2023
Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
- November 29, 2023
UCSC’s 2023 iGEM team grabs fourth consecutive gold medal and nomination for best software tool at international competition
A team of UC Santa Cruz students won a gold medal at the 2023 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Grand Jamboree, marking their fourth consecutive year of bringing home the prize, and were nominated as best software tool for the first time.
- November 28, 2023
New eDNA Explorer provides a powerful new resource for conservation
CALeDNA has launched a prototype of their new eDNA Explorer, an open-source tool that provides a powerful and easily accessible platform for sharing, exploring, and analyzing data from projects that use environmental DNA.
- November 20, 2023
Life Beyond the Redwoods: Benny Mosqueira participates in groundbreaking research one year after graduating from UCSC
One year after graduating from UCSC, Benny Mosqueira is a research assistant for MCD Biology Assistant Professor D’Juan Farmer’s lab at UCLA.
- October 24, 2023
Bacteria can enhance host insect’s fertility with implications for disease control
New research led at UC Santa Cruz reveals how the bacteria strain Wolbachia pipientis enhances the fertility of the insects it infects, an insight that could help scientists increase the populations of mosquitoes that do not carry human disease.
- October 04, 2023
UCSC iGEM 2023 addressing harmful algal blooms through synthetic biology
A team of UCSC undergraduate students is designing and assembling a plasmid that targets the toxic genes of a type of freshwater bacteria responsible for harmful algal blooms.
- September 11, 2023
2023 ARCS Foundation scholarships support UCSC graduate students in the sciences and engineering
Sixteen UC Santa Cruz graduate students have received scholarships worth a total of $175,000 from the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation for the 2023-24 academic year.
- September 07, 2023
New long-term NIH grant supports breast cancer research
Cancers are easier to treat if caught early on in their development. Once the cancer cells metastasize and spread around the body, the disease becomes more difficult to target. Shaheen Sikandar, an assistant professor of MCD Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was recently awarded up to seven years of funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institute of Health (NIH), to study the process of metastasis in breast cancer.
- September 01, 2023
GREAT program creates new opportunities for students to participate in research
This summer, the “Genome Research Experiences to Attract Talented Undergraduates into the Genomics Field to Enhance Diversity” (GREAT) programmed welcomed six students from California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) to an intensive eight-week research program at UC Santa Cruz.
- August 07, 2023
A childhood cancer survivor becomes a cancer researcher
This summer, 15-year-old Robert McCabe helped to sequence and analyze a tumor sample in the lab of the UC Santa Cruz Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative.
- July 26, 2023
NSF graduate fellowship winner reflects on successes at UC Santa Cruz
Graduating senior and NSF-GRFP recipient Valery Ortiz shares about her experience at UC Santa Cruz, her involvement with STEM Diversity, and what she hopes for the future.
- May 16, 2023
Physical and Biological Sciences Division honors three prominent alumni
The Division of Physical and Biological Sciences is honoring three stellar alumni—atmospheric scientist Cora E. Randall, pediatrician Ramon Resa, and marine scientist Colleen Reichmuth—with the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Awards.
- May 11, 2023
Dickson Emeriti Professorships awarded to faculty in music, theater arts, and biology
Three UCSC faculty members—Kathy Foley, Edward Houghton, and Susan Strome—have been honored with Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship Awards for the 2023–24 academic year.
- March 30, 2023
New program advises UCSC Ph.D. students on their path to entrepreneurship and venture capital
Many student-led innovations never make it out of the lab. A new program at UC Santa Cruz aims to change that by mentoring Ph.D. students in the life sciences on alternative career pathways outside academia: entrepreneurship and venture capital.
- February 21, 2023
RNA Rescue challenge invites players to solve puzzles and advance RNA therapeutics
Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have developed a new puzzle challenge for the online game Eterna, enlisting players to help design a novel RNA drug to treat hemophilia A.
- January 23, 2023
McKenna Smith: Pursuing biological sciences
McKenna Smith was awarded the Keeley Coastal Scholars Award in 2022. Learn more about how scholarships support students at UC Santa Cruz.
- January 23, 2023
Five student teams embark on tech for social good projects
Five student teams will take on tech for social good projects with funding from the UCSC CITRIS and the Banatao Institute and the UCSC Institute for Social Transformation.
