for UCLA Life Sciences to exercise leadership in new and previously unimaginable ways across the UCLA campus, the city of Los Angeles, the state of California, the nation and beyond,” Johnson said. “I am honored to be a steward of these incredible opportunities to build on a foundation of excellence as we move forward into an exciting future.”

Prior to her appointment at UCLA, Johnson was a member of the UC San Diego biological sciences faculty from 2003 to 2013, and a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology.

Recognized for her scientific leadership and contributions to educational innovation, and as a champion of diversity, equity and inclusion, Johnson serves as a member of the UCLA Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Research oversight committee; chair and director of the biomedical research minor; co-director and steering committee member for the Bruins in Genomics summer program; and co-director/co-principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health–funded UPLIFT/IRACDA program, which supports postdoctoral researchers preparing for academic careers.

Johnson also started the UCLA-HHMI Pathways to Success program, which is funded through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to support the success of students from diverse backgrounds in STEM fields. She is also the principal investigator for a second HHMI grant aimed at promoting greater access and success for students studying life sciences who transfer from community colleges.

Additionally, Johnson has served on numerous campus committees, including the faculty advisory committees for the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and the UCLA Center for the Study of Women, the Moreno Report Implementation Committee, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center executive committee, and diversity in research committee.

“Chancellor Block and I are confident that the division of life sciences will continue to thrive under Tracy’s capable leadership. Please join me in congratulating her and welcoming her to this new role,” said Emily Carter, UCLA executive vice chancellor and provost, who also thanked Dean Victoria Sork for her leadership of the division of life sciences.

Beyond UCLA, Johnson has served as chair of an NIH Molecular Genetics Study Section, the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Counselors, the executive committee for the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, and the executive board of the Society of Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professors.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation CAREER Award; the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; the UCLA Academic Senate Award for Career Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and the UCLA Life Sciences Award for Inclusive Excellence through teaching, mentorship, service and research.

Johnson earned her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and cell biology at UC San Diego and her doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology at UC Berkeley.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom.

A photo of Assistant Professor Wesley Campbell, UCLA Physics & Astronomy

UCLA physicists develop world’s best quantum bits

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A photo of Assistant Professor Wesley Campbell, UCLA Physics & Astronomy

Assistant Professor Wesley Campbell, UCLA Physics & Astronomy (Photo Credit: UCLA)

A team of researchers at UCLA has set a new record for preparing and measuring the quantum bits, or qubits, inside of a quantum computer without error. The techniques they have developed make it easier to build quantum computers that outperform classical computers for important tasks, including the design of new materials and pharmaceuticals. The research is published in the peer-reviewed, online open-access journal, npj Quantum Information, published by Nature and including the exceptional research on quantum information and quantum computing.

Currently, the most powerful quantum computers are “noisy intermediate-scale quantum” (NISQ) devices and are very sensitive to errors. Error in preparation and measurement of qubits is particularly onerous: for 100 qubits, a 1% measurement error means a NISQ device will produce an incorrect answer about 63% of the time, said senior author Eric Hudson, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.

To address this major challenge, Hudson and UCLA colleagues recently developed a new qubit hosted in a laser-cooled, radioactive barium ion. This “goldilocks ion” has nearly ideal properties for realizing ultra-low error rate quantum devices, allowing the UCLA group to achieve a preparation and measurement error rate of about 0.03%, lower than any other quantum technology to date, said co-senior author Wesley Campbell, also a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.

The development of this exciting new qubit at UCLA should impact almost every area of quantum information science, Hudson said. This radioactive ion has been identified as a promising system in quantum networking, sensing, timing, simulation and computation, and the researchers’ paper paves the way for large-scale NISQ devices.

Co-authors are lead author Justin Christensen, a postdoctoral scholar in Hudson’s laboratory, and David Hucul, a former postdoctoral scholar in Hudson and Campbell’s laboratories, who is now a physicist at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.

The research is funded by the U.S. Army Research Office.

Campbell and Hudson are primary investigators of a major $2.7 million U.S. Department of Energy Quantum Information Science Research project to lay the foundation for the next generation of computing and information processing, as well as many other innovative technologies.

This article originally appeared on the UCLA Physical Sciences website.

A photo of a student meditating during a break.

UCLA Students Find COVID-19 Silver Linings

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Commentary on mindful awareness training by Sara Melzer, Professor Emerita of French & Francophone Studies:

Surprising as it may sound, some of my UCLA students are finding meaning during the pandemic. One student reports: “I’m excited at the inner changes this quarantine is bringing out in me.” Almost all the students are discovering that their lives are fuller than they had realized – when they re-direct their attention. This training is the work of a mindful awareness.

Mindfulness is not necessarily spiritual or mystical, although it can be. Mainly, it trains our most fundamental faculty: our attention. If skillfully cultivated, our attention can dramatically transform our experience and promote well-being, even during a crisis. This claim may seem astonishing because we are not taught to value our attention, even though it is the ever-present background to all thought and experience.

Mindfulness highlights the vast potential of this resource. Our attention is a muscle — a mental muscle that needs to be trained, just as athletes train their bodies, insists Shinzen Young, founder of Unified Mindfulness and my teacher for 20 years.

My students experienced the power of their attention to transform their relationship to pain in a class experiment where I had them hold ice-cubes in one hand, for two rounds. In round one, I offered no guidance and they relied on their standard coping strategy. After five minutes, they were in agony. In round two, I guided them to hold the ice mindfully. One student reported, “I felt blissfully calm. I could have held the ice forever.”

What made the difference? Their attention – what they focused on and how. In the first round, they tightened their bodies and narrowed their lens to block the pain. This mental image, a cortical homunculus, simulates the brain mapping the body from the inside: hands swell up like balloons and dwarf the body.

A photo of a student meditating during a break.

A student meditating during a break. (Photo Credit: Christian Ibarra)

Their hand defined their whole body. When we are in pain, physical or emotional, we often identify with the ailing part and let it become the whole.

Alternatively, we can re-frame our attention. I invited my students to expand their focus beyond their hands to include their feet, where they noticed pockets of calm.  I activated their attention’s telescopic lens when I had them zoom their awareness out, first to sounds inside the room, then outside, before extending to the silence beyond. While they felt their hands throb, they simply included it within a wider attentional field. The impact of the ice was diffused. Just as a few drops of red dye can define the water’s color in a fish-bowl, but not in a lake, my students could dilute and transform their experience of pain by enlarging their attentional frame.

The momentary shift of attention is actually not the hard part. Keeping it there is. To achieve this, Unified Mindfulness emphasizes sensory clarity as a key attentional skill. It can open up our awareness to a fascinating “something” within the seeming “nothing” of our ordinary experience. Take the breath, for example. Using a microscopic lens, we zero in on the outbreath to notice a subtle release of air. Other forms of release – in the jaws, shoulders, rib cage – ripple out. This inter-connectedness is a source of wonder.

Sensory clarity helps anchor our attention because our sensory world becomes more richly layered and attention-grabbing.  One student wrote, “I invited my family to join me in my mindful eating exercise. For desert, we had grapes — just ordinary grapes. They exploded with extraordinary taste sensations. Waves of sweetness, then sourness rippled out towards my ears, then throughout my whole body. It was so satisfying I almost felt full.” When we tune into the nuanced layers of something as ordinary as an exhale or a grape, any experience can anchor our attention and nourish us.

Managing our attention in this way contrasts with our standard notion of concentration. The term “concentration” in English mainly signifies a forcible narrowing of focus to bear down on an object. But our bodies tighten and we slip back into a version of the ice-cube scenario. What we resist, persists! Mindfulness, however, emphasizes that the truest concentration comes from an ease that unifies our energies. Coupled with sensory clarity, concentration holds our attention not through coercion, but fascination and wonder.

Of course, the COVID crisis is much more serious than ice-cubes. But the underlying principle still pertains: include the ailing part within a larger whole so that fear does not occupy all our attentional space or define our whole life. One student described how a shift in her attention helped ease her panic after learning that the “shelter-in-place” would continue longer than expected. Initially, she was glued to social media which convinced her “all of life was closing up shop.” Finally, she remembered she had a choice. She could re-frame her attention to include her anxiety within a wider container that diluted its power. She did not deny her fear but included it within a larger lens. As poet Maya Angelou wrote: “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can choose not to be reduced by them.”

When all their attention was not colonized by fear, my students freed up energy to explore what was available to them. I had asked them to notice their COVID-19 Silver Linings. Since they were on the look-out for them, they found them. They used their mindfulness muscle to soak their awareness into them and anchor their attention there. Many experienced a surprising inner freedom when they discovered creative resources they didn’t know they had.

Creativity thrives when we are confronted with constraints. Let us seize this opportunity to turn our focus towards what remains possible and open up their hidden depths. In this way lies freedom and well-being.

Sara E. Melzer is a Humanities Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her latest book is Colonizer or Colonized: The Hidden Stories of Early Modern French Culture. Currently, she is working to integrate mindfulness into Higher Education through UCLA’s EPIC program

A photo of Stephanie Correa and Edward van Veen in Correa's UCLA laboratory

Research provides new insights into menopause and weight gain

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A photo of Stephanie Correa and Edward van Veen in Correa's UCLA laboratory

Stephanie Correa and Edward van Veen in Correa’s UCLA laboratory (Photo Credit: Reed Hutchinson)

Can women in menopause get the benefits of hormone replacement therapy without the risks? A new UCLA study conducted with mice points in that direction, but additional research is necessary.

Women commonly experience hot flashes and weight gain, among other changes, during and after menopause. Hormone therapy, which gives women additional estrogen, can help alleviate some of these symptoms, but it has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and breast cancer.

UCLA life scientists now report that a gene called reprimo, which is expressed by certain neurons in the brain, may play a role in menopause-related weight gain, a phenomenon not linked to increased eating. Their findings are published today in the journal Nature Metabolism.

“We want to figure out which neurons are mediating the beneficial portions of hormone therapy and mimic them without hormones,” said senior author Stephanie Correa, a UCLA assistant professor of integrative biology and physiology and a member of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute. “Hormone therapy can be beneficial, but it treats the entire brain and body with hormones. We may be able to bypass the hormone. That’s our goal, and it’s a big one. We haven’t achieved it yet, but we’re learning.”

Correa and her research team show that the reprimo gene is important for regulating temperature. Changes in temperature are known to affect body weight and may contribute to the weight gain often seen in menopause.

“It’s possible that reprimo is involved in the weight gain that accompanies menopause,” said co-lead author Edward van Veen, a project scientist in Correa’s laboratory. “If equivalent neurons exist in humans and we can find some way to tweak them, it might relieve much of the weight gain without the side effects of hormone therapy.”

A brain region called the hypothalamus is essential for survival in many species, from mice to humans; it controls eating, drinking, reproduction and body-temperature regulation, among other vital functions. Correa and her research team studied dozens of genes in the hypothalami of more than 50 mice, both female and male, starting at about eight weeks of age, shortly after they reach reproductive age.

The team used a technique known as single-cell RNA-seq, which allows biologists to study individual cells one at a time, to investigate which neurons in an area of the hypothalamus known as the ventromedial hypothalamus might mediate these different functions.

“We had hints there were different types of neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus, and this region is very different in males and females, so we studied hundreds of cells in males and females to identify the different types of neurons and determine whether there are sex differences,” Correa said.

The biologists were most interested in neurons that have estrogen receptors. These receptors bind to the hormone and are subsequently able regulate to the activity of specific genes in the neuron, a process known as gene expression. The team’s most significant findings centered on the reprimo gene, which is expressed in one group, or population, of these estrogen-responsive neurons, restricted almost entirely to females.

“We were excited to find not only populations of estrogen-responsive neurons but also differences in these populations between males and females,” said co-lead author Laura Kammel, a former UCLA doctoral student in Correa’s laboratory.

“The difference between females and males in reprimo in the ventromedial hypothalamus is like night and day,” Correa said. “The females express a ton of it, and males express little, if any, reprimo in this brain region. Of the dozens of genes I have studied in this region, this is easily the strongest sex difference I have ever seen.”

In a series of experiments, the biologists interfered with the function of reprimo in the ventromedial hypothalamus in about two dozen mice. In one experiment, they shut off reprimo in female mice by using an RNA molecular compound that interferes with how the gene works in neurons. In another, they increased reprimo expression in male mice by removing an estrogen receptor from the neurons. In both cases, body temperature changed substantially, demonstrating a link between reprimo’s role in temperature and the effects of estrogen.

“We know that reprimo is important in regulating body temperature, but we don’t know what it is actually doing in neurons,” van Veen said. “We want to find out.”

Correa and her team also report that estrogen acts on another gene, Tac1, that is significantly increased in the ventromedial hypothalamus of female mice, although the difference is not nearly as dramatic as with reprimo. Tac1 has been shown to promote physical activity in female mice.

Estrogen receptor alpha, one of three estrogen receptors, is found in neurons in the same region of the ventromedial hypothalamus as Tac1 and reprimo. When the researchers removed that estrogen receptor, they found it led to obesity and reduced movement in female mice.

The results, the researchers said, not only aid in their understanding of the interplay between genes and estrogen but may also have implications for understanding obesity.

Summarizing the research, van Veen said: “The ventromedial hypothalamus is involved in movement and temperature regulation. We know estrogen affects movement and temperature. From Stephanie Correa’s previous research, we learned the estrogen response of neurons that affect movement, and now we think we know the estrogen response of neurons that affect temperature. It’s interesting that they are in the same location but distinct.”

“Our findings suggest reprimo is controlling some of the effects of estrogen on temperature,” Correa said. “If it is controlling the beneficial effects, then maybe we can manipulate it — with a drug that targets reprimo or the neurons that express reprimo — as an alternative to hormone therapy and get around the requirement for estrogen. We are studying the brain in a nuanced way and trying to learn which cells or which genes are important to target for potential therapies.”

Co-authors are co-lead author Laura Kammel, a former UCLA doctoral student in Correa’s laboratory; Xia Yang, a UCLA associate professor of integrative biology and physiology; Arthur Arnold, a UCLA distinguished professor of integrative biology and physiology; and Marc Liesa-Roig, a UCLA assistant professor-in-residence at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom.

A photo of James Lloyd-Smith.

Study reveals how long COVID-19 remains infectious on cardboard, metal and plastic

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The virus that causes COVID-19 remains for several hours to days on surfaces and in aerosols, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found.

The study suggests that people may acquire the coronavirus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. Scientists discovered the virus is detectable for up to three hours in aerosols, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.

A photo of James Lloyd-Smith in his office.

James Lloyd-Smith

“This virus is quite transmissible through relatively casual contact, making this pathogen very hard to contain,” said James Lloyd-Smith, a co-author of the study and a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. “If you’re touching items that someone else has recently handled, be aware they could be contaminated and wash your hands.”

The study attempted to mimic the virus being deposited onto everyday surfaces in a household or hospital setting by an infected person through coughing or touching objects, for example. The scientists then investigated how long the virus remained infectious on these surfaces.

The study’s authors are from UCLA, the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Princeton University. They include Amandine Gamble, a UCLA postdoctoral researcher in Lloyd-Smith’s laboratory.

In February, Lloyd-Smith and colleagues reported in the journal eLife that screening travelers for COVID-19 is not very effective. People infected with the virus — officially named SARS-CoV-2 — may be spreading the virus without knowing they have it or before symptoms appear. Lloyd-Smith said the biology and epidemiology of the virus make infection extremely difficult to detect in its early stages because the majority of cases show no symptoms for five days or longer after exposure.

“Many people won’t have developed symptoms yet,” Lloyd-Smith said. “Based on our earlier analysis of flu pandemic data, many people may not choose to disclose if they do know.”

The new study supports guidance from public health professionals to slow the spread of COVID-19:

  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
  • Stay home when you are sick.
  • Cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue, and dispose of the tissue in the trash.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a household cleaning spray or wipe.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom.

Image of Dr. Jane Goodall

Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership with Dr. Jane Goodall Postponed

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Image for Luskin Lecture featuring Jane Goodall

Editor’s note: This story was updated on March 12 to include new information about the postponement of this event. 

Yesterday afternoon, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block notified the campus community that starting today, March 11, UCLA will suspend in-person classes and transition to online platforms through April 10. While campus and its essential services remain open, including housing, hospitals, clinics and research laboratories, the new policy requires that all in-person campus gatherings of more than 100 people be suspended or postponed. UCLA is enacting this policy to keep our global and UCLA communities safe.

In compliance with this measure, the Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership featuring Dr. Jane Goodall scheduled for April 1, 2020 has been postponed. 

All ticket holders with online purchases will automatically be refunded by point of purchase for the cost of the ticket and all fees associated. If you purchased your tickets from the UCLA Central Ticket Office in person with cash or check, please contact 310-825-2101 or cto@tickets.ucla.edu for assistance (Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.). Please note this refund effort will take time as CTO is managing thousands of ticket purchases. Your patience is appreciated.

We look forward to rescheduling the event and will communicate a new date and time at our earliest opportunity. We will provide the on-sale date and time to all current ticket holders before the general public announcement is made, with a reasonable interval for purchase. Details around this are still being worked out.

In the meantime, here are a few resources to help you stay informed. These sites include steps you and your loved ones can take to help minimize the spread of the virus.

UCLA Health COVID-19 Update LA County Dept. of Public Health CDC

Thank you for your understanding and continued support of the UCLA College. We are grateful for the dedication and teamwork of so many in our community who are working hard to prioritize public health.

Sincerely,

Patricia A. Turner
Senior Dean, UCLA College

 

Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, will deliver the Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership at UCLA’s Royce Hall on April 1, 2020, as part of the celebration of UCLA’s Centennial year. The renowned animal behavior expert and conservationist is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a U.N. Messenger of Peace.

During the lecture, which marks the 60th anniversary of the start of her pioneering research, Goodall will discuss her journey from groundbreaking researcher of wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania, to internationally renowned activist. She will also share her reasons for hope for the future, talk about the work of the Jane Goodall Institute and the organization’s Roots & Shoots youth program, and encourage audience members to make a difference every single day.

Following her remarks, Goodall will be joined by a moderator for a discussion drawing from questions submitted by UCLA students and alumni. The UCLA College lecture is a ticketed event.

Goodall began her pioneering research on wild chimpanzees in 1960 in what is today known as Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. Goodall was the first person to formally observe and better understand wild chimpanzees, our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom; her research revealed remarkable insights about chimpanzee behavior and humankind.

Since then, Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute have maintained what is now the world’s longest running study of wild chimpanzees. Through her critical work, Goodall has not only championed the urgent need to protect chimpanzees from extinction, but she also has pioneered community-centered conservation through JGI, putting local people at the center of conservation decisions and action, across the chimpanzee range in Africa. Through JGI’s Roots & Shoots program, she empowers young people to improve their communities through service projects, ensuring that they become better stewards of the environment than previous generations.

As a global activist traveling nearly 300 days a year, she has devoted her life to inspiring all people to take action to improve the well-being of people, other animals and the natural world we share.

“Dr. Goodall’s focus on giving people, particularly young people, the knowledge and confidence to make an impact by being part of something bigger than themselves makes her an example to emulate,” said Patricia Turner, senior dean of the UCLA College. “She has moved beyond her role as a scientist to encourage all of us to become active partners in the future of our world.”

Goodall’s talk will be the fifth Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership. The series was established in the UCLA College by Meyer and Renee Luskin in 2011 as part of a transformative gift to UCLA. Their vision in establishing the endowed lecture series gives the UCLA College an unprecedented opportunity to share knowledge and expand the dialogue among scholars, leaders in government and business, and the greater Los Angeles community. Previous speakers have included former President Bill Clinton, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

About the lecture

This event is now sold out.

Are you a UCLA student? Win the incredible opportunity to meet Jane Goodall. Contest details can be found at the Luskin Lecture Contest website.

A photo of images of fruit flies’ eyes, wings and lymph glands.

Hundreds of UCLA students publish paper analyzing 1,000 genes involved in organ development

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A team of 245 UCLA undergraduates and 31 high school students has published an encyclopedia of more than 1,000 genes, including 421 genes whose functions were previously unknown. The research was conducted in fruit flies, and the genes the researchers describe in the analysis may be associated with the development of the brain, eye, lymph gland and wings.

The fruit fly is often the object of scientific research because its cells have similar DNA to that of human cells — so knowledge about its genes can help researchers better understand human diseases. The UCLA study should be useful to scientists studying genes involved in sleep, vision, memory and many other processes in humans.

The research is published in the journal G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics. The study’s senior authors include researchers Cory Evans and John Olson, who taught UCLA’s Biomedical Research 10H, the course in which the studies were conducted.

“I expect this will be a highly cited paper and a valuable resource to life scientists,” said Tracy Johnson, director of UCLA’s biomedical research minor, which offers the course the students all took. “It’s inspiring to know all of this really important research came from freshmen and sophomores. It’s beautiful, high-quality research.”

A photo of images of fruit flies’ eyes, wings and lymph glands.

Visible on this page are images of fruit flies’ eyes (top), wings and lymph glands, showing which genes are active (red) or were previously active (green). (Download the full image to also see scans of the brain.) Photo credit: Cory Evans

The students studied short DNA sequences to learn how specific genes are turned on and off and understand how those genes control the functions of various cell types. Although all cells have essentially the same collection of genes, specific genes are turned on or off depending on the cells’ needs, Evans said.

Each student studied several genes, ultimately producing a total of more than 50,000 microscopic images; the researchers then posted their analysis on an online database where other scientists can study the genes’ roles.

“This shows not only which genes are turned on, but the history of which genes have been turned on,” Johnson said.

The research was conducted as part of a UCLA life sciences course that was developed in the early 2000s by Utpal Banerjee, a UCLA distinguished professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and a senior author of the paper. The course received initial funding from the HHMI.

“Research on science education says that one of the best way to teach science is by having authentic research experiences embedded in a course,” said Johnson, who holds the Keith and Cecilia Terasaki Presidential Endowed Chair in the Division of Life Sciences and is an HHMI Professor. “Professor Banerjee understood years ago when he envisioned the class that students learn more by doing science. They learn how to design experiments, how to think like scientists, how to write about science and how to present their research.”

Johnson said the approach is analogous to teaching a sport. “If a kid wants to play soccer, you don’t say, ‘Don’t touch the soccer ball yet. You have to first learn all of the rules, watch other people play and read about the soccer greats, and maybe in a couple of years, we’ll let you kick the ball.’ No, bring out the soccer balls! So we need to get science students in the lab.”

The students completed two other research projects, one of which Evans expects will be published this year. In that study, the undergraduates studied the effects of turning off specific genes in fruit flies using a scientific technique called RNA interference. They then determined which of those 4,000 genes, when turned off, affect the proper development of blood cells.

“We teach students how to do research, not fly biology,” said Evans, who is now an assistant professor of biology at Loyola Marymount University. “Their science literacy is high, and they know how to evaluate evidence.”

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom.