News

The Fight Against Citrus Greening Disease

Postdoctoral researchers, Drs. Emilyn Matsumura and Elizabeth Henry from Dr. Bryce Falk’s Lab in the Department of Plant Pathology, received funding from the USDA’s HLB Multi-Agency Coordination (MAC) program, which serves to coordinate and fund research for citrus HLB interventions. Their project will focus on developing tools to target the insect that transmits HLB. Currently, HLB has no cure, and effective intervention strategies have been difficult to find, primarily because the bacteria responsible for the disease cannot be manipulated in a laboratory, which make it difficult to better understand its biology.

From Yellow-Legged Frogs to Chickpeas: Graduate Students Receive Funding for Wide Range of Microbiome Research Topics

The UC Davis Microbiome Special Research Program is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2019 Microbiome Graduate Research Award. A total of fifteen graduate students were selected for the award out of thirty-six applications. Each awarded proposal will receive $1,000 to help with costs related to their microbiome research.  The application process demonstrated the various areas of microbiome research at UC Davis and ranged in diverse applicant backgrounds from plant pathology, entomology/nematology and animal science to applicants from anthropology, computer science, nutrition and psychology. 

Last year, this coral reef was teeming with life. Now it's dying - and it's up to us to save it

Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse places on the planet. Like rainforests, they are teeming with species that live symbiotically with one another. They cover less than 1% of the ocean floor yet harbour a quarter of all known marine species. As well as astonishing beauty, this biodiversity provides spawning and nursery grounds that economically important fish populations need to thrive. They protect coastal communities from storm surges. They provide millions of jobs through tourism, fishing and recreational activities - and they are also important sources of new medicines being developed to treat cancer, arthritis, bacterial infections, Alzheimer's, heart disease, viruses and other illnesses. If coral reefs go, this will all disappear.

UC Davis Partners With DEA-Approved Company to Conduct Cannabis Research

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have partnered with a federally compliant pharmaceutical company to analyze the chemical and biological profiles of cannabis for the benefit of law enforcement, health care providers and scientific professionals.   The agreement with Biopharmaceutical Research Company, which is registered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, is among the first of its kind. UC Davis and BRC researchers will analyze legally acquired cannabis materials in BRC’s labs to understand the chemical composition of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, cannabidiol or CBD, and other cannabinoids. There will be no cannabis on the UC Davis campus or any UC Davis-owned or leased property as part of this research.