In the ancient Japanese art of origami, paper must be folded precisely and following a specific order to create the desired result — say, a crane or lotus flower. It’s a complex pursuit that requires keen attention to detail and utmost accuracy. An equally precise biological process in living cells gives rise to proteins, the large biomolecules essential for life. Seeking to illuminate a piece of this biological puzzle, an international team of scientists, including UC Santa Barbara cell biologist Diego Acosta-Alvear, examined the role of a central UPR component, a stress sensor protein called IRE1 (inositol-requiring enzyme 1), in atherosclerosis. The researchers found that blocking IRE1 with a small molecule prevented the progression of atherosclerosis in mice. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

MCDB neuroscientist Kenneth Kosik has been studying the brain for decades. His UC Santa Barbara neurobiology lab focuses on the evolution of synapses that connect neurons and the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease. In particular, Kosik’s team is interested in the underlying molecular basis of plasticity and how protein translation at synapses affect learning. In a new paper published in the journal Neuron, Kosik explores the nature of brain plasticity and proposes a theory about how neurons learn.

Three UC Santa Barbara faculty members have been elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for 2016 among them MCDB faculty member Kathleen Foltz. Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.  Foltz was cited among her peers in the association’s section on biological sciences “for distinguished contributions to the developmental and cell biology of fertilization and egg activation, and in mentoring, outreach, education and undergraduate research in STEM fields.” Foltz’s research focuses on molecular- and cellular-level activity and signaling at the moment of fertilization and oocyte activation. She has been named a Searle Scholar and a National Science Foundation Faculty Fellow. She also is the recipient of UCSB’s Plous Award, the Chancellor’s Award for contributions to undergraduate research and the Distinguished Teaching Award. Foltz also holds an appointment at UCSB’s Marine Science Institute, and is interim dean of the campus’s College of Creative Studies.

In classic experiments on frogs, scientists found that the amphibians’ urge to escape from dangerously hot water decreased significantly when the water temperature rose very gradually. In fact, sensitivity of many animals to temperature — including humans — is similarly affected by the rate of increase. Hoping to shed light on this phenomenon, MCDB professor Craig Montell and graduate students Junjie Luo and Wei Shen developed fruit fly larvae as a model to reveal a mechanism through which the animal shows different behavioral responses to fast and slow rises in temperature. The researchers discovered that a rapid temperature change caused a writhing response in fruit fly larvae. However, when the temperature was raised gradually, far fewer animals reacted. Montell and coworkers then demonstrated that the activation of the temperature sensor in the brain, TRPA1, was not simply a function of the absolute temperature but rather depended on the rate of temperature change.

The team’s findings appear in the journal Nature Neuroscience.