Three College of Biological Sciences research core facilities are among 20 across UC Davis selected to receive funding through the university's new Research Cores Central Investment (RCCI) Program. The one-time awards will help sustain essential shared research infrastructure, supporting advanced imaging, plant growth facilities, and other specialized resources that enable discoveries across the biological sciences.
The tiny aquatic hydra looks fragile at first glance, with tentacles that are slender and translucent. But if you cut it in half, each fragment regenerates into a complete new animal. Scientists studying this amazing feat have discovered a surprising detail: to trigger healing, specialized cells first have to invade the wound in a manner similar to what cancer cells do as they spread through the body.
To avoid self-pollination, avocado trees alternate between opening male and female flowers at different times of day. Some avocados are female in the morning and male in the afternoon, while others are on the opposite schedule. How avocados do this has been unclear — until now.
The mountain jewelflower inhabits a wide swath of California and Oregon, from summer-scorched foothills to high mountains where snow falls during winter. But it is already suffering from climate change, with plants in the mountains struggling to survive both summers and winters, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.
Xiaosa Xu, assistant professor of plant biology in the College of Biological Sciences, has received a UC Office of the President Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Award. The award includes $50,000 to support his research on the evolution of maize.
