Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · 9h

Congrats to Fred Ramsdell and team on their Nobel Prize for uncovering how the immune system keeps itself in check. UCSF’s Jeff Bluestone co-founded Sonoma Therapeutics with Ramsdell to tackle autoimmune disease. diabetes.ucsf.edu/2025Nobel

2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology | Diabetes Center at UCSF

diabetes.ucsf.edu

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · 13d

@caltgovernor.bsky.social visited @ucsfchildrens.bsky.social to proclaim September Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and highlight UCSF research that has helped push survival rates to 85 percent. Together, we aim to cure childhood cancer within a generation.

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · 13d

UCSF scientists have re-imagined chemo for kids after 50 years, thanks to NIH funding. That means kids receive less chemo + skip radiation and more parents watch their child beat cancer. Today, nearly 90% remain cancer-free after three years, including Astrid. tiny.ucsf.edu/SavingLivesW...

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · 13d

Anti-seizure meds don’t work for 1 in 3 epilepsy patients. UCSF experts are closing the gap with surgery and breakthrough devices that can change lives. tiny.ucsf.edu/HzE2SS

If Anti-Seizure Meds Don’t Work for Epilepsy, Can Surgery Help?

Vikram Rao, director of the UCSF Epilepsy Center, discusses why a third of seizure patients don’t respond to medication and the promising new surgical and technological treatments available.

tiny.ucsf.edu

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Reposted by UCSF

Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis @ltg.ca.gov · 14d

In honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, I visited UCSF & @ucsfchildrens.bsky.social to see the world-class care and groundbreaking research leading the fight against pediatric cancer.

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Sep 4

Why does #NIHfunding matter? Because it drives discoveries like engineered fat cells that can starve breast, colon, pancreatic, and prostate cancers. tiny.ucsf.edu/SavingLivesW...

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Sep 3

UCSF's scientific research drives some of the most advanced health care in the nation. But did you know that it also drives the economy, supporting over 328,000 jobs in the region? #StandUpforUC tiny.ucsf.edu/SavingLivesW...

Source: Advocacy nonprofit Biocom California

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Sep 2

The future of surgery is here, and these learners have a front-row seat. UCSF is the first university to certify medical students as bedside assistants for robotic surgeries. tiny.ucsf.edu/PcysGn

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 27

What if aging in the brain could be reversed, not just slowed? UCSF scientists discovered a single protein that accelerates memory loss and cognitive decline. tiny.ucsf.edu/vGJ3gV

This Protein Slows the Aging Brain, and We Know How to Counter It

Scientists discover a protein that gets concentrated in the brain during aging, leading brain connections to wither and cognitive decline to accelerate - and a way to counter its effects.

tiny.ucsf.edu

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 27

How does pancreatic cancer spread in the body? UCSF researchers found that a single protein, PCSK9, determines whether it goes to the liver or the lungs. This discovery could lead to new ways to stop the spread. tiny.ucsf.edu/VaknI7

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 26

Some breast tumors fuel up by raiding nearby fat cells, using microscopic tunnels called "gap junctions." UCSF scientists found that blocking gap junctions stopped triple-negative breast cancer from growing. tiny.ucsf.edu/dvFcAH

Some Breast Tumors Tunnel Into Fat to Fuel Up. Can We Stop Them?

A UCSF team discover how breast cancer tumors tunnel into neighboring fat cells to trigger fat breakdown in order to feed on fat and grow.

tiny.ucsf.edu

UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 26

Alzheimer’s may not start in the brain’s memory centers; it may start years earlier with inflammation associated with obesity, physical inactivity, chronic illness, stress, and smoking. With NIH support, scientists are uncovering ways we can get ahead of the disease. www.ucsf.edu/saving-lives...

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 22

Congrats to UCSF’s Beatriz De Moraes, PhD, & Lilian Gomes de Oliveira, PhD, named 2025 Pew Latin American Fellows! Their work explores how pregnancy alters pain & how Zika affects the developing brain. www.ucsf.edu/news/2025/08...

Two UCSF Researchers Are Named Pew Latin American Fellows

Two new Pew Latin American fellows, Beatriz De Moraes, PhD, and Lilian Gomes de Oliveira, PhD, will each receive a $30,000 annual stipend for two years to support their work at the crossroads of immun...

www.ucsf.edu

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 21

Not only does UCSF's NIH-funded research advance health care and improve patients' lives, it has an estimated $18.7B ripple effect on the economy. The result is more innovative startups, more jobs, and stronger companies that hire workers nationwide. tiny.ucsf.edu/SavingLivesW...

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Reposted by UCSF

UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences @ucsfpsych.bsky.social · Aug 21

Personalized #DeepBrainStimulation helped patients overcome severe, treatment-resistant depression after other options failed. Now, Andrew D. Krystal, MD, PhD, is leading a federally-funded trial to test its potential for millions more.

psychiatry.ucsf.edu/news/chronic...

photo of a hand holding a deep brain stimulation device, which looks like a rounded, flat metallic piece with two wires attached

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 19

“Bubble baby” disease often shortens the life of children like Hataalii Tiisyatonii Begay, or "HT." But UCSF researchers thanks to NIH funding can share breakthrough research nationwide, including about a new lifesaving gene therapy treatment that gave HT his life back. www.ucsf.edu/news/2022/12...

How Gene Therapy Saved a Child from “Bubble Boy Disease”

In a breakthrough, HT became the first person in the world to receive gene-corrected stem cells for Artemis-SCID. His new immune system is life-changing.

www.ucsf.edu

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 18

What if chronic pain lingers not because of injury but because the brain won’t let go? UCSF scientists are exploring how to help the nervous system unlearn pain. magazine.ucsf.edu/can-we-train...

Can We Train Our Brain to Unlearn Chronic Pain?

Scientists are working to rewire the brain’s pain pathways and unlock lasting relief.

magazine.ucsf.edu

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 14

Chronic pain affects 1 in 5 Americans. @nytimes.com on @neurosurgucsf.bsky.social research, shows it’s possible to stop that pain where it starts: in the brain. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/h...

Treating Chronic Pain is Hard. An Experimental Approach Shows Promise.

www.nytimes.com

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Aug 14

NIH-funded research tackles America’s toughest health challenges and creates jobs nationwide. Every $1 the NIH invests in research generates about $2.56 in new economic activity, from new jobs to spin-out companies. tiny.ucsf.edu/i9bINg

Every $1 the NIH invests, generates $2.56 in New Economic Activity

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Reposted by UCSF

UCSF Health @ucsfhealth.bsky.social · Jul 29

👏 The rankings are in! We’re proud to be among the nation’s #BestHospitals — and the No. 1 hospital in California and San Francisco, according to @usnews.com! 🎉

UCSF Health Ranks Among Nation's Best for 2025-26

U.S. News & World Report ranked UCSF No. 1 in CA & Top 20 in the nation.

www.ucsfhealth.org

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Jul 23

Backed by a $100M gift from Joan and Sandy Weill, UCSF and @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social @stanford-cancer.bsky.social are launching Weill Cancer Hub West, a $200M initiative in team science to accelerate cancer research and improve care over the next decade.

tiny.ucsf.edu/rZIspe

Gift Launches $200M Initiative for the Weill Cancer Hub West

A $100 million matching grant from the Weill Family Foundation is bringing together two leading cancer centers to launch the Weill Cancer Hub West — an innovative collaboration among some of the natio...

www.ucsf.edu

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Jul 15

Study finds abortion bans don’t prevent it, they delay it. A @ucsfmedicine.bsky.social study shows people in ban states are twice as likely to get abortions later in pregnancy, making care more complex, expensive, and time-consuming. tiny.ucsf.edu/QEsS7W

How State Bans Increase Costs and Delay Abortion Care

People in states that have banned abortion were more than twice as likely to receive them later in pregnancy, according to a new study.

tiny.ucsf.edu

UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Jul 11

Have the toughest bladder cancers finally met their match? UCSF researchers discovered a shared target on aggressive bladder tumors and used CAR-T cells to destroy these hard-to-treat cancers. tiny.ucsf.edu/mLVvkc

Science Clears the Way to Treating the Trickiest Bladder Cancers

Scientists found a way to identify and possibly treat a mysterious type of bladder cancer that affects up to 1 in 4 cases.

tiny.ucsf.edu

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Jul 9

Type 2 diabetes puts millions at risk for heart and kidney disease. UCSF research shows the newest recommended drugs for diabetes — including semaglutide (Ozempic) — aren’t reaching enough patients. tiny.ucsf.edu/6mEccJ

The Most Effective Diabetes Drugs Don’t Reach Enough Patients Yet

A study found that the newer generation of much more effective diabetes medications are reaching only a fraction of the patients who are recommended to take them based on new guidelines.

tiny.ucsf.edu

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UCSF @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social · Jul 3

Could a busier social life be an early sign of Alzheimer’s? New research finds those at higher genetic risk are more socially active in the early stages of the disease, perhaps because it promotes more social connectedness. tiny.ucsf.edu/gXVimw

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