News Articles

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.

A nerve cell resembles a vast tree with branches that communicate with thousands of other cells. To function, it depends on a motor protein that walks on two legs, hauling urgent cargo from the center of the cell to the faraway tips of every branch. Scientists have unveiled a new structure of this walking protein, showing how cells control it.

Molecular biology labs rarely attract crowds, but white-coated students in UC Davis’s Esau Hall recently welcomed an unusual audience. The occasion? A celebration of the BIO123 series, the new introductory biology curriculum developed and run by the College of Biological Sciences (CBS) that serves students across UC Davis. To support the new courses, several lab spaces in Esau Hall were renovated — improvements enabled by donor funds. 

Philipp Zerbe, a professor of plant biology whose research explores how plants use chemistry to communicate with and adapt to their environment, has been named associate dean for research and graduate studies for the College of Biological Sciences. He will begin serving in the role on September 1.

Sean Burgess, a professor of molecular and cellular biology whose research has advanced understanding of chromosome inheritance, reproductive biology and human developmental disorders, has been named chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB). She will begin serving in the role on September 1.

Think of friendships forged at UC Davis and you might picture first-year students gabbing in dorms, or recent graduates tossing their caps into the air, but the university fosters countless close ties — from the classroom to the boardroom. 

A shared commitment to philanthropy and scientific learning is what sparked a friendship between two longtime UC Davis supporters, Elena B. “Lin” Weaver and Deborah J. “Deb” Neff ’76.

Cancer cells are quick to develop resistance to anti-tumor drugs. New research by scientists from the University of California, Davis shows how cancers adapt to evade a class of anti-tumor drugs called BET inhibitors and offers hope for more effective therapies.