UCR biologists unravel the genetic secrets of black widow spider silk
... The black widow spiders dragline silk is a standout compared to other spider silks because of its superior strength and extensibility, a combination which enables black widow dragline silk to absorb enormous amounts of energy. These properties suggest that synthetically-produced silk...UCR biologist receives $1.75 million grant to study plant-threatening bacteria
... , a pathogen that has potential, along with its vector, the glassy-winged sharpshooter, to wipe out Californias grape, peach and almond industry, as well as much of the states ornamental bushes and trees. In time, the states citrus indust...Disease can be our ally, not just our enemy, says new book by UCR evolutionary biologist
... , a professor of biolog...UCR involved in discovery of diabetes fighting molecule
... ... This key molecule, identified as Boc5, can stimulate insulin function in response to hig...National Science Foundation supports UCR study of polar lake life forms
... ... The goal is to reconstruct the genomes of the microorganisms that live in the lake in order to find clues to how they have...UCR researchers examine how some invasive plants gain a foothold
... Using the California wild radish as their model, Ellstrand and graduate student Caroline Ridley at the UCR Department of Botany and Plant Sciences co-authored the research study titled Population size and relatedness affect fitness of self-incompatible invasive plants, published in the Dec. 29 edition of the Proceedings of the Nat...UCR researchers win Entomological Society of America Awards
... focuse...UCR's Xuemei Chen receives the 2006 Charles Albert Shull Award
... This award was initiated in 1971 in honor Dr. Charles A. Shull, whose interest and support were largely responsible for the founding of ASPB. The annual award, worth $2,000, is given for outstanding research in plant biology by a scientist who is under 40 years of age or is less than 10 years from receiving their P...UCR-led research team receives $5 million grant to study interaction of ecology and evolution
... <...UCR's Douglas Altshuler to receive the 2006 George A. Bartholomew Award
... As part of the annual award, Altshuler, will give a lecture presentation of his research to a society-wide aud...UCR researchers determine genetic origin of California wild radish
... The discovery is significant because the parental species were replaced by a...single, stable hybrid lineage in less than 100 years, an extremely short...interval in evolution. The researchers attribute th...UCR-led study identifies crucial mechanism involved in immune response against viruses
A research team led by UC Riverside scientists has shown that the common fruit fly can serve as an excellent model for studying the immunity animals are born with for fighting viral infections. The research will help scientists better understand how our own bodies respond to viral infections, enabling more effective drugs to combat them. ...... Much is known among scientists about the fruit fly's...UCR researchers design chip that can improve citrus varieties
UC Riverside researchers, in partnership with Affymetrix, Inc., have designed a chip the GeneChip Citrus Genome Array that can improve citrus varieties and suggest ways to better manage them. By helping determine which genes are turned on in a tissue of citrus genes that are associated with taste, acidic content and disease, for example the chip provides information useful to researchers for...Seven UCR entomologists honored by professional society
Six faculty members and one graduate student in the Department of Entomology at UC Riverside will be honored for their research and contributions to the field of entomology at the 2006 meeting of the Entomological Society of America Pacific Branch, scheduled for March 5-8 in Hawaii. ...... . It is because of efforts like theirs that our department continues to be one of the best in the country. W...UCR environmental scientists propose chemical solution to cleaning California's Salton Sea
RIVERSIDE, Calif. UC Riverside scientists are able to improve water quality by 90 percent in the rivers flowing into the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California, by using two kinds of water-treatment chemicals that remove phosphorus and silt from the river water. ...... The researchers investigated the use of alum, a type of salt that has been used to treat phosphorus-rich lakes for decades. T...UCR chemist part of team identifying new areas of gene regulation
Researcher Kangling Zhang at the University of California, Riverside is part of a team that has discovered a new way that yeast governs genetic expression and repression, a finding that could be repeated in cells of other organisms. ... ...Zhang, an academic coordinator at the Mass Spectrometry Facility of the Department of Chemistry at UCR, worked with Feng Xu and Michael Grunstein of the Depart...UCR researchers identify key plant enzyme that defends against multiple infections
Scientists from the University of California, Riverside have identified one of the key enzymes that trigger programmed cell death, an important process plants undergo in fighting off bacterial, fungal or viral infections. The development holds out hope of improving crop yields, which are dependent on plants being able to fend off multiple types of pathogens. ...The findings, outlined in a paper...