Our bodies are pharmaceutical factories, but did you know that our bodies also naturally produce psychedelics? Why do we make them? How do they work? What are their functions? And can we leverage them to mitigate neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions? The UC Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics is exploring those questions.
Design2Data, or D2D, provides undergraduate students with early laboratory experiences learning about enzymes and related protein structures with findings that contribute to a national network of data.
In the lab of Professor of Chemistry Davide Donadio, physical chemistry graduate student Maggie Berrens investigates the fundamental properties of the ice surface to better understand how ice acts as a catalyst for environmental reactions.
Chemistry is in the spotlight this March with the celebration of the 24th Annual R. Bryan Miller Symposium. The event, scheduled for March 14 and 15, features a lineup of lectures from prestigious scientists working at the cutting-edge of chemistry, its subdisciplines and related fields. Registration for the event, which is free, is now open.
As a UC Davis associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the College of Letters and
Science, Jesús Velázquez employs his chemistry expertise to synthesize materials useful for environmental remediation, transforming carbon dioxide-based waste streams, and energy conversion and storage. With his sights set on transforming the world for the better through chemistry, Velázquez, ever humble, never fails to thank the family members and academic mentors who guided his life path. Their imprint echoes into today, informing how he mentors and teaches.
White abalone shells are magnificent structures. Translucent during the marine snail’s juvenile days, the extremely durable shell increases in opacity as the organism ages, gaining its paint-splatter-esque red, brown and white coloring from the algae it eats. But abalone, along with other marine organisms, are facing a crisis, one that affects the integrity of their shells.
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, in partnership with the Mars Advanced Research Institute, have announced a significant breakthrough in the production of low-calorie sugar substitutes, such as allulose. This discovery could help address one of the primary obstacles to the widespread adoption of these alternatives: production costs.
For his contributions to the development and application of atomistic and first principle simulations to understand the physical properties of materials and nanostructures, Davide Donadio was recently named a fellow of the American Physical Society.
Four faculty members have received the 2023 College of Letters and Science Teaching Awards. The awards recognize outstanding teaching on the undergraduate and graduate levels, both inside and outside the classroom.
