UCSF News Briefs
Synapse Staff Report
UCSF Researchers Honored
UCSF researchers have been presented with the 2009 Alzheimer’s Association Awards for Excellence in Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders. The awards recognize promising discoveries in Alzheimer-related basic biomedical, patient-oriented or social/behavioral research made by students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs in Northern California and Northern Nevada
The award recipients for Young Scientists from UCSF are:
Yaisa Andres-Zwilling, Gladstone Institute & University of California at San Francisco: Molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenic actions of ApoE4
Binggui Sun, Gladstone Institute & University of California at San Francisco: Cystatin C-cathespin B axis regulates amyloid beta levels and associated neuronal deficits in an animal model of Alzheimer’s disease
Honorable Mentions go to:
Alexandra J. Fiocco, University of California at San Francisco & SF VA Medical Center: Association of COMT gene with change in cognitive performance
Geoffrey A. Kerchner, University of California at San Francisco, Memory & Aging Center: Hippocampal White Matter in Mild Alzheimer’s Disease
Laura Middleton, University of California at San Francisco & SF VA Medical Center: Association between physical activity at different ages and late-life risk of cognitive impairment
Virginia Sturm, University of California at San Francisco, Memory & Aging Center: Diminished Self-Conscious Emotional Response in Fronto-temporal Lobar Degeneration
UCSF Staffer Wins C. Everett Koop Unsung Hero Award
Naphtali Offen, president of the Coalition of Lavender-Americans on Smoking and Health (CLASH) and UCSF tobacco documents researcher, has been chosen to receive this year's American Lung Association's C. Everett Koop Unsung Hero Award in recognition of his decades-long fight against the tobacco industry.
Among his accomplishments, Offen co-founded CLASH in 1991 to call attention to the devastation that tobacco wreaks on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Said Offen, "Tobacco is one of the leading preventable causes of death among LGBTs, if not the leading cause. I'm delighted that many LGBT elected officials and leaders of our community's organizations have signed CLASH's statement vowing not to accept money from the tobacco industry. They understand that LGBTs smoke twice as much as the general population; they see through the tobacco industry's pretense at friendship; and they hold the industry responsible for the toll on the community. I hope more community groups, especially those that provide AIDS-and other health-related services, recognize the inherent contradiction in accepting money from an industry that destroys our health."
Offen is also a recipient of the 2005 UCSF Chancellor's Award for GLBT Leadership. He was one of the leaders of the successful efforts to eliminate outdoor smoking at UCSF, to get the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to stop hosting smoking lounges at their annual banquets, to get KQED to stop airing promotional spots for Philip Morris, and to get the state of California's Smokers' Helpline to ask callers about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Pancreatic Cancer Research Grant to UCSF
UCSF’s Allan Balmain, Ph.D., FRSE, is one of six recipients of a grant from the Lustgarten Foundation, the nation’s largest private supporter of pancreatic cancer research. Balmain is one of the scientists recognized for their work to develop early diagnostic tests and better treatment for one of the nation’s deadliest forms of cancer.
Balmain’s work on Therapeutic Approaches to Pancreatic Cancer Based on Kras Isoform 4A Expression in Stem Cells aims to develop drugs that specifically target pancreatic stem cell pathways to inhibit the growth and recurrence of pancreatic tumors.