Friday, May 1

UCLA students work with nonprofits to make positive impacts using technology

A student technology organization is helping nonprofits improve the lives of the Los Angeles homeless population and community college students. Nova is a student club with just a dozen members that develops apps for nonprofits in order to have a positive social impact. Read more...

Photo: Nova at UCLA, a student technology organization, makes mobile applications for nonprofits. Students in the club said they wanted to find a way to use their expertise to help the community. (Tanmay Shankar/Assistant Photo editor)


UCLA researchers identify compound that could improve lung disease treatment

A UCLA study identified a chemical compound that may improve lung health, potentially suggesting new approaches to preventing and treating lung diseases. According to the study published Tuesday in Cell Reports, the UCLA team discovered a compound now named Wnt Inhibitor Compound 1, or WIC1, that successfully improved the health of isolated cancerous human and mouse airway cells. Read more...

Photo: Lung cancer tissue (right) has a larger number of basal stem cells compared to normal airway tissue (left). The prevalence of activated beta-catenin (red) in the lung cancer cell can be targeted by Wnt Inhibitor Compound 1, a compound identified by UCLA researchers that successfully improved the health of isolated cancerous human and mouse cells. (Courtesy of UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center/Cell Reports)


Homeless population displaced as sweeps of Westwood Park resume under new leadership

Park rangers resumed sweeps of Westwood Park after a pause in cleanups led to an increase in homeless encampments over the last two months. Following the death of Albert Torres, the former senior park ranger, park cleanups lulled. Read more...

Photo: Visitors to Westwood Park, located about a mile south of campus, saw an increase in homeless encampments over the last two months. Some community members called the camps unsafe while others criticized sweeps by park rangers. (Sofia Gonzalez/Daily Bruin)



Bruin Republicans, Bruin Democrats face off at quarterly UCLA CrossFire debate

Representatives from the Bruin Republicans and Bruin Democrats debated topical political issues at the quarterly UCLA CrossFire debate hosted by the Bruin Political Union. Moderators of the event, which drew more than 100 students to De Neve Plaza, asked representatives about gun control, wealth inequality and US-Iran relations, drawing from the policies of Donald Trump’s presidency and those proposed by Democratic presidential candidates. Read more...

Photo: Sanjay Verma, a first-year computational and applied mathematics student from the Bruin Democrats (left), and Michelle Ohanian, policy director for Bruin Republicans and a fourth-year history student (right), participated in a nonpartisan debate hosted by the Bruin Political Union Thursday. (Tanmay Shankar/Assistant Photo editor)