MCDB News

Fruit fly larvae will reorient themselves toward the negative pole of an electric field.
 

The advent of immunotherapy has changed the way we treat cancer. But current techniques can only benefit some patients, and fare poorly against solid tumors. Cellular biologist Meghan Morrissey at UC Santa Barbara is working to change that by focusing on macrophages, a type of innate immune cell.

Morrissey’s group is working to harness macrophage immune cells for novel cancer therapies.
 

If a male mosquito can’t hear a female, it’s as though she doesn’t exist.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected Professor Denise Montell for a Pioneer Award to further develop her work on the innovative immune therapy.

UC Santa Barbara neuroscientists have reconstructed the entire anterior visual pathway of a fruit fly, a complex series of neural connections between the insect’s eyes and the navigation center of its brain.

While a mosquito bite is often no more than a temporary bother, in many parts of the world it can be scary.

Priming macrophage immune cells could supercharge certain cancer therapies.
 

“My ultimate goal is to understand how the brain processes visual information and generates navigational commands to move,” he said.

Look at a photo of any modern president before and after serving their term in office, and the effect of stress on aging is clear as day. Yet despite the obvious connection, scientists are still learning how stress contributes to the aging process at a cellular level.