Professor Fabian Filipp is trying to put up roadblocks. But instead of stopping cars, he's trying to keep cancers from growing.

Filipp, a systems biology professor who started at UC Merced this fall, studies the metabolic cycle of melanoma, which is the leading cause of death from skin cancers.

Professor Mónica Medina started out as the only marine biologist in a National Science Foundation workshop last year, but she ended up with a group of new partners and an opinion piece in the prestigious journal Science that’s being released today.

Staph, e-coli, meningitis, MRSA and botulism are just a few of the thousands of bacterial infections that plague people all over the world.

For example, almost 23,300 people in the United States were sickened by food-borne bacterial illnesses in 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

From the caves of Belize to laboratories in Japan, UC Merced faculty members and students are abroad conducting research this summer across the globe.

Portia Mira considers herself lucky. Although the UC Merced senior was taken from her parents and spent five years in foster care, she said she and her sister are much better off than most.

Professor Fred Wolf's research brings new meaning to the term barfly.

Researchers at the University of California, Merced, have discovered a new way in which bone health impacts a person's immune system.

The discovery could impact how scientists try to combat bone-related disease, as drugs to improve bone quality could weaken a person's immune system.

"The bone does have an influence on the basic biology of blood development," immunology Professor Jennifer Manilay said. "This interdisciplinary research shows the need to look at the whole organ."

Mónica Medina, a professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the University of California, Merced, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research at the Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls research station in France during the 2012-13 academic year.

A flatworm known for its ability to regenerate cells is shedding more light on how cancer could be treated and how regenerative medicine could better target diseases, according to researchers at the University of California, Merced.

About 180 people attended a conference at UC Merced that connected researchers with community members working to improve the lives of the San Joaquin Valley's young people.

The December conference, "Building Healthy Youth in Merced County: Community Engagement and Scholarship," showcased successful research and evidence-based programs that can promote positive youth development in Merced County. It was organized by the campus' Chancellor's Task Force on Community Engaged Scholarship and sponsored by the Building Healthy Communities initiative.

http://youtu.be/lYla6IrQbUU