UC Davis Virologist Samuel L. Díaz-Muñoz, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, spoke with KCRA 3 in an interview late last year about the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines being hailed as "game-changers" by the medical community.
In a study appearing in Nucleic Acids Research, UC Davis College of Biological Sciences researchers identify and show how two molecular partners affect the overall assembly and structure of the breast cancer protein BRCA2.
To stay a step ahead of coronavirus, an interdisciplinary team of UC Davis researchers will use mathematics, data science and experimental biology to predict potential mutations of the virus.
We asked UC Davis College of Biological Sciences virologists Priya Shah and Samuel Díaz-Muñoz for their thoughts on the coronavirus and its effect on the public.
Knots are a part of nature. From pocketed headphones to carelessly packed garden hoses, they find ways to manifest in strings and loops. This isn’t just a truth of mathematics; it’s a truth of biology. In fact, DNA molecules can also get tied into knots.
Professor Mariel Vazquez has been appointed as the new faculty director of the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science, or CAMPOS, succeeding the founding faculty director, Mary Lou de Leon Siantz, professor emeritus at the Betty Irene More School of Nursing.
Assistant Professor Chang-il Hwang, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, studies pancreatic cancer, one of deadliest cancers. Learn more about how Hwang and his lab colleagues are fighting pancreatic cancer with the help of organoids.
Much like characters in a bank heist, viruses in competitive environments can collaborate for their share of the "score" of successfully co-infecting hosts. But these relationships may change once inside the host cell, according to Assistant Professor Samuel Díaz-Muñoz.
A parasitic amoeba that causes severe gut disease in humans protects itself from attack by biting off pieces of host cells and putting their proteins on its own surface, according to a study by microbiologists at the University of California, Davis.
Katherine Ralston, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, College of Biological Sciences, is the recipient of the UC Davis Early Career Faculty Award for Creativity and Innovation for 2019.
