University of California San Francisco
Give to UCSF
Scientists have identified a gene that is essential for embryonic stem cells to maintain their all-purpose, pluripotent state. Exploiting the finding may lead to a greater understanding of how cells acquire their specialized states and provide a strategy to efficientlyreprogram mature cells back into the pluripotent state, an elusive step in stem cell research but one crucial to a range of potential clinical treatments.
A rapid rise in unemployment can be linked to an increase in suicides, homicides, and alcohol abuse, but job programs can successfully mitigate these rates, according to a new study reported in the “Lancet” medical journal.
Practice, practice, practice might get you to Carnegie Hall, but for aspiring musicians, there’s new evidence that genes may influence one’s ability to get there, as well.
UCSF researchers have identified a new “feed-forward” pathway linking estrogen receptors in the membrane of the uterus to a process that increases local estrogen levels and promotes cell growth.
Scientists have uncovered new evidence suggesting that damage to nerve cells in people with multiple sclerosis accumulates because the body’s natural mechanism for repair of the nerve coating called “myelin” stalls out.
A team of researchers, including several from UCSF, has demonstrated that a new method for detecting and quantifying protein biomarkers in body fluids may ultimately make it possible to screen multiple biomarkers in hundreds of patient samples, thus ensuring that only the strongest biomarker candidates will advance down the development pipeline. The researchers have developed a method to increase accuracy in detecting real cancer biomarkers that is highly reproducible across laboratories and a variety of instruments so that cancer can be detected in its earliest stages.
A UCSF study for the treatment of heart failure after heart attack found that the extract derived from bone marrow cells is as effective as therapy using bone marrow stem cells for improving cardiac function, decreasing the formation of scar tissue and improving cardiac pumping capacity after heart attack.
Mercy Medical Center Redding in Redding, Calif., and UCSF Medical Center have signed a letter of intent formalizing a collaboration that aims to improve cancer-related care for Mercy’s patient population in the far northern region of California.
A new study finds that many immigration judges adjudicating cases of asylum seekers are suffering from significant symptoms of secondary traumatic stress and job burnout, which, according to the researchers, may shape their judicial decision-making processes.
As a woman gets older, physical problems are less likely to influence whether she is sexually active than her partner’s health or interest in sex, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco Center for Excellence in Primary Care, as lead authors on commentaries in two of the nation’s leading medical journals this week, call for a national effort to revive primary care as part of health care reform legislation.
UCSF Children’s Hospital has been ranked among the nation’s best children’s hospitals in nine pediatric specialties, making it one of the top-ranked facilities in California, according to the new 2009 “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals” survey conducted by “U.S. News & World Report.”
The NFL selected the UCSF Spine Center as one of five treatment programs across the country to offer spine care to retired players. Comprised of an orthopaedic spine surgeon, a neurosurgeon and a physiatrist, UCSF was selected for its expertise, high-quality service and stellar reputation.
Scientists have long thought that processes occurring during sleep were responsible for cementing the salient experiences of the day into long-term memories. Now, however, a study of scampering rats suggests that the mechanisms at work during sleep are also active while the animals are awake -- and that they encode events more accurately.
The University of California, San Francisco, has partnered with Abbott, a global health care company, to launch a first-of-its kind, non-profit viral diagnostics center near the UCSF Mission Bay campus to help identify unknown viruses from around the world.
A new prostate cancer risk assessment test, developed by a UCSF team, gives patients and their doctors a better way of gauging long-term risks and pinpointing high risk cases.
The death of neurons in stroke and brain trauma is caused by the malfunctioning of a cell signaling system that normally plays a part in laying down memories, according to a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.
UCSF Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology Kieron Leslie, MD, is co-author of a new journal article on treatment for cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome, or CAPS, a rare and potentially life-threatening auto-inflammatory disease. The disorder can cause fatigue, fever, and chronic anemia from infancy, with inflammation to the skin, eyes, and bones or joints. Data from the paper “Use of Canakinumab in the Cryopyrin-Associated Periodic Syndrome," appearing in the June 4, 2009 edition of the <i>New England Journal of Medicine</i>, show that patients in a recently completed one-year Phase III clinical trial experienced a benefit within hours of receiving a dose of canakinumab, and only needed further treatment every two months to control their disease. The success of the therapy in blocking inflammation and its related symptoms could lead to investigation of the drug’s potential use for treating gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 2 diabetes.
HIV infection increases the risk of atherosclerosis – hardening and thickening of the arteries from plaque – by the same amount that traditional risk factors such as diabetes or smoking do, according to a study led by researchers from the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.
UCSF officially opened the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building on its Mission Bay campus today with a ribbon-cutting and open house highlighting a new vision for cancer research, treatment, and prevention.
Scientists are reporting two findings that could influence the way researchers screen for, treat and assess prognosis for women with locally advanced breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease. One finding offers a critical message regarding treatment strategy, they say.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and collaborators at Harvard Medical School have linked a specialized protein in human muscles to the process that clears glucose out of the bloodstream, shedding light on what goes wrong in type 2 diabetes on a cellular level.
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) have established the Stephen and Nancy Grand Multiple Myeloma Translational Initiative, a research collaboration dedicated to translating basic science discoveries into new candidate drugs for testing in clinical trials.
A special seminar at UCSF on Saturday, May 30, will focus on educating patients and families with inherited heart rhythm disorders about advancements in genetic research and treatment and the potential risks to these patients posed by certain medications and athletic activity.
UCSF Global Health Sciences, in partnership with the United Nations Foundation & Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, is hosting a partnership forum for leaders in global health, philanthropy and technology to explore the use of mobile technology to solve global health problems.
The patient-centered medical home -- known as PCMH -- is a prominent model of health care delivery system reform that answers the call for high-quality care at lower overall cost, writes Diane Rittenhouse, MD, MPH, of UCSF in the May 20, 2009 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
A new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and Baystate Medical Center at Tufts University in Massachusetts concludes that patients facing coronary artery bypass surgery should, as a first priority, select a medical facility that has the highest adherence to quality standards.
UCSF scientists have created a method of quickly identifying large numbers of the genetic material known as short hairpin RNA — also called shRNA – that turns genes on and off.