UCLA helps many to live long and prosper

In Westwood, more than 100 faculty experts from 25 departments have embarked on anall-encompassing push to cut the health and economic impacts of depression in half by the year 2050. The mammoth undertaking will rely on platforms developed by the new Institute for Precision Health, which will harness the power of big data and genomics to move toward individually tailored treatments and health-promotion strategies.On the same 419 acres of land, researchers across the spectrum, from the laboratory bench to the patient bedside, are ushering in a potentially game-changing approach to turning the body ’s immune defenses against cancer. At the same time, many of their colleagues have joined forces to explore a new scientific frontier: learning how the 40 trillion bacteria and other microbes residing within each person influence health and disease, and exploring the potential for manipulating the m to cure what ails us.This is UCLA — where, simultaneously with these broad-scale initiatives to fight disease, an unprecedented effort to become the nation’s healthiest campus has kicked into high gear.Ambitious? Without a doubt. But as UCLA prepares to enter its second century, campus leaders are increasingly thinking big when it comes to health. In part, this is because what was previously insurmountable has become more doable thanks to ever-accelerating technology, along with giant strides in the molecular-level understanding of biology and the role of genetic and environmental f...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news