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Gene D. Block, provost at the University of Virginia, will take the position of UCLA's next permanent chancellor, pending approval by the UC Board of Regents at a meeting Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

Block currently holds the second-highest position at the University of Virginia and is a world-renown biologist still actively conducting research, according to the UVA Web site.

The 58-year-old scientist earned his bachelor's degree at Stanford University and his doctoral degree at the University of Oregon. Block received postdoctoral training at Stanford and was then offered a position as an assistant professor of biology at UVA in 1978, according to the UVA Web site.

Block, who is married with two children, remained at UVA, a highly ranked public institution, throughout his career, also serving as vice president of research.

"Block has gained recognition for his research into the cellular and neural mechanisms by which organisms adjust sleep and wakefulness to the day and night cycle," according to the UVA Web site. "His most recent projects address the action of aging on cells in the brain that form the biological clock and on understanding the involvement of the biological clock in African Sleeping Sickness."

The next UCLA chancellor will likely begin his tenure at the end of this academic year, Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams said in an interview during the summer.

Block is the second candidate for the position of UCLA chancellor to be leaked to the media during the search process, which has stretched on for a year. The first candidate was Provost Deborah Freund of Syracuse University, but several days after her name was leaked she took herself out of the running, citing family conflicts.

The Los Angeles Times reported Freund withdrew her name because her husband, a professor at Syracuse, was not offered a professorship at UCLA. The University of California has a history of offering chancellors' spouses positions at the universities they lead, according to Daily Bruin archives.

It has not been reported whether Block's wife, Carol, has been offered a position at UCLA.

UCLA officials declined to comment on the current chancellor search, and UC officials could not be reached for comment.

With reports from Anthony Pesce and Saba Riazati, Bruin senior staff.