News

UC Davis is continuing to make good on its commitment to welcome diverse voices, and earlier this month inducted nine new faculty members into programs that aim to bring multicultural and underrepresented perspectives to all fields of academia.

New research suggests that it could be possible to separate treatment from hallucinations when developing new drugs based on psychedelics. The anti-anxiety and hallucination-inducing qualities of psychedelic drugs work through different neural circuits, according to research using a mouse model. The work is published Nov. 15 in Science.

The Chen Lab studies the neural mechanisms behind cognitive functions, with a specific focus on visual attention. Dr. Chen's research team is also dedicated to pioneering innovative approaches that understand and enhance those essential cognitive functions.

Ron Mangun, Distinguished Professor of psychology and neurology and co-director of the Center for Mind and Brain at UC Davis, has just been awarded the 2024 Award for Education in Neuroscience by the Society for Neuroscience. This prize recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to undergraduate- and graduate-level neuroscience education and training.

The College of Biological Sciences was pleased to welcome five new faculty members to its ranks during the 2023-24 academic year. Joining the Departments of Plant Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, and the Center for Neuroscience, each faculty adds breadth and depth to the college’s research and teaching portfolio.

UC Davis researchers have developed a rapid, noninvasive tool to track the neurons and biomolecules activated in the brain by psychedelic drugs. The protein-based tool, which is called Ca2+-activated Split-TurboID, or CaST, is described in research published in Nature Methods.

Marie E. Burns, a professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, and Cell Biology and Human Anatomy in the School of Medicine, and a core faculty member at the Center for Neuroscience (CNS), has been appointed the CNS interim director, effective July 1, 2024. 

SACRAMENTO — On exhibit this summer at a museum near you: The Last Hope: Glial Cells Attacking SARS-Co-V2-Infected Neurons, a 3D reconstruction of cells that could be mistaken for modern art, and Pillars of Memory, an image of clusters of neurons in the hippocampus that looks like the Milky Way Galaxy. 

Visitors to the SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity (MOSAC) are seeing firsthand what UC Davis neuroscientists and trainees know well.

DAVIS – Inspired by her mother, a talented painter, local artist Davida Feder has cultivated a lifelong passion for creation, first finding solace and joy in the intricacies of sewing projects. However, after she retired, Davida delved into photography classes, and when she exhausted those, she enrolled in art classes. Since the pandemic, Davida’s favorite pastime is getting lost in her art, enjoying the meticulous craft of handmade books and cards, which she lovingly sends to friends, each imbued with a fragment of herself.