UC Science Today

One way researchers can track the spread of Zika virus is by closely monitoring mosquito populations. As part of a NASA-funded study, epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis is using surveillance data to help estimate the risk of Zika spread in the United States. Researchers are already doing this for West Nile Virus.

"I think with Zika it will be similar, except that we’ll rely a lot on detection of human cases. We do a lot here with translating our research results into tools online. So we provide risk calculators that combine the temperature data from NASA, with the surveillance estimates to give overall estimates of risk for West Nile virus. And the NASA project is really aiming to develop tools that are very similar for Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya viruses."

NASA technology may also contribute to this large-scale surveillance.

"So that will involve pairing that lab work with data from satellites; to try to figure out what we can estimate at broad scales, in terms of risk."

How close are researchers to a male birth control? By preventing what is called a sperm’s “power kick,” which allows them to penetrate the egg, fertilization cannot happen. Polina Lishko of the University of California, Berkeley says that to activate this power kick, the female hormone progesterone binds to a specific protein on the sperm’s surface. If researchers could block this protein, it would essentially make a man infertile.

"The ideal target for a contraceptive, whether it is male or female, would be a protein which is uniquely-expressed."

For a male contraceptive, the protein it would target would be expressed only in a sperm cell. The idea behind this is that it would reduce the risk of side effects. In the male body, progesterone levels are low, so blocking the protein responsible for this power kick would likely not cause unwanted effects.

"If you block the activity of this protein, it would be the same as the absence of the protein."

Lishko says that additional studies will be needed to confirm this.

How close are researchers to a male birth control? By preventing what is called a sperm’s “power kick,” which allows them to penetrate the egg, fertilization cannot happen. Polina Lishko of the University of California, Berkeley says that to activate this power kick, the female hormone progesterone binds to a specific protein on the sperm’s surface. If researchers could block this protein, it would essentially make a man infertile.

"The ideal target for a contraceptive, whether it is male or female, would be a protein which is uniquely-expressed."

For a male contraceptive, the protein it would target would be expressed only in a sperm cell. The idea behind this is that it would reduce the risk of side effects. In the male body, progesterone levels are low, so blocking the protein responsible for this power kick would likely not cause unwanted effects.

"If you block the activity of this protein, it would be the same as the absence of the protein."

Lishko says that additional studies will be needed to confirm this.

How close are researchers to a male birth control? By preventing what is called a sperm’s “power kick,” which allows them to penetrate the egg, fertilization cannot happen. Polina Lishko of the University of California, Berkeley says that to activate this power kick, the female hormone progesterone binds to a specific protein on the sperm’s surface. If researchers could block this protein, it would essentially make a man infertile.

"The ideal target for a contraceptive, whether it is male or female, would be a protein which is uniquely-expressed."

For a male contraceptive, the protein it would target would be expressed only in a sperm cell. The idea behind this is that it would reduce the risk of side effects. In the male body, progesterone levels are low, so blocking the protein responsible for this power kick would likely not cause unwanted effects.

"If you block the activity of this protein, it would be the same as the absence of the protein."

Lishko says that additional studies will be needed to confirm this.

Can climate patterns help us predict where Zika virus will spread next? Epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis focuses his research on the ecology and epidemiology of mosquito-borne viruses. He says that weather does in fact affect mosquito behavior, and this can help researchers gauge Zika risk in different regions.

"Part of our estimates of risk for mosquito-borne viruses, which includes West Nile virus, and Zika as well, comes from the data we gather from surveillance. And then the other piece of information…is really what the weather is doing, and a large part of that is how warm it is."

Barker is also looking at other environmental risk factors that might increase Zika transmission.

"And we're interested in how the structure of the urban environment affects the spread, as well as, how seasonality affects the rate of spread, and that helps guide surveillance, and control decisions, to try to limit the spread of these mosquitoes."

Can climate patterns help us predict where Zika virus will spread next? Epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis focuses his research on the ecology and epidemiology of mosquito-borne viruses. He says that weather does in fact affect mosquito behavior, and this can help researchers gauge Zika risk in different regions.

"Part of our estimates of risk for mosquito-borne viruses, which includes West Nile virus, and Zika as well, comes from the data we gather from surveillance. And then the other piece of information…is really what the weather is doing, and a large part of that is how warm it is."

Barker is also looking at other environmental risk factors that might increase Zika transmission.

"And we're interested in how the structure of the urban environment affects the spread, as well as, how seasonality affects the rate of spread, and that helps guide surveillance, and control decisions, to try to limit the spread of these mosquitoes."

Can climate patterns help us predict where Zika virus will spread next? Epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis focuses his research on the ecology and epidemiology of mosquito-borne viruses. He says that weather does in fact affect mosquito behavior, and this can help researchers gauge Zika risk in different regions.

"Part of our estimates of risk for mosquito-borne viruses, which includes West Nile virus, and Zika as well, comes from the data we gather from surveillance. And then the other piece of information…is really what the weather is doing, and a large part of that is how warm it is."

Barker is also looking at other environmental risk factors that might increase Zika transmission.

"And we're interested in how the structure of the urban environment affects the spread, as well as, how seasonality affects the rate of spread, and that helps guide surveillance, and control decisions, to try to limit the spread of these mosquitoes."

Does being bilingual make you smarter, or even healthier? Neuroscientist Fumiko Hoeft of the University of California, San Francisco says this question has stirred up a great deal of debate. To get some answers, Hoeft is turning to language immersion programs at elementary schools to see what is the impact of bilingualism on a child’s cognitive development.

"We’re studying a number of Spanish/English bilingual children, and Chinese/English bilingual children….going into this program and learning two languages at the same time, and how that impacts the brain."

While some researchers say bilingualism may delay the onset of dementia by 10 years, others say there are no advantages. The kids Hoeft will study start speaking a second language in kindergarten 80 percent of the time. Once they become fourth graders, they switch to spending half their time speaking English.

"And they believe that by teaching it this way, then they are more likely to be fluent bilinguals."

Hoeft’s large-scale neuroimaging bilingualism study is being conducted at UCSF’s Laboratory for Educational NeuroScience.

Studies on a family with a rare sleep disorder have strengthened the genetic tie between sleep and depression. The family carried the condition known as Familial Advanced Sleep Phase, or FASP. Researcher Louis Ptacek of the University of California, San Francisco says FASP causes people to chronically fall asleep and wake up early.

"We began this work focused exclusively on the circadian phenotype, the morning lark, or FASP phenotype."

But three members of the family with FASP also had seasonal affective disorder, and carried a gene mutation that appeared to link their depression to their sleep schedules.

"For all the work in drosophila and fungi and mice, what we understand about circadian clock genetics is not accounting for even one half of FASP. So, these families then provide a huge resource for identifying novel clock genes."

Studies on a family with a rare sleep disorder have strengthened the genetic tie between sleep and depression. The family carried the condition known as Familial Advanced Sleep Phase, or FASP. Researcher Louis Ptacek of the University of California, San Francisco says FASP causes people to chronically fall asleep and wake up early.

"We began this work focused exclusively on the circadian phenotype, the morning lark, or FASP phenotype."

But three members of the family with FASP also had seasonal affective disorder, and carried a gene mutation that appeared to link their depression to their sleep schedules.

"For all the work in drosophila and fungi and mice, what we understand about circadian clock genetics is not accounting for even one half of FASP. So, these families then provide a huge resource for identifying novel clock genes."