The UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic, an outreach program of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, has received an allocation of $4.1 million from the First 5 LA commission that will be used to screen more than 90,000 children between the ages of 3 and 5 from underserved populations in the county over the next five years.

Two cardiology investigators from the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Drs. Reza Ardehali and Ali Nsair, received grants today totaling over $6 million from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state stem cell agency.

 

The young physician scientists will use their clinical and scientific training to conduct leading-edge research on the developmental and molecular biology of stem cells to advance regenerative medicine for heart disease. The studies supported by these awards will help form the foundation for translational and clinical advances, enabling realization of the potential of human stem cells for therapies and as tools for biomedical innovation.

The New Faculty Physician Scientist Translational Research Awards for clinician scientists in the first six years of their first independent faculty appointments were announced today during a meeting of the CIRM Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee at the Luxe Hotel in Los Angeles.

Ardehali, assistant professor of cardiology and a member of the stem cell research center, was awarded over $2.9 million for research to isolate heart stem cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (cells that can  become any cell in the body), and determine whether the new heart cells are capable of integrating into the heart environment or they will function in isolation at their own pace.

 

Nsair, assistant professor of medicine, cardiology, and a member of the stem cell research center, was awarded over $3 million for research using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which are tissue-specific blood or skin cells that have been reprogrammed to become like human embryonic stem cells (become any cell in the body) to develop heart tissue cells (called cardiac progenitor cells or CPCs). Once the CPCs are grown in the laboratory, they will be used to regenerate heart muscle damaged by heart attack (myocardial infarction).

Cordoba Music Group has donated 50 Cordoba acoustic guitars and cases in support of UCLA Community School’s Creative Expression Seminar Series.

 

Led by seventh grade math teacher Andre Feng, the semester-long “Guitar Heroes” program is currently in progress and will continue next spring. Beginning in middle school, students have the opportunity to learn everything from the anatomy of a guitar to the work of innovators of the instrument like Bob Dylan and the Beatles and music theory.

 

For those students who wish to continue their musical training, further levels of music theory will be offered as a separate upper-division course. The school is supported by UCLA and located in one of California’s most underserved neighborhoods in the mid-Wilshire/Pico Union area of central Los Angeles.

 

Tim Miklaucic, CEO of Cordoba Guitars, did graduate studies in philosophy at UCLA and commends the school’s alternative methods of teaching. The Cordoba Music Group has supported music at numerous schools and nonprofits throughout the United States.

 

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Kenneth Karmiole, a member of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies Board of Visitors, has pledged $100,000 to establish the Kenneth Karmiole Archival Studies Endowment Fund, demonstrating his belief in the quality and future of archival studies at UCLA.

The antiquarian bookseller owns an inventory that has included books from 15^th and 16^th century Italy, maps of early California by a Spanish cartographer that date back to the 1700s and a first edition of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” that was dedicated by the author to actor Spencer Tracy, who played the lead role in the film adaptation.

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UCLA Anderson School of Management alumnus Joel Fried and his wife, Deanne Fried, have pledged $1 million to be used as a matching challenge to encourage support for the school from alumni and friends.　

Recent gifts by faculty at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health will enable the school continue to recruit and train the best and brightest students in public health.

James Easton, who heads sports equipment company Jas. D. Easton Inc., has given $2 million to the UCLA Anderson School of Management, following his gifts in 2008 and 2009 that established the Easton Technology Leadership Program at the school, Dean Judy Olian announced.

 

The current gift will be used to grow the Easton program, which focuses on the specific managerial and leadership needs of students with backgrounds and interests in engineering and technology.

 

The Easton Technology Leadership Program offers innovative elective courses and case studies that prepare M.B.A. graduates to succeed in diverse technical environments. It draws heavily on the expertise of faculty in operations and technology management, as well as on seasoned industry professionals who bring their experiences into the classroom. Adjunct faculty with industry backgrounds teach in the program and assist in its design.

 

"UCLA has been a big part of my life since my time as an undergraduate, and John Anderson was a personal mentor of mine, so I saw UCLA Anderson as the perfect place to help tackle the problem of raising leaders who are as savvy about science and technology as they are about business and management," Easton said.

 

 

UCLA researchers received a $5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to uncover risk profiles of breast cancer survivors likely to suffer from depression. They will be teaming up with Kaiser Permanente, which will provide 300 volunteers for the study.

 

Researchers believe that cancer and its treatment induce inflammation, which in turn leads to sleep disturbance and depression. Sleep disturbance occurs in more than half of breast cancer survivors and is thought to contribute to the nearly four-fold elevated risk of depression in these women. Depression negatively impacts quality of life and increases risk of death, possibly due to increased chance of cancer recurrence.

 

Researchers hope to find out if certain sub-sets of breast cancer survivors are more at risk for depression by examining their DNA for potential biomarkers and genetic anomalies. If they can identify a risk profile, a study would be launched later to evaluate prevention measures, said Dr. Michael Irwin, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.