Research > Achievements

UCSF's research has brought acclaim to three Nobel laureates, 30 members of the National Academy of Sciences and numerous others who have been honored for their work.

The following is a list of UCSF research achievements:

2003: Joe DeRisi's lab provides evidence to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by a novel form of the coronavirus.

Marguerite Engler discovers that antioxidant vitamins C and E improve vascular health of children with high cholesterol.

Team led by Susan Fisher discovers what may be the first step in human embryo implantation. The finding may lead to a new tool to diagnose and treat infertility and early pregnancy loss.

2001: UCSF is selected as one of only two US academic institutions to provide human embryonic stem cells for research.

2000: Sandra Weiss identifies specific properties of touch that are associated with neuropsychological development for preterm, low birth-weight infants.

1998: Wendy Max and Dorothy Rice calculate tobacco-related costs to the Medicaid program in each of the 50 states. Estimates were used later to determine the tobacco settlement ($206 billion) and its allocation to states.

1997: Thomas James applies sophisticated nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to describe important protein structures in AIDS and fatal neurodegenerative diseases, such as mad cow disease, which can serve as targets for the "rational" design of new drugs.

1995: Rod Phibbs and Kevin Shannon determine that the anemia drug erythropoietin, a mainstay in the treatment of kidney disease, can be used to avoid blood transfusions in premature, anemic newborns.

1994: Michael Merzenich and team develop computer program that helps treat children with dyslexia and other learning disorders.

1993: Rik Derynck discovers role of growth factor (TGF-b) in stimulating cell invasion and metastasis — a study that could lead to therapies to inhibit metastasis in cancer patients.

Francis Szoka invents a method of delivering genes into cells for the purposes of both therapy and the study of molecular mechanisms that underlie disease.

1992: Cynthia Kenyon and colleagues discover that blocking the activity of a single gene in the roundworm C. elegans doubled the animal's life span.

1991: Charles Craik develops a "defective version" of HIV virus protease, which "snips" apart the viral protein and prevents the viruses from doing harm in the body.

1990: Mary Engler demonstrates effect of a major omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and fish oil on blood vessels, setting the groundwork for future findings that the acids reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease.

1988: Nancy Ascher and colleagues perform first liver transplant at UCSF. At the time, the kidney transplant program had performed its 3,000th procedure.

1986: FDA approves genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccine created by William Rutter and colleagues.

1985: Elizabeth Blackburn discovers telomerase, a novel enzyme that is now a central focus of study as a target for treating cancer and age-related and degenerative disorders.

Ken Dill conducts studies that lead to a deeper understanding of the principles of how proteins adopt their structures and that could speed the pace of drug development.

1984: Deborah Greenspan and John Greenspan discover oral hairy leukoplakia and show that this and other oral lesions are significant markers of HIV infection and useful predictors of progression to AIDS.

1983: Jay Levy is one of first to isolate the virus that causes AIDS.

Urologists led by Emil Tanagho develop first bladder pacemaker.

1982: Stanley Prusiner discovers prions, novel infectious pathogens that cause fatal brain diseases. He wins the Nobel Prize in 1997.

1982: Irwin Kuntz is first to develop computer-based molecular docking software program that calculates and displays in three dimensions how potential drugs might attach to target molecules.

1981: Michael Harrison and colleagues perform the first successful fetal surgery.

Gail Martin co-discovers embryonic stem cells in mouse embryos, laying the groundwork for worldwide research on the use of human embryonic stem cells to treat disease.

Melvin Scheinman is first to use catheter ablation, a nonsurgical technique, to correct abnormal heart rhythms.

1979: Robin Michelson, Michael Merzenich and Robert Schindler develop multi-channel cochlear implant device for deaf patients.

1978: Abraham Rudolph and Michael Heymann develop drug therapy for patent ductus arteriosus, a potentially fatal heart defect in premature infants.

1977: William Rutter and team isolate the gene for insulin, leading to the mass production of genetically engineered insulin to treat diabetes.

UCSF scientists develop liposomes, microscopic sacs that can safely transport drugs within the body.

1976: Mike Bishop and Harold Varmus discover proto-oncogenes, cancer-causing genes whose normal functions have gone awry. They win Nobel Prize in 1989.

Y.W. Kan develops the molecular techniques and Mitchell Golbus the clinical techniques that lead to first prenatal tests for sickle cell anemia and other genetic blood disorders.

UCSF scientists develop an improved Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) device for detecting and monitoring disease.

1973: Herbert Boyer and Stanford's Stanley Cohen develop recombinant DNA technique that revolutionizes biology and spawns the biotechnology industry.

Les Benet, Malcolm Rowland and Gary Goodman introduce the concept of drug "clearance," a key to understanding how much drug is active in the body at a given time and hence the most effective dose for a patient.

1971: Cho Hao Li synthesizes human growth hormone. Eight years later, Genentech develops a synthetic growth hormone.

1959: John Clements and colleagues at the Cardiovascular Research Institute discover that the absence of a natural lung lubricant is cause of infant respiratory distress syndrome, setting the stage for the creation in 1980 of a synthetic surfactant that continues to save lives of thousands of infants each year.

1942: Karl F. Meyer and colleagues begin mass production of plague vaccine given to US military during World War II.

1928: Chauncey Leake establishes department of pharmacology and, over the next 15 years, helps develop new treatments for dysentery, discovers amphetamines and introduces new type of anesthetics.

1925: Karl F. Meyer originates protective measures that save the canning industry from botulism.