UCLA will hold the official grand opening of the new Terasaki Life Sciences Building on Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. The building symbolizes the dramatic changes transforming the UCLA Division of Life Sciences, where interdisciplinary teams of researchers are working side by side to study how genes work and interact with one another, how cells function and develop, the microbiology of infectious diseases and the workings of the human mind, among many other key issues.

 

In this series of faculty video interviews, UCLA's world-renowned scientists discuss their cutting-edge research and new scientific developments.

 

 

Victoria Sork, dean of the UCLA Division of Life Sciences and a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology

 

 

 

Steve Jacobsen, professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator

 

 

 

Mark Frye, associate professor of integrative biology and physiology

 

 

 

Matteo Pellegrini, associate professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology

 

 

 

Blaire Van Valkenburgh, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology

 

The Terasaki Life Sciences Building also houses the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research—California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, which conducts human stem cell research, under the leadership of Dr. Owen Witte.

 

 

Dr. Owen Witte, director of UCLA's Broad Stem Cell Research Center and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

 

The new building is named for Paul Ichiro Terasaki, a UCLA professor emeritus of surgery and a pioneer in organ transplant medicine. In 1964, he developed the test that became the international standard method for tissue typing, a procedure that assesses the compatibility of organ donors and recipients.

 

Over the past 40 years, all kidney, heart, liver, pancreas, lung and bone marrow donors and recipients have typed using the test that Terasaki developed.