UC Merced Magazine | Volume XVI, Issue I

Test Tube Clocks: How do biological clocks tick?

Proteins Battle Dehydration: Professor Shahar Sukenik of the Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines is studying how intrinsically disordered proteins, which perform essential functions in all living cells, provide protection from dehydration. “The proteins seem to turn the cell’s environment into a self-protective one,” Sukenik said. A $2.8 million National Science Foundation grant is allowing Sukenik’s lab to collaborate in an NSF initiative called integrative biology. Voices of Voiceless: The Human Computer Interaction Group is working on a deep neural net framework that translates real-time MRIs of vocal tract shaping to text. Professor Ahmed Sabbir Arif says this could lead to a new form of communication for stroke patients or mute individuals. Researchers in labs at UCMerced, UC Santa Cruz and UC San Diego have reconstituted the circadian clock of cyanobacteria in a test tube, enabling them to study rhythmic interactions of clock proteins in real time. The test tube (in vitro) provides a powerful platform for exploring the clock’s mechanisms and how it responds to changes. UCMerced Professor Andy LiWang’s lab was part of the study, which was published in the journal Science.

Health of Latina Teen Mothers: Researchers fromUCMerced’s Department of Psychological Sciences and Health Sciences Research Institute studied the link between a good night’s sleep and mental health among teen Latina mothers in the San Joaquin Valley. The results, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, reflects some of the Valley population’s unique aspects, such as its rural populations and high number of migrant farmworkers, said Professor Alexandra Main.

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Demystifying Calculus: For many students, calculus is a bridge too far – and too abstract – to understand. That is a barrier to STEM careers, and a particularly high one for students of underrepresented communities. A collaboration of UC Merced and CSU-Fresno educators is working to emphasize the “why, what and how” of calculus. Professor Mayya Tokman and her co-researchers are using a state grant to reach more than 11,000 students and engage more than 50 faculty members in taking a more interactive and inclusive approach.

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