La Jolla, January, 2012 - Kerri Boutelle, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine are developing new ways to treat overeating in children and adults.Their study, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, describes two new methods for reducing overeating.

The study appears online Jan. 16 ahead of print publication in the April issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Chambers et al stressed that their research illustrates there is no safe amount of drinking during pregnancy, since the amount of drinking that produces fetal alcohol syndrome in infants varied from woman to woman.

Dr. Kenneth Lyons Jones, a professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego and a co-author of the study, speculates that genetic differences may at least partly explain why some babies are more affected than others. He and other researchers are also investigating whether a mother's health and nutrition may play a role, studying pregnant women in Ukraine where the incidence of FAS is high.

December, 2011, La Jolla, CA - Dr. Alysson Muotri, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics/Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego was named a 2011 PopTech Science and Public Leadership Fellow. He presented at the prestigious PopTech! Conference in Maine this past fall, on how he uses stem cells to understand autism.

La Jolla, November 9, 2011 – Al La Spada, MD, PhD, et al, used a variety of transgenic mouse models to show that SCA7 results from genetic dysfunction in associated non-neuronal support cells to affected neurons. In collaboration with researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and University of Washington, the findings were published in the November 9 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

La Jolla, November 10, 2011 - In an issue of Scientific Reports published on November 10, 2011, Prof. Jane Burns et al suggest large-scale wind currents from Asia to Japan and across the North Pacific may be linked to Kawasaki Disease (KD).

October 25th, 2011 – UC San Diego’s Department of Pediatrics and Rady Children’s Hospital proudly hosted the third annual Pediatric Translational Research Symposium on Advanced Genomics and Personalized Medicine. Held at the Acute Care Pavilion at Rady Children’s Hospital, the Symposium was well-attended, with over 100 attendees.

Faculty, Fellows, Residents, and Clinicians invited to our Annual 2011 Pediatric Translational Research Symposium that will be held: Tuesday, October 25, 2011, Acute Care Pavilion Conference Room, Rady Children’s Hospital Campus (Kearny Mesa) from 8:30 am – 4:15 pm; *Breakfast, Lunch, & Refreshments will be provided; * Parking Validation Available

September 26th, La Jolla - Sheila Gahagan, M.D., M.P.H., Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Division Chief of Child Development and Community Health, has been recently appointed as Division Chief of Academic General Pediatrics, joining this group with the Division of Child Development and Community Health.