Key scientific partners and funders from around the globe gathered in London today to officially launch the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a global effort to sequence the genetic code of all the planet’s eukaryotes — some 1.5 million known species, including all plants, animals, protozoa and fungi.

The University of California, Davis, enabled the foundation of 16 commercial companies during the fiscal year ending June 30, an all-time high for the university. This brings the total number of startups made possible by UC Davis technologies during the past 10 years to 137. Among those startups, Evolve BioSystems, which builds on university research on infant gut microbiome and breast milk components, recently completed a $40 million Series C financing, co-led by Horizons Ventures and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to expand sales of its flagship infant probiotic product worldwide.  

The University of California, Davis (UC Davis), and BASF announced a collaboration to unlock new benefits of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). The long-term objective of this strategic research partnership is to develop and validate second-generation HMO molecules as potent bioactive compounds that can influence the establishment and maintenance of the gut microbiome and provide benefits beyond the gastrointestinal tract, such as brain health, for infants, children and adults.

An international consortium of scientists is proposing what is arguably the most ambitious project in the history of biology: sequencing the DNA of all known eukaryotic species on Earth. The central goal of the Earth BioGenome Project is to understand the evolution and organization of life on our planet by sequencing and functionally annotating the genomes of 1.5 million known species of eukaryotes, a massive group that includes plants, animals, fungi and other organisms whose cells have a nucleus that houses their chromosomal DNA. To date, the genomes of less than 0.2 percent of eukaryotic species have been sequenced. 

There is a story in Co.Design about using bacteria in home design featuring a project from UC Davis students.  See "The next big home design trend? Bacteria" by Katherine Schwab. The article discusses multiple projects including one on biodegradable diapers from UC Davis.

Ellie Yin receives award for doctoral research examining probiotics and health. Xiaochen (Ellie) Yin, who recently completed her Ph.D. in food science, has been awarded the John E. Kinsella Memorial Prize for outstanding research on her doctoral dissertation examining probiotics and health. Interest in probiotics has grown significantly with consumers in recent years and is now a leading sector of the food supplement market. However, probiotics research is still in its early stages—with promising but sometimes inconsistent outcomes regarding beneficial effects.

By Greg Watry

On Monday, Jan. 22, the UC Davis community will welcome researchers from Taiwan’s Academia Sinica for the first Academia Sinica and UC Davis Bilateral Joint Symposium on the Genome, Glycome and Microbiome of Plants and Animals. The two-day event will showcase the latest, cutting-edge life science research from the two institutions.

The Office of Research at University of California, Davis, is pleased to announce the launch of the Microbiome Special Research Program (SRP), designed to leverage and build upon the broad and deep expertise in microbiome science across the university. Jonathan Eisen, professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology in the College of Biological Sciences and the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine, has been appointed faculty director for the program. Eisen is internationally recognized as a pioneer and leader in both research and communication about microbiomes (communities of microbes).