VOLUME 47, ISSUE 58
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014
WWW.UCSDGUARDIAN.ORG
CAMPUS
PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION FROM PRESS HERE NOW
MUSIC TO OUR EARS
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Students Hold Vigil to Mourn Recent Passings
UCSD researchers designed a virtual cell model that forecasts how patients will react to drugs. BY Natalie Culhane
Contributing Writer
Jamming out to Jack Johnson? Replaying “Reflektor” by Arcade Fire constantly? Read our guide to these artists and other hot acts coming to San Diego this summer. WEEKEND, PAGE 6
REMEMBERING IV
dealing with the aftermath
Over 1,000 attendees gathered for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the May 23 Isla Vista shooting and the recently deceased UCSD community members Ricky Ambriz and Anouchka Mihaylova. Photo by Albert Chang/Guardian.
opinion, Page 4
A LOOK AT LIZOTTE senior reflects on career sports, Page 12
FORECAST
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FRIDAY
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BY Meryl Press
he A.S. Women’s Commission held a candlelight vigil at UCSD to commemorate the victims of the Isla Vista shooting, along with the passing of Revelle College student Ricky Ambriz and bioengineering professor Anouchka Mihaylova. An estimated 1,000 people attended the vigil held on Monday, May 26 at 8 p.m. On Friday, March 24, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger stabbed his three roommates before shooting down three other individuals in Isla Vista, a neighborhood where many UCSB and Santa Barbara Community College students live. Rodger was the son of Hollywood
staff writer
director Peter Rodger and committed the murders because, according to his YouTube videos, he wished to “slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up blonde slut I see inside [the sorority house].” One of the organizers of the vigil, Eleanor Roosevelt College senior Mina Nilchian, said how inspiring it was to see an abundance of individuals taking time out of their weekend to join in solidarity with all the UCs and pay their respects to the victims. “The event was definitely a success — there was a really strong sense of unity and strength as we lit candles and silently marched to Revelle Plaza,” Nilchian said.
See VIGIL, page 3
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Cell Model Predicts Cancer Treatment
SUNDAY
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VERBATIM
It’s hard to believe that data collectors can extract our information and web history to invade our privacy, yet they neglected to take action when a terrorist uploaded plans for a massacre online.”
- Lauren Koa
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
OPINION, PAGE 4
INSIDE New Business.................. 3 Editorials......................... 4 Coffee Break.................... 7 Sudoku.......................... 10 Sports............................ 12
TRANSPORTATION
Largest Campus Transit Center to be Constructed This Summer by Gilman Parking Structure Bus Stop The San Diego Association of Governments and Metropolitan Transportation Services initiated and will fund the Gilman Transit Center, which will add four new bus stations on campus. By Andrew Huang
senior staff writer UCSD’s Strategic Campus Resource Initiatives announced on May 22 that the Gilman Transit Center, a proposed regional bus hub, will start construction this summer. When finished, it will be the largest transit center on campus and will include four new stations to improve commuting services for all UCSD students. According to a UCSD Physical and Community Planning report, the center itself will have two new shelters each for Superloop and campus loop shuttles, located at the current Gilman Drive stops between Myers Drive and Russell Lane. There will also be bus turnout See GILMAN, page 3
Gilman and Meyers Bus Stop Changes SuperLoop Bus Station
Campus Shuttle Station
Bike Racks
Additional Seating Added
Bus Turnout Bike Lane
Bike Lane Bus Turnout PHOTO BY NAME HERE /GUARDIAN
SuperLoop Bus Station
Campus Shuttle Station
Above is a predicted map of the Gilman/Meyers Bus Stop changes created by the UCSD Guardian. INFOGRAPHIC BY DOROTHY VAN/GUARDIAN
Scientists at the UCSD Moores Cancer Center successfully designed a virtual cell model that predicts brain cancer cell responses to various drug treatments. The model’s algorithm uses the genetic and molecular information from patient tumor cells to determine which drug would be most effective in combatting the cancer. Researchers published results in the May 21 online edition of the Journal of Translational Medicine. Project scientists spearheaded the study under the direction of Director of NeuroOncology at Moores Cancer Center Dr. Santosh Kesari. The successful findings will further personalize cancer treatment, according to lead author Dr. Sandeep Pingle. Currently, personalized cancer therapy suggests the use of “mouse avatars.” In this method, scientists implant patient tumor cells into live mouse subjects. Researchers then test various treatments on the mice to see which drug has the most positive effect. Pingle’s method, instead, virtually models human tumor cells and predicts an ideal treatment, without relying on variable results from live subjects. “For every tumor, in order for treatment to be effective, treatment has to be tailored to the specific molecular nature of the tumor,” Pingle said. “We can get that information from genomics and proteomics.” To customize treatment, researchers remove a cell sample from the tumor of a patient and extract specific metabolic information. The team’s algorithm takes this data and generates a virtual profile of the patient’s natural, healthy cells. Researchers can then simulate metabolic mutations of this healthy model to produce virtual cancerous cells. Finally, the model simulates various drug treatments upon these cells and predicts the most combative drug for the patient’s specific cancer type. The study published on May 21 observed glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer with just a 50-percent survival rate within the first 15 months of diagnosis. Treatment is difficult, as each glioblastoma tumor has a unique cell composition. Despite this, when researchers compared the reactions of virtual cells to the actual reactions of their living culture cell counterparts, they found a 75-percent response accuracy. The study solely tested glioblastoma cells, but its algorithm can be used on any cancer. “Our ultimate goal is to take this technology to the clinic to identify the best drugs for treating each indiSee TREATMENT, page 3