UCLA chemistry and biochemistry professor James Heath,
co-founder of the California Nanosystems Institute and recently
named to the Scientific American top 50 visionaries in science, sat
down last week for an interview with the Daily Bruin:
DB: Working in new science like nanotechnology, do you often
find yourself having to describe to people what you do?

As it has for each flu season during the past seven years, the
UCLA Ashe Student Health Center is offering free flu shots at
events around campus.

Researchers at UCLA, in collaboration with scientists at Duke
University and Sandia National Laboratories, have made an advance
in modifying biochemical systems.
In an article published in the November issue of Nature
Materials, researchers reported that they could modify a naturally
occurring protein by adding an on/off switch, which allows it to be
deactivated by the addition of a single atom.

UCLA scientists have identified a neurochemical mechanism in
mice that is involved in helping them overcome fear.
The researchers conducted a study on mice, by conditioning them
to fear an audio tone.

Dr. Daniel Furst of the UCLA Division of Rheumatology and
Arthritis received the Jane Wyman Humanitarian Award for his
leadership and involvement in the fight against arthritis.

It is widely known that advances in biotechnology, like stem
cell therapy, have the potential to cure Alzheimer’s,
Parkinson’s, diabetes and other diseases.
However, there are several aspects of this research that are
cause for concern and fodder for controversy.