UCSF researchers have genetically encoded mouse cells to respond to light, creating cells that can be trained to follow a light beam or stop on command like microscopic robots.

A joint UCSF-SFSU program for postdocs has received nearly $300,000 in economic stimulus funds, allowing administrators to extend four current fellowships and add one more.

The UCSF School of Dentistry is projecting a 20 percent cut in state funding or more than $2.6 million of almost $14 million in state funding, according to Dean John Featherstone.

UCSF leaders, a patient advocate who is a member of the board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and construction workers will gather for a “topping off” ceremony to celebrate the placement of the last structural steel beam on the building that will be the headquarters for The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF.

UCSF researchers are set to begin a Phase I clinical trial in collaboration with StemCells, Inc. to test the safety and preliminary effectiveness of using neural stem cells to treat children with a rare, fatal form of a brain disorder known as Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD). Currently, there are no effective treatments for the fatal forms of the disease, which affects males that inherit a single defective gene.

A 13-member team has raised $80,000 that will help UCSF’s AIDS Research Institute fund cutting-edge, early-stage research.

The campus will close from December 24 through January 3, 2010, as part of the UC-mandated furlough plan.

New UCSF Faculty, September 2009