Sept. 26 - Campus emergency preparedness; new research grants
Section 1
The University Hills Community Center combines a Quonset hut roof design with a contemporary stone and wood facade. Photo by Ian Parker
UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
National Preparedness Month: Week 4 – Assembly Areas
National Preparedness Month’s final week focuses on assembly areas. A campuswide assessment of the evacuation assembly areas was conducted and many of the preexisting assembly area locations have either been removed or altered. Visit the new assembly area locations and test your knowledge in a scavenger hunt for an opportunity to win a $50 gift card.
UCI teams win grants for Alzheimer’s and brain mapping research
Thanks to a $47 million National Institute on Aging grant for Alzheimer’s disease, a team of UCI researchers will spend the next five years studying late-onset Alzheimer’s disease via mouse models. By inserting human genetic data into the models, researchers can better understand the biology that leads to Alzheimer’s and set the stage for preclinical drug testing.
UCI will receive a $10 million grant to collect, process and characterize a broad range of adult brain specimens as part of a five-year, multi-institutional, $126 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. As a member of the NIH’s BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network, UCI research will describe the cells that make up the human brain in unprecedented molecular detail, classifying them into more precise subtypes and pinpointing their location. The interdisciplinary UCI team will be led by Xiangmin Xu, Chancellor's fellow of anatomy & neurobiology, and will collaborate with scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, UC San Diego and Washington University in St. Louis.
UCI Health geriatrician shares middle age health advice
Although middle age is typically defined as the period in life from the 40s to the 60s, advances in medicine and healthcare access in recent decades have enabled people to live longer, healthier lives. But perhaps the key ingredient to experiencing a happier aging process is voluntary, says Dr. Sonia Seghal, a UCI Health geriatrician: avoiding unhealthy habits (such as drinking and smoking) and exercising regularly. Because middle age is when human metabolism slows down and family and work stress can peak, it’s the most important time of your life to take care of your body.
UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS
How to tell if you have COVID-19 or the flu
COVID-19 and the influenza virus have a lot of common symptoms: coughing, full-body aches, fevers, runny nose, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and shortness of breath. Both are also likely to make you fatigued. Now that the more mild BA.5 variant is the most common form of COVID-19, it’s even harder to tell which virus you have, since people are less likely to experience the loss of taste and smell. One important distinction is that COVID-19 is more likely to include a sore throat and other typical cold symptoms while the flu is more likely to induce full-body aches. However, the only sure way to know which you have is to quickly get tested for COVID-19 once you begin to feel ill.
EVENTS
Office of Engagement Open House
Wednesday, 1 p.m. (sponsored by Office of Engagement)
Visit today.uci.edu to see and submit event listings. Events of general interest will be shared in UCI Digest two days before they occur.
UCI IN THE NEWS
Note: Some news sites require subscriptions to read articles. The UCI Libraries offer free subscriptions to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Orange County Register and The Washington Post for students, faculty and staff.
Watch out, Alzheimer’s! Big new grant at UCI, new drug trial at Hoag coming for you
The Orange County Register, Sept. 23
Cited: Joshua Grill, associate professor of psychiatry & human behavior and neurobiology & behavior
Adnan Syed's case is unique. Withholding of potentially exculpatory evidence is not
NPR, Sept. 21
Cited: Simon Cole, professor of criminology, law & society
HIV Care and the Trans Community | A Brief Conversation With Theodore Gideonse, Ph.D.
Managed Healthcare Executive, Sept. 20
Cited: Theodore Gideonse, assistant professor of teaching, health, society and behavior
#UCICONNECTED
@UCIrvine: Thank you to everyone who stopped by to celebrate Fiesta Latina en Irvine with UCI and @City_of_Irvine. The celebration of #HispanicHeritageMonth featured food, music, education and Peter the Anteater Loteria pages. ¡Gracias a todos!
#UCIconnected spotlights student, alumni, faculty and staff photos, essays, shoutouts, hobbies, artwork, unusual office decorations, activities and more. Send submissions via email or post on social media with the #UCIconnected hashtag.