Content Authored by: Iqbal Pittalwala

Cell biologist to study coronavirus-related infection of respiratory cells

Prue Talbot, a professor of cell biology at UC Riverside, has received a seed grant to study the COVID-19-related infection of respiratory cells. She and her team will use the funds to test the hypothesis that electronic cigarettes and nicotine increase the ACE2 receptor on respiratory epithelium, providing more binding sites for the virus and...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Physicist named deputy spokesperson for major international experiment at Brookhaven National Lab

K enneth Barish, chair of the UCR Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been named one of two deputy spokespersons for the STAR Experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, or RHIC, at the Brookhaven National Lab. The Solenoid Tracker at RHIC, known as STAR, is the only major experiment currently operating at RHIC and tracks thousands of...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Physicist to study bacteria undergoing photosynthesis

Last year, physicist Nathaniel Gabor was one of two UC Riverside professors awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government for scientists and engineers at the beginning stages of their careers. The award to Gabor includes a $1 million research budget from the Air Force...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Study directly addresses impact of COVID-19 on older men living with HIV

Survey suggests the coronavirus is causing disruption to HIV medication

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

New work advances efforts in finding a cure for acute myeloid leukemia

UC Riverside-led research focused on the enzyme DNMT3A

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

UCR medical students form pediatric phone triage to streamline patient calls during coronavirus outbreak

When the pediatrics clinic at UCR Health , the clinical arm of the UCR School of Medicine , began receiving a high volume of calls because of the novel coronavirus, Dr. Adwoa Osei reached out to a few medical students for help. The students swiftly began modifying the Barton Schmitt COVID-19 protocol, a 10-page document densely packed with...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

UCR medical students deliver personal protective equipment to local hospitals

Some UC Riverside medical students are helping alleviate the shortage of personal protective equipment, or PPE, in inland Southern California by seeking donations from the community and delivering them to local hospitals. Nikita Kadakia, a third-year student in the School of Medicine, is the regional coordinator for Medical Supply Drive, or...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Research identifies women’s health issues as they age with HIV

Stigma, depression, and social isolation prevail in study participants

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Medical students create task force to address COVID-19 community impact

The COVID-19 Student Taskforce, a group of self-organized students in the Inland Empire, is working to create a support network for local community members and mitigate the social, economic, and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The task force was formed in early March this year by a group of UCR School of Medicine students and is comprised...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Psychiatrists review the treatment of stuttering

Gerald Maguire and colleagues highlight a drug that selectively blocks the actions of dopamine at a unique receptor

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Social implications of COVID-19

Data from Illinois, Michigan, and New York shows COVID-19 is disproportionally affecting socioeconomically disadvantaged and racial-ethnic minority Americans. These groups are likely to be among the hardest hit populations nationwide as well. Andrea N. Polonijo, a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Social Medicine, Population, &...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Manipulating mosquito behavior through their odorant receptors

UC Riverside research could help design new tools to combat deadly diseases like malaria and dengue fever that affect nearly a billion people worldwide

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Pediatrician offers tips on reducing stress and anxiety during the coronavirus outbreak

COVID-19 has dramatically changed our everyday routines in ways that were unimaginable just a few months ago. With multiple changes occurring simultaneously in society, we often find ourselves playing catch up and feeling the need to constantly keep up with the fast-evolving information about the novel coronavirus. “This is anxiety provoking,” said...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Office of Student Health Services will now screen patients before they enter the clinic

The Office of Student Health Services, or SHS, on campus remains open to serve the needs of UC Riverside students. However, patients must now be screened before they enter the clinic to ensure the safety of all patients and staff due to COVID-19 Nichole Sparks, SHS business operations manager, answers a few questions: On average, how many students...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

COVID-19 outreach in Spanish and Purépecha

Communities in eastern Coachella Valley, who speak Spanish and Purépecha, are in dire need of information about COVID-19. A medical anthropologist at the UC Riverside School of Medicine is spearheading an outreach effort to educate the communities about social distancing. The outreach efforts focus on Thermal, Oasis, North Shore, and Mecca —...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Graduate students recognized with public policy awards

UC Riverside graduate students, Kavya Samudrala and William Ota, have each been named winners of the 2020 STEM Solutions in Public Policy Award, which recognizes an outstanding proposal for new California state legislation from University of California graduate students in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, or STEM, fields. The...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

To wear or not to wear a facemask

Editor's note: On March 31, 2020, Riverside County health officials issued a recommendation for facemasks. During the coronavirus outbreak, it is not uncommon to find people wearing facemasks. Do these masks protect those who are well? Who should wear them? Dr. Kenneth Han, chief medical officer at the Office of Student Health Services on campus...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Debunking coronavirus myths

Epidemiologist Brandon Brown, an associate professor in the Center for Heathy Communities in the UCR School of Medicine, breaks down several coronavirus myths that have been recently circulating. Only older people get coronavirus. False, people over age 65 are more likely to have a severe illness, sometimes fatal, from infection. Anyone is at risk...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

Coronavirus testing for UCR students

The Office of Student Health Services at UC Riverside has a limited number of kits from Quest Diagnostics for COVID-19 testing and is currently using them for designated students who meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria. At this time, the office is not offering a drive-thru option, where a student remains in the car while the...

By Iqbal Pittalwala |

New work has potential to accelerate development of nanotechnology

Lead researcher Chun Hung (Joshua) Lui is a recipient of a 2020 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation

By Iqbal Pittalwala |