News

The College of Biological Sciences is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025-26 CBS Faculty Research and Teaching Awards. These annual honors recognize faculty members whose contributions exemplify the college's commitment to advancing discovery and providing outstanding educational experiences for students.

Satoshi Namekawa, a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics whose research has advanced our understanding of fertility, epigenetics and genome organization, has been named chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (MMG). He will begin serving in the role on July 1, 2026.

As wildflowers go, the mountain jewelflower is demure, clever and quietly unbreakable. It has spread across many of California’s iconic landscapes, from Sonoma wine country to the oak-dotted foothills, even over the Sierra Crest, where snow covers the ground during winter.

Frédéric Chédin, a professor and chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a renowned expert in genome biology, will be the next dean of the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences. Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan selected Chédin to lead the college following a nationwide search. He will start on September 1.

The Phi Sigma Honor Society’s Gamma Delta chapter at UC Davis celebrates academic excellence and leadership among students in the College of Biological Sciences. Throughout the 2025-26 academic year, the chapter brought together students who are not only strong scholars, but also emerging leaders committed to advancing research, healthcare, innovation, and community engagement.

The causes of male infertility can be hard to diagnose, with many tests failing to detect genetic defects. Sometimes, infertility doesn’t even involve the genes themselves. It can arise from improper folding of the father’s DNA in the sperm. If a couple conceives, this mispackaged DNA can damage the lifelong health of the child.

A kestrel swoops to grab a smaller bird on the wing and eats it, right in front of a group of men in the garden at California Health Care Facility, or CHCF, a prison in Stockton, where the garden has become both a thriving ecosystem and a science classroom for people incarcerated there. As the feathers fly, UC Davis researcher Laci Gerhart pulls out a bird guide and shows the incarcerated men how to identify the bird by its size and coloration, noting that kestrels are North America’s smallest raptor and one of the few that are sexually dimorphic. 

Being a single mother of 20 is no joke, especially if the survival of a whole species depends on it. 

A queen bumblebee faces this very challenge when she lays her first eggs in the spring: She is utterly alone, with no worker bees to help.

She flies miles each day, collecting nectar to feed her young. She builds a protective nursery from wax. When she’s not out foraging, she climbs atop her larvae and buzzes to warm them. 

The genomics of peppermint are not as fresh as their flavor but scientists from the University of California, Davis, have found a way to breathe new genetic variation into the species.

Experiences in the first days and weeks of life can have a profound impact on humans — and birds. A new study led by Sage Madden, a graduate student working with Gail Patricelli, a professor of evolution and ecology, shows how weather conditions and family dynamics affect the growth of barn swallow (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster) chicks.