UCSB Arts & Lectures plans virtual season
Battle of Los Angeles?
Our Mark Patton looks into the Lakers’ luck and curse of the Clippers - A6
Our 165th Year
University is making ‘House Calls’ - B1
SU N DAY, se p t e m be r 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
Providing aid in a time of need
CalDART, Direct Relief team to bring masks, medical kits to Oregon fire victims
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Volunteers from the California Pilots Association Disaster Area Response Team and the Angel Flights West prepare to load supplies, which include KN95 respirators and medical kits, for transport to Eugene, Oregon.
$2.00
ViQi receives COVID grant Funds aimed at establishing new ways to fight viral infections By JORGE MERCADO NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The fight against COVID-19 is one that will continue years to come. Even if a capable vaccine or competent medications to treat it are found, the novel coronavirus is a grim reminder that viruses are always threats to mutate and ruin the current way of life. One company hoping to play a role in combating those future threats is right here in Santa Barbara, ViQi. Earlier this month, ViQi received a special COVID-19 grant from the National Science Foundation in which the company will be using artificial intelligence to accelerate vaccine development. “My reaction was surprised,” ViQi’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Ilya Goldberg told the News-Press. “Not because I didn’t think our grant was worth funding, but because the competition for getting these grants funded, especially a targeted grant like this with the state of the world, the amount of competition is huge.” Dr. Goldberg added that due to his experience, usually less than 10% of National Institutes
Former judge helping set up DUI courts By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
By JORGE MERCADO NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
While the pandemic remains on the forefront of people’s minds, here on the West Coast, wildfires continue to pose a dangerous threat. Whether it be from breathing in the air that has been filled with smoke the last few weeks or the devastation caused from the fires themselves, help continues to be a need in these trying times. Filling that need on Saturday was the California Pilots Association Disaster Area Response Team and Direct Relief. The two combined to successfully organize an event in which 23 pilots flew their private aircrafts out of the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport and delivered 100,000 KN95 respirators from Direct Relief’s humanitarian distribution center to residents and firefighters in Oregon’s worst-hit fire zones. In addition to the KN95 masks, pilots also delivered wildfire kits, which can treat up to 750 people which include inhalers, antibiotics, irrigation solutions, personal protective equipment for front line workers and more. “I am so thankful to CalDART and their members who pulled off a kind of amazing logistics feat (by) arranging pilots at their own time and expense to mobilize so we can send 100,000 KN95 respirators and thousands
of Health grants receive funding, making this “a great validation.” “This grant really is for a very specific part of the process of developing antivirals, vaccines or drugs,” he said. Specifically, ViQi will use the grant to design and run a series of experiments using machine learning to detect infection in individual cells prior to the formation of plaques. If successful, it would prove that AI can detect differences in these virus-infected cells days or even weeks before a human could prove it. Antivirals and vaccines typically act on the virus outside of the cells to lower infectivity of said cell. For example, vaccines are made to make antibodies, which would coat the virus and prevent it from causing infection. Because of this, cells are used to measure the infectivity of a live virus. “Part of the process is you need to determine the viability of the virus so if you’re attacking the virus with drugs or with a vaccine, you need to measure the effects which is a readout or a virus viability,” Dr. Goldberg explained. “In the early stages, you can’t Please see grant on A3
Former Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rogelio Flores has been recruited by the American Bar Association as one of 10 sitting and former judges chosen for the Judicial Fellow and Judicial
Outreach Liaison Program, a nationwide endeavor to educate fellow judicial officers on new methods of preventing impaired driving. On the bench in various capacities from 1987 to 2018, when he retired as a superior court Please see flores on A5 Former Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rogelio Flores has been recruited by the American Bar Association as one of 10 sitting and former judges chosen for the Judicial Fellow and Judicial Outreach Liaison Program.
In addition to the KN95 masks, pilots also delivered wildfire kits, which can treat up to 750 people which include inhalers, antibiotics, irrigation solutions, personal protective equipment for front line workers and more.
of units of treatment for people who are experiencing health difficulties because of the fires and do it today,” Thomas Tighe, CEO of Direct Relief, told the News-Press. “We are delighted to be able to do it, but it is heartbreaking for anyone in California who has seen what families and people
in communities go through when these fires rip through them.” The masks and PPE are especially important because of the poor air quality in some parts of Oregon. Conditions have improved due to some local rainfall, but the help is still needed and appreciated. “I think the risks caused by
COVID and by wildfires have joined and compounded to make both worse, so masks are a good example. N-95 masks have been chronically short since COVID broke out but they are recommended items for people with respiratory issues from the wildfire smoke,” Mr. Tighe Please see aid on A4 COURTESY PHOTO
FOLLOW US ON
6
66833 00150
0
ins id e
LOTTERY
Comics.............. c1-4 Classified............... A7 Life.................... b1, 4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 4-5-13-22-23 Meganumber: 24
Saturday’s DAILY 4: 5-6-7-4
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 26-29-41-52-64 Meganumber: 11
Saturday’s FANTASY 5: 2-6-10-24-25
Saturday’s DAILY DERBY: 09-06-12 Time: 1:41.65
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 11-14-23-47-57 Meganumber: 14
Obituaries........... A10 Soduku................. b2 Weather.............. a10
Saturday’s DAILY 3: 3-6-5 / Sunday’s Midday 4-2-9