Two UCLA researchers cleared in investigation

The UCLA Office for Protection of Research Subjects cleared two UCLA researchers last month in connection with controversial malariotherapy HIV research being conducted in China by the Heimlich Institute.

Steven Peckman, associate director of Human Research Subjects for the OPRS at UCLA, told the Daily Bruin last month that Drs. John Fahey and Najib Aziz of the UCLA AIDS Institute were not engaged in human subject research regarding malariotherapy.

Peckman said that the Institutional Review Board could not find any outside evidence that the doctors were involved in any of the research.

A UCLA statement released during the investigation last December said Fahey “did not collaborate on the malaria studies” and that “any claims of association with UCLA are inaccurate.”

Peckman originally received an anonymous e-mail in early October of last year requesting an inquiry as to whether or not the two doctors were involved in malariotherapy research.

Malariotherapy treatment has been discouraged by the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.

The IRB of the UCLA OPRS is responsible for reviewing all research protocol and allegations involving the use of human and animal subjects.

UCLA hosts second Biomedical Engineering Symposium

The Biomedical Engineering Student Society will be hosting the second annual Southern California Biomedical Engineering Symposium on Friday, Jan. 10 at UCLA.

The symposium will provide a forum for members of the biomedical engineering community to meet and discuss current research in both the industry and academia.

The symposium aims to appeal to several different groups on campus including engineers, physicians, biomedical researchers, business and entrepreneurial students.

The keynote speakers are Michael Phelps, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, and Gail Naughton, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Business Administration at San Diego State University.

Awards for the best oral and poster presentations will be given to the best presentations about research in the field.

The event will be held in the Ackerman Grand Ballroom and Charles E. Young Kerckhoff Grand Salon.

Briefs compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports and Daily Bruin staff.