Oct. 7 - UCI Nobel winner looks back, hair loss breakthrough
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A welcome banner and planters mark the entrance to the Samueli College of Health Sciences. Photo by Ian Parker
UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
UCI alum David MacMillan (seen here in his lab) is currently the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University.
UCI alum and Nobel prize winner looks back on his Anteater days
Before he won the 2021 Nobel Prize for chemistry, David MacMillan was a doctoral candidate at UCI for five years before he earned his degree in 1996. And, it was at the university where MacMillan says he experienced the most crucial education of his career in the organic chemistry lab of Professor Larry E. Overman. In a recent interview with UCI News, MacMillan looked back at his time as an Anteater.
Undergraduate students in the Samueli Interdisciplinary Research in Pods program gather to discuss their summer research projects. Photo by Brett Sanders / UCI
UCI grads spend summer in research pods
This summer, a select group of 12 UCI undergraduates participated in a month-long research program called the Samueli Interdisciplinary Research in Pods. The program’s closing event was held, appropriately, in the first-floor lobby of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building. Students spent the summer focused on one of three research areas, or “pods”: Medical Innovation With Virtual Reality, Building Beating Hearts, and Sustainable Energy and Fuels. Through a mix of seminars, panel discussions, training sessions, individual meetings, and study and work time, the budding scientists gained direct experience in the fundamentals and practice of research.
New hair loss treatment came from UCI Health research
As many as 6.8 million people are affected by alopecia, a debilitating hair loss condition, but now a new drug can help many of them restore some or all of their hair. UCI Health dermatologist Natasha Mesinkovska was the principal investigator at UCI Health of a clinical trial for the medication now available as Baricitinib oral tablets. The drug, a type of janus kinase inhibitor, works by blocking the activity of certain enzymes and pathways that can cause inflammation and lead to follicle damage. Unlike existing medications that are usually administered by injection, the new drug comes in pill form, making it easier to take, and it doesn’t require refrigeration or other special handling.
UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS
Friday fun fact
Remembering those who served: In 2018-19 UC enrolled over 2,200 students who have served in the United States Armed Forces, including veterans, those on active duty, reservists, and members of the National Guard. (Scroll to page 2 to see the chart.)
UC officials issue statement in wake of DACA court decision
California Community Colleges Interim Chancellor Daisy Gonzales, University of California President Michael V. Drake, and California State University Interim Chancellor Jolene Koesterm, have released a joint statement pledging their commitment to California students who are the children of immigrants. The statement comes in the wake of a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a lower court ruling that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program is unlawful. The UC officials said they found it troubling that the federal appeals court issued a ruling that will “disrupt” the lives of DACA recipients, and pledged to continue “working with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and our students, faculty, and staff to advocate for permanent pathways to citizenship so undocumented Californians can pursue their academic and professional goals without fear of deportation.”
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.
Why Dates and Times Seem to Lose Their Meaning
The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 7
Cited: Alison Holman, professor of psychological science
What Does It Mean When Students Can’t Pass Your Course?
The Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 6
Cited: Renée Link, professor of teaching, department of chemistry
Somewhere Sisters: The Complex Story of Adoption, Identity, and the Meaning of Family
Literary Hub (video), Oct. 7
Guest: Erika Hayasaki, associate professor of Literary Journalism
#UCICONNECTED
UCI political science professor Sara Wallace Goodman studied the politics behind the pandemic.
UCI prof’s new book examines the role and consequences of politics in America’s pandemic response.
When COVID-19 first hit America, there was a critical window of opportunity for a unified, public health response that transcended partisan politics. Instead, writes Sara Wallace Goodman in her new book, Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID, what ensued was a politically motivated presidential power play with grave consequences: over a million American lives have been lost and the public is more polarized now than ever. In an interview with the School of Social Sciences, the political science professor draws from national survey data her team collected to explain how the country’s politicized response shaped public opinion, health behaviors and outcomes, and what the fallout means for the future of American democracy.
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