Advancing Health Worldwide Content / Advancing Health Worldwide Content for 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis en Federal Contract for up to $40 Million Fuels Research to Revolutionize Clean Indoor Air and Defend Against Next Pandemic /news/federal-contract-40-million-federal-fuels-research-revolutionize-clean-indoor-air-and-defend <p><span lang="EN">When a public building catches fire, its built-in systems automatically respond: Smoke alarms blare, sprinklers kick on, and occupants quickly evacuate.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">But what if the life-threatening danger isn’t fire but invisible airborne contaminants that can make occupants sick? Could a similar smart-building system monitor and improve the quality of the air indoors, where Americans spend 90 percent of their time?</span></p> October 16, 2025 - 2:05pm Andy Fell /news/federal-contract-40-million-federal-fuels-research-revolutionize-clean-indoor-air-and-defend Where's Our CRISPR? New Treatments Promise Hope for Rare Diseases, But Wait May be Long /blog/wheres-our-crispr-new-treatments-promise-hope-rare-diseases-wait-may-be-long <p>As the parent of a child with a rare genetic disease, Celena Lozano saw the hope that reports of a breakthrough treatment bring. As a graduate student in neuroscience at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis, she knows that the road to effective treatments, let alone 'cures' for most such diseases, will be long and frustrating. Clear and nuanced communication about what research and clinical studies actually mean for patients is needed, <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2025/10/09/crispr-cure-baby-kj-rare-diseases-personalized-gene-editing-drugs/">she writes in an article for STAT</a>.&nbsp;</p> October 14, 2025 - 2:25pm Andy Fell /blog/wheres-our-crispr-new-treatments-promise-hope-rare-diseases-wait-may-be-long A Stretchy Protein Senses Forces in Cells /blog/stretchy-protein-senses-forces-cells <p>How does skin hold you in? How do heart cells beat together? Researchers at the University of California, Davis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, are exploring how structures called desmosomes, which stick cells together, function and react to mechanical stress.&nbsp;</p><p>New work from Professor Sanjeevi Sivasankar’s lab, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64124-4">published Oct. 10 in Nature Communications</a>, shows how a desmosome protein can respond to mechanical stress and potentially send signals within the cell.&nbsp;</p> October 10, 2025 - 11:20am Andy Fell /blog/stretchy-protein-senses-forces-cells Computational Model Uses Language Theory to Predict DNA Shapes That Underlie Gene Expression and Disease /blog/computational-model-uses-language-theory-predict-dna-shapes-underlie-gene-expression-and <p><span lang="EN-US">Your DNA contains the genetic blueprint necessary to not just build your body but to build the proteins and molecules that ensure your body’s functionality. DNA encodes RNA, RNA encodes proteins and voila, your body functions.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> October 03, 2025 - 11:19am Andy Fell /blog/computational-model-uses-language-theory-predict-dna-shapes-underlie-gene-expression-and Newly Recognized Pathway Could Protect People with Diabetes from Hypoglycemia /news/newly-recognized-pathway-could-protect-diabetics-hypoglycemia <p>A new study by the University of California, Davis, shows how cells work together to avoid a sudden drop in blood sugar. Understanding these feedback loops could improve the lives of people with diabetes and help them avoid dangerous hypoglycemia.</p><p>The work was published Sept. 16 in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2504151122">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.<span>&nbsp;</span></p> October 02, 2025 - 11:15am Andy Fell /news/newly-recognized-pathway-could-protect-diabetics-hypoglycemia 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Malaria Initiative Expands Acivities to Equatorial Guinea /blog/uc-malaria-initiative-expands-acivities-equatorial-guinea <p>The University of California Malaria Initiative, which includes researchers at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis, will partner in the Republic of Equatorial Guinea’s Vision 2030 strategy to eliminate malaria from the Central African country. The plan, which also includes Oxford University, Tsinghua University and a MCD Global Health, was <a href="https://fb.watch/CtuAUkDE81/">announced</a> Sept. 24 during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.&nbsp;</p> October 01, 2025 - 3:01pm Andy Fell /blog/uc-malaria-initiative-expands-acivities-equatorial-guinea Psilocybin May Present Unique Risks During the Postpartum Period /news/psilocybin-may-present-unique-risks-during-postpartum-period <p><span>Magic mushrooms may not be the answer to postpartum depression, new research from the University of California, Davis, suggests.&nbsp;</span></p> September 30, 2025 - 1:14pm Andy Fell /news/psilocybin-may-present-unique-risks-during-postpartum-period Landmark Discovery Reveals How Chromosomes Are Passed From One Generation to the Next /news/landmark-discovery-reveals-how-chromosomes-are-passed-one-generation-next <p>When a woman becomes pregnant, the outcome of that pregnancy depends on many things — including a crucial event that happened while she was still growing inside her own mother’s womb. It depends on the quality of the egg cells that were already forming inside her fetal ovaries. The DNA-containing chromosomes in those cells must be cut, spliced and sorted perfectly. In males, the same process produces sperm in the testes but occurs only after puberty.</p> September 24, 2025 - 5:00pm Andy Fell /news/landmark-discovery-reveals-how-chromosomes-are-passed-one-generation-next Valley Fever Is Spreading Across the Arid West, Affecting People and Dogs /health/news/valley-fever-spreading-across-arid-west A soil fungus fuels valley fever, now reaching beyond California and Arizona due to climate change. 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis doctors and veterinarians trace the threat. September 23, 2025 - 9:22am Jocelyn C Anderson /health/news/valley-fever-spreading-across-arid-west Federal Grants Support Research on AI-driven Protein Design /news/federal-grants-support-research-ai-driven-protein-design <p>Two projects at the University of California, Davis, that use artificial intelligence to design and engineer proteins for industrial and health applications have been funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).<span>&nbsp;</span></p> September 19, 2025 - 10:26am Andy Fell /news/federal-grants-support-research-ai-driven-protein-design