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UCLA Life Sciences undergraduate receives 2012 Charles E. Young Humanitarian Award

Kendra Knudson, a UCLA undergraduate majoring in psychobiology, was awarded the 2012 Charles E. Young Humanitarian Award for developing the Creative Minds Project at Step Up on Second, a nonprofit organization in Santa Monica that serves people with mental illness. The project utilizes creative art therapies to foster change and progress toward recovery, stability and reintegration into society.

Life Science Professors James A. Lake and Larry Simpson, Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

James A. Lake, Distinguished professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology and Human Genetics, and Larry Simpson, Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics are among 220 distinguished scholars, scientists, authors, artists, and business and philanthropic leaders elected today to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments.

A bird’s song may teach us about human speech disorders

Stephanie White, a UCLA associate professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology is senior author of a new study that found 2,000 genes expressed in a region of the male zebra finch’s brain, that are significantly linked to singing. At least some of these genes are shared by humans, and are likely important for human speech.

UCLA scientists identify a cell signaling pathway that regulates blood stem cells in placenta

Dr. Hanna Mikkola, UCLA associate professor of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, recently led a study that found a specific cell signaling pathway in the placenta that plays a key role in stopping blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in the placenta. This is critical to ensure proper blood supply for an individual’s lifetime.