______________

We're Ready to be Back
a return to life on campus

With nearly 6,000 new and returning CBS students on campus, things in the college are starting to feel a little more like normal. I’m pleased to say that vaccination rates among CBS students, faculty and staff are at almost 100%. For those on campus, the Campus Ready website is where you will find the latest guidance, answers to common questions, and a full list of resources.

As a related piece of news, the UC Davis Genome Center, which plays an integral role in Healthy Davis Together (HDT), the collaborative effort between UC Davis and the city of Davis to protect our community through widespread testing, has ramped up its capacity to nearly 7,000 tests a day. In fact, the center has now tested nearly 800,000 saliva samples since HDT began.

For the month of October, the college is participating in Crowdfund UC Davis with two student-focused projects. The first project, for AvenueB, supports transfer students as they transition from community college to UC Davis. The second, for the Integrative Genetics and Genomics graduate group, is raising money for an inaugural retreat that will encourage graduate student networking and professional development.

At the end of this month, the college and Nature Conferences will present Harnessing the Plant Microbiome, which will highlight recent advances in our understandings of plant microbiomes and their pivotal role in food security, food safety, and environmental sustainability. There is still time to register, and there are special rates for students and members of academia.

For those who are new to campus or curious about what’s here, the college has launched a 3-D virtual tour that offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of our most distinctive facilities and classrooms. Included are stops at the Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, the Botanical Conservatory, the Genome Center and more.

One final note to start off the 2021-22 academic year with a notable distinction. Forbes recently named UC Davis #4 among public universities in the nation for the “most outstanding education to the broadest range of students at the most affordable price.” As we return to life on campus, I hope we can take a collective pride in this recognition, and in our shared excellence in teaching, research and exploration.

Go Ags! 
______________

Mark Winey, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Biological Sciences
Distinguished Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology 

______________

$2 Million NIH Grant Expands Grad Program for Underrepresented Students
The Initiative for Maximizing Student Development's newly-awarded grant aims to increase the number of Ph.D. students from historically underrepresented groups in the biomedical and behavioral sciences.

Research & Discovery
______________

Shaped by Water: Ocean Depths Home to More Diverse Shapes of Fishes
Researchers in the Department of Evolution and Ecology found that the cold, dark depths of the ocean contain a wider variety of body shapes for fish than shallower waters.

______________

Interrupting the Development of Cancer Cells
A study from the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics decouples chromosomal processes in cancer cell division a step towards understanding how to curb the growth of cancerous cells.

______________

Why Sunflowers Face East
Research from the Department of Plant Biology suggests that facing east helps sunflowers produce more offspring. Previous research has shown that the plants turn back and forth while growing.

Campus & Community
______________

UC Davis Featured in Amazon Series The College Tour
See UC Davis featured in The College Tour, a TV series created for Amazon by Emmy-nominated and multi-award winning producers. The episode will be available on Amazon Prime and elsewhere in November.

______________

Undergraduate Makes the Most of Strauss Scholarship 
Rishi Sharma studies the various signaling pathways that play a role in diabetes in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. A $15,000 award from the Donald A. Strauss Foundation will help him launch an endocrine clinic.

______________

UC Davis Researchers Among Successful PREP Scholars Admitted to Campus Graduate Programs
Four UC Davis postbaccalaureate researchers returned to campus this fall as both graduate students and fellows of the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. 

______________

A Life of Movement: Remembering Professor Emeritus Edmund Bernauer
Bernauer, a professor emeritus in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, was a pioneering figure in academia, policy and industry. He passed away on Aug. 12, 2021, at the age of 94.

______________

Upcoming Events
Support Exploration
______________
Gifts of any amount to the college's featured October 2021 Crowdfund projects will support transfer and graduate students. Give below!
__________

AvenueB
Support UC Davis transfer students from admission to graduation.

__________

IGG Student Retreat
Support graduate student professional development.

When you support UC Davis with a gift to the College of Biological Sciences, you are making an investment in the continued exploration of life sciences by a new generation of researchers and future leaders.