UCSD enrollment goes above 45,000 for first time
UC San Diego’s enrollment hit a record 45,087 in the fall and helped the 10-campus University of California system avoid a significant drop in students while it struggled with losses of state and federal money and Pell grants.
The La Jolla university added 831 students, second only to UC Riverside, which gained 1,249. That resulted in a net increase of 1,686 systemwide.
The figure was expected to be much higher. However, financial issues led the Davis, Merced, Irvine, Santa Barbara and San Francisco campuses to tighten enrollment, collectively dropping by 965.
UCSD has proved especially popular over the past decade, increasing enrollment by more than 12,000 during that time. More than 150,000 prospective freshmen and transfer students sought admission last year.
Birch Aquarium brings back Oceans at Night, introduces Birch After Hours
Birch Aquarium at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla is bringing back its Oceans at Night series for adults 21 and older and introducing a new evening experience for all guests called Birch After Hours.
Oceans at Night offers after-hours exploration of the aquarium, plus music and drinks. It will return with an “Aquanauts” theme at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. Additional dates will be announced.
Birch After Hours will debut Feb. 15 as it invites guests of all ages to the aquarium from 5 to 7 p.m. Sundays.
“With the return of Oceans at Night and the launch of Birch After Hours, we’re giving guests of all ages new opportunities to connect with ocean science, conservation and each other while exploring what happens in the ocean when the lights go out,” aquarium Executive Director Harry Helling said in a statement.
Find out more or buy tickets at aquarium.ucsd.edu.
La Jolla Music Society launches new lecture series
The La Jolla Music Society is starting a free “Music 101” lecture series at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, featuring Michael Gerdes, director of orchestras at San Diego State University.
The lectures will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. the last Tuesday of each month through May (except for the third Tuesday of March) starting Jan. 27 in The JAI at The Conrad, 7600 Fay Ave.
The schedule is:
• Jan. 27: “We’re All in the Mood for a Melody: Polyphony Through the Ages”
• Feb. 24: “We’re All in This Together: The Reign of Homophony”
• March 17: “The Long and Winding Road: Music Takes Form”
• April 28: “Purple Rain: Color as the Joy of Listening”
• May 26: “Go Your Own Way: After Sonata Form”
Registration is encouraged at theconrad.org/events.
Historical Society to present painting workshop inspired by exhibit
To accompany its ongoing exhibition “Double Bill: The Art of Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson,” the La Jolla Historical Society will present an artist-guided painting workshop.
The session, led by Kurosh Yahyai, will be from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday, Jan. 25, at Wisteria Cottage, 780 Prospect St. The cost is $40 for Historical Society members and $50 for non-members.
The workshop will explore how Farber and Patterson approached painting, and participants will work with a variety of tools, examining material choices and processes.
“Double Bill” continues through Sunday, Feb. 1. Learn more and register for the workshop at lajollahistory.org.
La Jolla Garden Club to hold Valentine’s Day fundraiser
The La Jolla Garden Club will hold its third annual Valentine’s Day fundraiser to raise money for its horticulture scholarships.
The event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, in front of US Bank at 7807 Girard Ave. Club members will sell decorated homemade cookies.
The La Jolla Garden Club will hold its Valentine’s Day fundraiser Saturday, Feb. 14, featuring decorated homemade cookies. (Provided by Pam Filley)
Every year, the club offers scholarships to community colleges in San Diego County that have horticulture-related programs, specifically MiraCosta, Cuyamaca and Southwestern colleges.
La Jolla immunologist granted BioLegend Graduate Fellowship
La Jolla Institute for Immunology member Kelly Shaffer, a UC San Diego graduate student in biomedical sciences, has been awarded the 2026 BioLegend Graduate Fellowship in Immunology for her work in researching a class of viruses known as filoviridae, which includes Ebola.
The fellowship will provide $25,000 toward salary support, tuition and fees as a graduate student as she moves forward in her hunt for “cross-reactive” antibodies that can neutralize multiple filoviruses at once. She does so by investigating the blood of people who likely have survived multiple exposures to filoviruses.
Her work also could lead to vaccines that trigger the body to produce the same protective antibody response.
La Jolla researchers test new approach to neuroinflammation
Neuroinflammation is the body’s response to injury, infection, toxins or autoimmune dysfunction in the brain and spinal cord. As in the rest of the body, acute inflammation can help repair harm — primarily by removing damaging elements and dead or dying cells so healing can begin.
But in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis, as well as some psychiatric disorders, chronic or excessive neuroinflammation is a major driver of damage and decline.
Current drug-based treatments for neuroinflammation are limited, partly because of the blood-brain barrier, which selectively restricts what can pass from the body to the brain, blocking many pharmacological approaches. A definitive solution has remained elusive — until now.
Researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys in La Jolla say they have discovered a new form of magnetic therapy that demonstrates anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and neuroprotective effects.
The new research focuses on a novel approach called microtesla magnetic therapy, or MMT. The research team deployed very specific time-varied magnetic fields optimized to inhibit the production of certain proteins in human and rat cells with induced progressive neuroinflammation.
The study authors said their findings offer compelling evidence that localized transcranial MMT could become a powerful non-invasive therapy for neuroinflammatory conditions.
Symphony and opera get $4.5 million boost from Irwin Jacobs
With the help of $4.5 million from philanthropist and La Jolla resident Irwin Jacobs, a partnership between San Diego Opera and the San Diego Symphony will carry on for the next three seasons.
San Diego Opera said Jacobs has committed the donation to establish the Joan and Irwin Jacobs San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera Collaboration Fund.
San Diego Opera’s Yves Abel conducts San Diego Symphony musicians during a 2024 performance of “Don Giovanni” at the San Diego Civic Theatre. (Karli Cadel)
San Diego Opera has been able to hire members of the San Diego Symphony to perform in its productions for more than 20 years. But it comes with a cost of about 12% of the opera’s annual budget.
The new Jacobs fund will be used to continue and expand the collaboration between the two organizations and to support artistic planning.
Jacobs — with his wife, Joan, who died in May 2024 at age 91 — has donated more than $100 million to the San Diego Symphony over the past 25 years.
“Both San Diego Opera and the San Diego Symphony were very important to my late wife, Joan, and I am delighted to be able to carry on her philanthropic vision with a gift to the opera to benefit these two remarkable cultural institutions,” Jacobs said in a statement.
Muirlands Middle School to host financial literacy classes
Muirlands Middle School Principal Brendan Simon will teach a series of free financial literacy classes for students starting at the end of this month.
The classes at the La Jolla school will build on one another and cover topics such as checking and savings accounts, debit and credit cards, credit scores, compound interest and stocks, bonds and mutual funds. The course is educational and will not offer investment advice.
The classes will be from 3:10 to 4:10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, Monday, Feb. 2, and Monday, Feb. 9.
The application deadline is 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16. To register, go to bit.ly/4qjMtU0.
National League of Young Men seeking new members
The La Jolla chapter of the National League of Young Men is accepting new members for the class of 2030, with limited openings also available for the classes of 2028 and ’29.
NLYM is a mother-son organization focused on leadership development through community service, philanthropy and charitable engagement. Membership is open to young men and their mothers who live in La Jolla (ZIP code 92037) or attend a high school in La Jolla.
To learn more, visit nationalleagueofyoungmen.org/la-jolla.
— The San Diego Union-Tribune contributed to this report. ♦