After more than two years of negotiations,the University of California has reached an open-access agreement with Elsevier,the world’s largest academic publisher.The new four-year deal will go into effect on April 1,restoring UCLA’s direct online access to Elsevier journals.At the same time,the agreement accomplishes the university’s two goals for all publisher agreements:it enables universal open access to all UC research;and it contains the excessively high costs associated with licensing journals.“I want to personally thank the Bruin community for joining the UCLA Library to advance this important cause despite the fact that it presented challenges to some of our readers,”said Virginia Steel,the Norman and Armena Powell University Librarian.“By standing firm on the university’s goals of making UC research freely available to all,we have made headway in improving scholarly communication for the better.”The agreement with Elsevier will double the number of articles covered by UC’s open-access agreements while also directly supporting the university’s responsibility as asteward of public funds and its mission as apublic university to make its research freely available.“Ultimately,our goal is to make it possible for all authors to publish their work in the journals of their choice and in away that provides broad public access to the fruits of UCLA research,”Steel said. 查看详细>>

UCLA has formed aresearch collaboration with South Korea-based Yuyu Pharma to develop drugs that could help people recover after astroke.Yuyu will develop drug candidates and UCLA researchers will conduct preclinical trials that could lead to further development of new compounds.Leading the research for UCLA are Istvan Mody,a distinguished professor of neurology;Varghese John,a professor of neurology and the principal investigator at the Drug Discovery Lab at UCLA;and Dr.S.Thomas Carmichael,chair of the UCLA department of neurology.There is currently no medical therapy that promotes recovery in the brain after it has been injured in astroke.An effective treatment would not only aid people recovering from astroke but also provide relief for their caregivers,who bear asignificant long-term economic burden. 查看详细>>

Based on its successful first few years of incubating startups at UCLA,the Blackstone Charitable Foundation has partnered with the University of California to bring the Blackstone LaunchPad to eight more UC campuses.UC and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation recently announced the expansion of the program that equips students with more tools and resources to take their entrepreneurship and innovation to the next level.The$5 million expansion of the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars program will give more UC campuses critical access to resources,opportunities and mentorships for students and recent graduates across disciplines and experience levels.Blackstone LaunchPad has been operating on campus through Startup UCLA since 2014,reaching more than 8,000 students,serving 800-plus startup ventures and facilitating more than 3,000 startup consulting meetings.Every UC campus(except UC Santa Barbara)will now be able to leverage the opportunities from LaunchPad thanks to the Blackstone Charitable Foundation grant.Pat Turner,dean and vice provost of undergraduate education at UCLA,said she is pleased that the Blackstone LaunchPad program is now available throughout the UC,because she has seen what an impact it has made on campus.“Blackstone LaunchPad is akey component of Startup UCLA’s offerings and enables students to turn their ideas into socially relevant ventures,”Turner said.“The Blackstone LaunchPad helps foster UCLA’s entrepreneurial spirit,bringing experiential learning to new heights.”UC students will be able to take advantage of LaunchPad events,coaching and talent network to help them succeed in their entrepreneurial ventures,moving groundbreaking research out of the laboratory or classroom and into the marketplace.“As the home to entrepreneurs and researchers at the forefront of cutting-edge discoveries and technological advancements,UC is the powerful engine behind California’s global leadership on innovation,”said UC President Janet Napolitano.“We take great pride,especially,in our efforts to break down barriers and increase opportunities for women and minority entrepreneurs,”Napolitano said.“We are excited to bring LaunchPad—and its valuable resources,opportunities and network—to UC campuses to further embed the‘startup culture’into the fabric of our campus communities.” 查看详细>>

Scientists from the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs will lead a$25 million study funded by the National Institutes of Health to test treatments for opioid addiction in rural America.A separate grant of$3.3 million from the NIH was awarded to another UCLA researcher from the substance abuse programs who will study the effectiveness of using text messages to help people with opioid addiction adhere to their treatment regimens.The grants,announced today,will be distributed over five years.They are both part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative,also known as the HEAL Initiative.Yih-Ing Hser,who will lead the research on approaches for people in rural regions,said the study will take place at more than 40 primary care clinics in five to six U.S.states.Hser is adistinguished research professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.Specific locations have not yet been chosen for the study,but Hser said researchers are considering potential sites in California,Idaho,Maine,Maryland,New Mexico,Utah,Vermont,Washington and West Virginia.Researchers are looking specifically at rural regions because the percentage of deaths from opioid overdoses is higher and there is typically less access to physicians than in urban areas,according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 查看详细>>

As part of ashared mobility strategy,UCLA has signed aprovisional contract with Lyft,Bird and Wheels to provide electric scooters and bikes to the campus community.According to the agreement,shared e-scooters and e-bikes from unapproved vendors can continue to ride through campus roads,but they will be impounded if parked on campus.For pedestrian safety,e-bikes and e-scooters are prohibited on campus sidewalks and pathways.The contract provides on-campus e-scooter and e-bike parking for these approved vendors.It will also enable better regulation over how these devices operate on the UCLA campus and will help ensure the safety of both riders and pedestrians.Per terms of the contract,Lyft,Bird and Wheels pay fees to the university and will offer avariety of discounts to members of the UCLA community.The arrangement soft-launched Aug.1;a full pilot program will roll out this fall.“UCLA recognizes the importance of providing avariety of sustainable transportation options that are convenient,affordable and accessible while meeting the diverse needs of UCLA commuters,”said Renée Fortier,executive director of UCLA Transportation.“In order to reduce traditional air pollutants,greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion,UCLA Transportation offers awide array of options to lower the number of people driving to,from and around campus alone.” 查看详细>>

When Haya Kaliounji thinks of Iron Man,she doesn’t envision the Marvel superhero.Instead she sees the 6-year-old boy who lost his legs after his home was struck by amissile as he played on his balcony.“He was under the rubble and his mother was looking for him,”said Kaliounji,who will graduate from UCLA this week with abachelor’s degree in physiological sciences.“I don’t think he was crying,she just saw his hair from under the rubble and they took him out.”Today,he runs and plays like other kids and is healing psychologically and physically.“His friends call him Iron Man,”she said.It is children like him who were on her mind in 2015 when Kaliounji,a Syrian immigrant,founded Rise Again,a non-profit organization that provides free prosthetics to people—mostly children—who have been victims of violence during the ongoing war in Syria.It is their stories Kaliounji tells when she’s trying to raise money and awareness about the losses these children and their families have experienced and continue to experience. 查看详细>>

At schools across the Los Angeles Unified School District the past several weeks have been full of excitement,anxiety and promise as high school seniors put the finishing touches on their college applications.At Hamilton High School,first-year UCLA student and Hamilton alumna Simone Walker has been working in the college counseling office every Friday helping her former schoolmates by providing support,advice and information.This work is atrue labor of love for Walker,an African-American... 查看详细>>

esearchers from the UCLA School of Dentistry and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have been awarded$5 million over five years from the National Cancer Institute to develop liquid biopsy tools for testing individuals who could have lung cancer—the leading cause of cancer death in both U.S.men and women.The award,one of only six given in the nation,will support further development of the tools to improve methods for early detection of lung cancer.Today’s standard of care in diagnosing lung cancer involves alow-dose computed tomography scan of the lungs,evaluating whether there are what are called“indeterminate lung nodules”and following these nodules over time to assess whether they begin to look suspicious for lung cancer.The challenge of evaluating indeterminate lung nodules is differentiating between individuals with alow likelihood of lung cancer who may benefit from future scans and individuals harboring lung cancer,who may require lifesaving invasive procedures.With afive-year lung cancer survival rate of only 18 percent,early detection is critical for those individuals at risk.There is abroad,unmet need for anoninvasive,inexpensive test to detect lung lesions that can be used in tandem with the low-dose tomography,which can reliably differentiate between indeterminate pulmonary nodules that are cancerous or benign. 查看详细>>

he David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has received$2.257 million from Ralph,Shirley,Peter and Alison Shapiro to support four endowed chairs in the department of pediatrics.The chairs will help UCLA recruit and retain faculty in pediatrics who are focused on enhancing quality of life for children with cerebral palsy,autism,and other developmental and behavioral challenges.The gift bolsters support for an endowed chair the Shapiros established earlier,and it will create three new additional term chairs that will benefit faculty for five-year terms.The original Shapiro Family Term Chair in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and Cerebral Palsy,currently held by assistant clinical professor Dr.Irene Koolwijk,helps strengthen training.The Peter Shapiro Term Chair for Enhancing Children’s Developmental and Behavioral Health will support faculty in training health care providers,creating curricula and developmental screening tools,and leading national and international initiatives.The gift also will advance clinical care through the Alison Shapiro Term Chair for Children’s Cognitive Development and support research through the Ronald and Susan Cohen Term Chair in Childhood Development and Cerebral Palsy.The latter was funded through apartnership between the Shapiros and United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles to honor Ronald Cohen,who is retiring after more than 30 years as UCPLA’s president and CEO.“UCLA is proud to continue collaborating with the Shapiro family to accelerate innovation in children’s health and improve the lives of children with developmental and behavioral challenges,”said Dr.Sherin Devaskar,Mattel Executive Endowed Chair of the department of pediatrics at the Geffen School of Medicine and physician-in-chief of UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital.“The endowed chairs the Shapiros have funded will enable UCLA to recruit and retain faculty in the field,and they are testaments to the Shapiro family’s philanthropic leadership in providing enhanced care and services for individuals with disabilities.”The chairs complement each other and extend the Shapiros’long-standing commitment to improve care for people with disabilities.The Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Fellowship Fund provides for first-year fellows in developmental–behavioral pediatrics.The family also has established endowments at the UCLA School of Dentistry,UCLA School of Nursing,and department of orthopaedic surgery to promote the well-being of people with developmental disabilities throughout their lives.“Society has aresponsibility to care for the most vulnerable individuals and families,”said Peter Shapiro,president of the Shapiro Family Charitable Foundation,which he founded with his parents,Ralph and Shirley,and his sister Alison.“Our partnership with UCLA empowers faculty and students with the knowledge to meet that need.”Ralph Shapiro was alongtime member of the UCLA Foundation board of directors and has served on many other UCLA advisory councils.He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1953 and his law degree in 1958,both from UCLA.His wife,Shirley,who received her bachelor’s degree from UCLA in 1959,serves on the boards of UCLA Women and Philanthropy,the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture and the Fowler Museum at UCLA.The Shapiros’latest gift is part of the$4.2 billion UCLA Centennial Campaign,which is scheduled to conclude in December 2019 during UCLA’s 100th anniversary year. 查看详细>>