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June 8, 2026

Internal submission deadline: June 8, 2026

The Mathers Foundation funds bold, basic scientific research with transformative potential to improve human health. They support early-stage discoveries that drive innovation and lay the groundwork for future medical breakthroughs. 

Applicants must hold a faculty appointment and have their own fully equipped lab. 

Immunology, microbiome, structural biology, cellular physiology, cancer biology, genetics, genomics, microbiology and infectious diseases, stem cell biology, and neuroscience are noteworthy examples of current research support. 

Learn more and apply on UC San Diego's infoready website.

Internal submission deadline: June 11, 2026

The Searle Scholars Program makes grants to selected academic and research institutions to support the independent research of outstanding early-career scientists who have recently been appointed as assistant professors on a tenure-track (or equivalent) appointment.

Applicants for the 2027 competition are expected to be pursuing independent research careers in biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology, and related areas in chemistry, medicine and the biological sciences.

Applicants should have begun their first appointment as an independent investigator at the assistant professor level at UC San Diego on or after May 1, 2025.

Learn more and apply on UC San Diego's infoready website.

Deadline: December 17, 2026

The DOE Office of Science announces interest in receiving applications from interdisciplinary teams addressing the Genesis Mission National Science and Technology Challenges to accelerate scientific discovery and research and development (R&D) workflows using novel artificial intelligence (AI) models and frameworks. By achieving AI advantage, these teams will advance the DOE's mission and ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through science and technology. Teams are encouraged to leverage the extensive scientific and data resources of the DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the National Laboratories, U.S. industry, and academia. Awards range from 500K to 5M.

Learn more on the grants.gov website.

June 11, 2026 | 5:00pm

Join UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences Dean Kit Pogliano in welcoming 2025 Nobel laureate, all-campus commencement keynote speaker and biochemistry alumnus Fred Ramsdell for a Deep Look public speaker series conversation on advancing the American scientific enterprise and fostering trust in biomedical research and innovation.

Learn more and register on UC San Diego's events website.

June 22-25, 2026

ARPA-H will be attending the BIO International Convention in San Diego next month, and they are offering attendees the chance to register now to meet with ARPA-H staff to discuss how they can collaborate to build the future of health. 

Learn more and register on the ARPA-H website.

Dark matter, extraterrestrial life, space dust -- our faculty cover all that and more. Even beyond our astronomy department, UC San Diego faculty in biology, geophysics and engineering are helping us explore the final frontier. Karin Sandstrom and Shelley Wright are two of the faculty featured in this story from UC San Diego Today.

The Tijuana River sewage crisis remains one of the top environmental justice issues in the nation. In this interview with ABC10's Kimberly Hunt, Kim Prather explains the science behind the sewage and why the government must step up their action.

Watch the video on ABC10's YouTube channel.

Drug delivery and diagnostic imaging often lack specificity, but a new “TRACE” method, developed in Neal Devaraj's lab, lets specially‑caged compounds stay inert until they interact with a target cell’s enzymes, potentially allowing for more precise drug delivery and sharper diagnostic imaging.

Read the full story in UC San Diego Today.

💥Congratulations💥 to Sasha Levina on being selected for the prestigious ACME visitor program. Sasha was chosen from over 100 applicants and was among only a handful of US-based researchers selected to visit Europe. Sasha is planning to visit the University of Geneva to study how to use gravitational waves to understand cosmic star formation. Sasha is currently a third-year PhD student in Floor Broekgaarden's lab.

💥Congratulations💥 to Aobo Li on receiving an NSF CAREER award. His proposal, titled "Detecting Extremely Rare Physics Events in the Era of AI for Science," focuses on developing AI agents to automate the search for neutrinos and dark matter, as well as interdisciplinary AI education between physics and data science. 

You can read the full abstract on the NSF website.

💥Congratulations💥 to five physics graduate students on receiving Distinguished Graduate Teaching awards this year.

Distinguished Junior Graduate Teaching Awards are given to teaching assistants in their first or second year as PhD students. This year's junior awardees are Peter Knauss, Omar Kotrach and Farhad Taraporevala.

Distinguished Senior Graduate Teaching Awards are given to teaching assistants past the second year of their PhD program. This year's senior awardees are Jiashu Han and Varun Ramaprasad.

All awardees are recognized for their dedication, commitment and outstanding contributions to the classroom. Awardees were nominated by course instructors. 

💥Congratulations💥 to the recipients of the 2025/2026 Physics Graduate Community Impact Award: Harry Chen, Russell Marroquin Solares and Michael Sandler. This award recognizes PhD students who have made significant contributions to the graduate community through advocacy, outreach, or efforts to foster an inclusive and supportive environment.

💥Congratulations💥 to Sarah Narehood (Akif Tezcan group) and Sreejith Santhosh (Mattia Serra group) on receiving the Carol and George Lattimer Award for Graduate Academic Excellence. This prestigious award recognizes students who combine stellar scholarship with interdisciplinary problem-solving and significant service to the academic community. 

If you'd like your paper included in the next newsletter, please send a link to the paper to physcinews@ucsd.edu. 

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