A column in Monday's New York Times about opossums cited research by Ines Horovitz, UCLA assistant adjunct professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, suggesting that the earliest marsupials most likely resembled opossums. Horovitz was quoted.

Benhur Lee UCLA professor of MIMG co-authored a paper whose main findings could lead researchers to a potential new target for anti-HIV therapeutics.

UCLA announced that they have partnered with Roche to give UCLA stem cell and cancer scientists early access to leading-edge technologies in an effort to advance medical research. The agreement the researchers with leading-edge technologies, which will drive research capabilities and further the understanding of complex disease. The technologies, including the latest generation microarray systems from Roche NimbleGen, high-throughput screening instruments, genetic expression profilers and exome sequencing technologies will provide scientists with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center with valuable technology directly from Roche’s research and development pipeline.

James A. Lake, UCLA Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology and Human Genetics, was awarded the Darwin Wallace Medal for major research advances in evolutionary biology. He received the award on May 24 at the anniversary meeting of the Linnean Society of London.

An article in today’s New York Times about perceptual learning, which relies largely on gut-instinct, cites studies by UCLA researchers and colleagues in which school students were asked to solve mathematical problems that often required more intuition than mathematical knowledge. Philip J. Kellman, UCLA professor of cognitive psychology, is quoted.

Julia Barske, a UCLA graduate student and doctoral candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, has recently published data that shows that the females select the males that completed elements of the courtship dance in 50 milliseconds over the males that took 80 milliseconds. Barney Schlinger, professor and departmental chair of integrative biology and physiology and a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology is co-author of the study.

The Boston Globe reported on genetic research by Robert Wayne, UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and colleagues indicating that wolves in the eastern U.S. are hybrids of gray wolves and coyotes and that eastern coyotes are wolf-coyote-dog hybrids.

Alvaro Sagasti, UCLA Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, and UCLA postdoctoral scholar Sandra Rieger found that hydrogen peroxide, which is found in high concentrations in wounds, promotes the regeneration of sensory fibers in healing skin.

V. Reggie Edgerton, UCLA Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, and Susan Harkema of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, describe a new electrode experiment that helped a paralyzed man take steps on a treadmill, and regain other key functions. These studies may provide good hope for the quarter of a million Americans who are currently living with spinal cord injuries.