News

Postdoctoral Researchers Awarded Hartwell Fellowships to Probe Tissue Regeneration and Molecular Roots of Dystonia

Ben Cox and Rebecca McGillivary, postdoctoral researchers in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, are among 10 early career scientists selected to receive 2022 Hartwell Biomedical Research Fellowships, which were announced in August, 2023.

The Hartwell Foundation, which supports innovative and cutting-edge biomedical research that may benefit children, provides fellows with $100,000 in funding, split between two years.

From the Dean: A Great Time to be an Aggie

Coming to Davis from Colorado was a shift – the scenery, the climate (no more show shoes!) – but after almost ten years in California, it’s now a bit of a shock when things get cold. But that is exactly what it is here now. (By cold, I mean 50°F, admittedly.)

CBS Senior Gains Cross-Cultural Experience Shadowing Doctors in Italy

College seniors don’t get assigned “what I did last summer” essays for homework, but if they did, Amrit Bains’s summer would have the whole class envious. Bains—a pre-med biological sciences major who is a member of the Phi Sigma Honor Society—traveled to Milan with a program called Doctors in Italy, which lets undergraduates shadow physicians abroad.

How Tomato Plants Use Their Roots to Ration Water During Drought

Plants have to be flexible to survive environmental changes, and the adaptive methods they deploy must often be as changeable as the shifts in climate and condition to which they adapt. To cope with drought, plant roots produce a water-repellent polymer called suberin that blocks water from flowing up towards the leaves, where it would quickly evaporate. Without suberin, the resulting water loss would be like leaving the tap running.

Citrus Greening Bacteria Affects Pest's Sense of Smell

A failed field test has led to a major discovery about the Asian citrus psyllid, the insect that spreads the devastating citrus greening disease. According to new research, the bacteria that cause citrus greening can interfere with the insect’s sense of smell, rendering some kinds of insect traps useless. The work is currently available as a preprint.

From the Dean: Grateful for All That's Happened

Each year, the start of the holidays seems to get here earlier and earlier. This year is no different. It feels like just yesterday (or maybe last week) that we welcomed 6,400 CBS students back to campus for the start of fall quarter. And now, here we are—it’s time to wish them luck on their finals, and then send them back to their friends and loved ones for a well-deserved break.

Immune Cells Drive Sex Reversal in Zebrafish – and Perhaps Fertility Loss in Women

Female zebrafish (Danio rerio) have an unusual tendency: if their egg cells are damaged, they can turn into males. Bruce Draper, a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) and Florence Marlow, a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, have discovered that immune cells called macrophages play a key role in this process. These cells normally keep things “tidy” by removing dead or damaged cells – but in zebrafish they can also remodel the ovaries into sperm-producing testes. “It’s a pretty interesting and novel idea,” says Draper.

$15 Million Grant Will Support Study on the Role of the Thalamus in Cognitive Control and Schizophrenia

When it comes to brain anatomy, the thalamus occupies a humble position.  It sits at the top of our brainstem — an apparent vestige of our reptilian past — and is dwarfed by the massive, wrinkled cerebral cortex, which sits above it. The cortex is often credited as the throne of human intellect. But a team of researchers across the country, with UC Davis led by W. Martin Usrey, sees the thalamus as a critical coordinator of our thoughts and perceptions – and pivotal in human disease.

A Mixed Origin Made Maize Successful

Maize is one of the world’s most widely grown crops. It is used for both human and animal foods and holds great cultural significance, especially for indigenous peoples in the Americas. Yet despite its importance, the origins of the grain have been hotly debated for more than a century. Now new research, published Dec. 1 in Science, shows that all modern maize descends from a hybrid created just over 5000 years ago in central Mexico, thousands of years after the plant was first domesticated.