MCDB News

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have identified the mechanism by which pathogenic Bordetella bacteria promote the colonization of mammalian airways. This mechanism, if interrupted, could lead to novel therapies for diseases such as whooping cough (pertussis) in humans and kennel cough in dogs.

Finding the right taste to send mosquitoes packing could save hundreds of thousands of lives.
 

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a debilitating hereditary condition in which fluid-filled sacs form and proliferate in the kidneys.

Hormone levels fluctuate like the tides, ebbing and flowing according to carefully orchestrated cycles. These hormones not only influence the body, but can cross into the brain and shape the behavior of our neurons and cognitive processes.

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.