UC Science Today

Can the mutations found in tumors help unravel the mystery of cancer? Researcher John Witte of the University of California, San Francisco is using liquid biopsies to pick up a tumor’s DNA circulating in a cancer patient’s bloodstream.

"Tumors grow and they evolve. And to get a sense of the natural history of a tumor evolving, you’d have to take repeat biopsies and sequence that. But now with a liquid biopsy, you could go in and just draw blood every week, and sequence that, and see how things are changing with their tumor. So I think we’ll learn a lot more about…what drives cancer, the evolution of tumors."

Collecting the right amount of this DNA from the bloodstream is still a challenge, but liquid biopsies have shown promise with pancreatic, ovarian, and colorectal cancers.

"The next question is, well, if you’ve picked up the cancer, and you know what the mutations are, can that tell you, for example, whether or not someone should be treated immediately and how they should be treated?"

In a new astronomical survey, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory aim to catalogue the sky. Astrophysicist David Schlegel is helping to generate the Legacy Survey with the end goal of what is called a “forward model” of all the objects in the universe.

"This is what we aspire to, to really have a mathematical description of however many billions of objects that we see in the sky, stars and galaxies: their positions, their shapes, how bright they are, all of the measurables of these objects. And once we have this then it really makes future data from any telescope more interpretable, more quickly. Meaning that if you take some other image of the sky and we’ve already imaged it… You don’t have to look and say, hmm, I wonder what’s in that image? You’ll know right away.

This project will result in the largest and most data-rich sky survey ever done, helping scientists collect information on over 30 million galaxies. This map is publicly available online as a Sky Viewer tool.

In a new astronomical survey, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory aim to catalogue the sky. Astrophysicist David Schlegel is helping to generate the Legacy Survey with the end goal of what is called a “forward model” of all the objects in the universe.

"This is what we aspire to, to really have a mathematical description of however many billions of objects that we see in the sky, stars and galaxies: their positions, their shapes, how bright they are, all of the measurables of these objects. And once we have this then it really makes future data from any telescope more interpretable, more quickly. Meaning that if you take some other image of the sky and we’ve already imaged it… You don’t have to look and say, hmm, I wonder what’s in that image? You’ll know right away.

This project will result in the largest and most data-rich sky survey ever done, helping scientists collect information on over 30 million galaxies. This map is publicly available online as a Sky Viewer tool.

In a new astronomical survey, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory aim to catalogue the sky. Astrophysicist David Schlegel is helping to generate the Legacy Survey with the end goal of what is called a “forward model” of all the objects in the universe.

"This is what we aspire to, to really have a mathematical description of however many billions of objects that we see in the sky, stars and galaxies: their positions, their shapes, how bright they are, all of the measurables of these objects. And once we have this then it really makes future data from any telescope more interpretable, more quickly. Meaning that if you take some other image of the sky and we’ve already imaged it… You don’t have to look and say, hmm, I wonder what’s in that image? You’ll know right away.

This project will result in the largest and most data-rich sky survey ever done, helping scientists collect information on over 30 million galaxies. This map is publicly available online as a Sky Viewer tool.

The sudden outbreak of Zika virus in the Americas has scientists baffled. By studying mosquito behavior, epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis is looking for possible explanations behind the spread, and where Zika might or might not go next.

"I tend to focus on the processes that drive transmission and that includes climate; it includes interactions between people and vectors. There are a lot of models for vector-borne diseases that sort of ignore the vector component. I have mosquitoes from Puerto Rico, for example, and that’s right in the middle of where Zika is active right now. So we’re going to compare the vector competence, which is the ability of the mosquitoes to transmit the virus here, versus Puerto Rico."

Prior to the recent outbreak, Zika occurred in areas of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

"We’re interested in doing some work comparing viral strains as well, to look at pre-epidemic strains versus the ones we’re seeing now, to see if there’s been a change that could have caused this explosive transmission across the Americas."

The sudden outbreak of Zika virus in the Americas has scientists baffled. By studying mosquito behavior, epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis is looking for possible explanations behind the spread, and where Zika might or might not go next.

"I tend to focus on the processes that drive transmission and that includes climate; it includes interactions between people and vectors. There are a lot of models for vector-borne diseases that sort of ignore the vector component. I have mosquitoes from Puerto Rico, for example, and that’s right in the middle of where Zika is active right now. So we’re going to compare the vector competence, which is the ability of the mosquitoes to transmit the virus here, versus Puerto Rico."

Prior to the recent outbreak, Zika occurred in areas of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

"We’re interested in doing some work comparing viral strains as well, to look at pre-epidemic strains versus the ones we’re seeing now, to see if there’s been a change that could have caused this explosive transmission across the Americas."

The sudden outbreak of Zika virus in the Americas has scientists baffled. By studying mosquito behavior, epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis is looking for possible explanations behind the spread, and where Zika might or might not go next.

"I tend to focus on the processes that drive transmission and that includes climate; it includes interactions between people and vectors. There are a lot of models for vector-borne diseases that sort of ignore the vector component. I have mosquitoes from Puerto Rico, for example, and that’s right in the middle of where Zika is active right now. So we’re going to compare the vector competence, which is the ability of the mosquitoes to transmit the virus here, versus Puerto Rico."

Prior to the recent outbreak, Zika occurred in areas of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

"We’re interested in doing some work comparing viral strains as well, to look at pre-epidemic strains versus the ones we’re seeing now, to see if there’s been a change that could have caused this explosive transmission across the Americas."

Fungal spores that had survived a devastating forest fire left researchers to wonder if the original diversity of fungi could ever recover. Ecologist Sydney Glassman of the University of California, Berkeley says that actively growing fungi died during the Rim Fire in California’s Sierra Nevada region, but heat-resistant spores remained.

"One of the reasons I was interested in studying what fungi are going to survive disturbances was because I know that disturbances are becoming even more common due to climate change."

To track recovery, Glassman is studying fungal dispersal. This happens through factors like animals, wind, and rain. Glassman is looking at both spores and actively growing fungi, which can grow as masses known as mycelium.

"We put bags in the soil, and let mycelium grow through them, and sequence sample that. And then we also use Mason jars to sample the rain, and see what spores are coming in via the rain. So we’ve been using a multitude of methods to determine what fungi are coming in, so we can determine the succession."

Fungal spores that had survived a devastating forest fire left researchers to wonder if the original diversity of fungi could ever recover. Ecologist Sydney Glassman of the University of California, Berkeley says that actively growing fungi died during the Rim Fire in California’s Sierra Nevada region, but heat-resistant spores remained.

"One of the reasons I was interested in studying what fungi are going to survive disturbances was because I know that disturbances are becoming even more common due to climate change."

To track recovery, Glassman is studying fungal dispersal. This happens through factors like animals, wind, and rain. Glassman is looking at both spores and actively growing fungi, which can grow as masses known as mycelium.

"We put bags in the soil, and let mycelium grow through them, and sequence sample that. And then we also use Mason jars to sample the rain, and see what spores are coming in via the rain. So we’ve been using a multitude of methods to determine what fungi are coming in, so we can determine the succession."

Fungal spores that had survived a devastating forest fire left researchers to wonder if the original diversity of fungi could ever recover. Ecologist Sydney Glassman of the University of California, Berkeley says that actively growing fungi died during the Rim Fire in California’s Sierra Nevada region, but heat-resistant spores remained.

"One of the reasons I was interested in studying what fungi are going to survive disturbances was because I know that disturbances are becoming even more common due to climate change."

To track recovery, Glassman is studying fungal dispersal. This happens through factors like animals, wind, and rain. Glassman is looking at both spores and actively growing fungi, which can grow as masses known as mycelium.

"We put bags in the soil, and let mycelium grow through them, and sequence sample that. And then we also use Mason jars to sample the rain, and see what spores are coming in via the rain. So we’ve been using a multitude of methods to determine what fungi are coming in, so we can determine the succession."