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Unlocking the Secrets of Tiny, Living Clocks Could Revolutionize Science

February 2, 2026
Biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang has spent much of his career studying how life keeps time. His work on the circadian clock of cyanobacteria — tiny, ancient organisms that share the planet with us — has shed light on one of biology’s most elegant systems. But his newest research project,...

UC Merced Scientists Among Global Elite Shaping AI, Climate and Health

January 26, 2026
UC Merced continues to demonstrate its growing influence on the global stage. Several faculty members landed on Clarivate’s 2025 list of the world’s most‑cited researchers. The honor is reserved for the top 1% of scholars whose work has shaped their fields over the last 10 years. Clarivate, which...

Unraveling Cancer’s Neural Connections: NIH-Funded Study Investigates How Stem Cell Regulation Influences Tissue Renewal, Cancer Development

November 3, 2025
The same cellular renewal that keeps our bodies healthy might also fuel the growth of cancer. A UC Merced biologist has found that the brain could hold the key to stopping it. Professor Néstor Oviedo, a molecular and cell biologist and affiliate of the Health Sciences Research Institute, received...

Research into Hidden Chemistry Shaping Future Air Quality Earns Zhang an NSF Award

September 8, 2025
As nations cut emissions that once fueled urban smog, scientists are discovering unexpected chemistry taking place in the atmosphere. UC Merced Professor Xuan Zhang is leading a project to uncover how these chemical shifts could affect the air we breathe and the climate. The project is supported by...

Vaping Produces a Chemical that Destroys Human Tissue, Research Shows

August 7, 2025
In addition to being used recreationally, marijuana and cannabidiol, or CBD, one of the cannabinoids produced by the marijuana plant, are thought to have medical benefits such as helping with chemotherapy-induced nausea, treating epilepsy, relieving pain and helping with a variety of mental health...

Amemiya Awarded for Research, Teaching, Outreach and Service

August 4, 2025
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Professor Chris Amemiya, former interim director of the Health Sciences Research Institute, has been honored by the Pan American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology (PASEDB) with the Service Award. This prestigious award celebrates a society...

NIH Grant Enables Outstanding Investigator to Advance Knowledge of Microbial Infections

June 30, 2025
The National Institutes of Health are backing Professor Clarissa Nobile ’s mission to understand the mechanisms by which microbes form biofilms, specifically those that can be hazardous to human health. Biofilms are communities of microorganisms encased in protective matrices and are implicated...

Students Awarded Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

June 4, 2025
Two UC Merced graduate students and an alum from the School of Natural Sciences were recently awarded fellowships from the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. This year, NSF awarded 1,000 GRFP fellowships compared to about 2,000 in previous years....

For the First Time, All Avian Evolutionary Relationships Revealed Through Collaboration

April 29, 2025
Professor Emily Jane McTavish and colleagues at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have mapped the evolution of every known bird species. They created a complete evolutionary tree of bird species by combining data on 9,239 species published in nearly 300 studies between 1990 and 2024 and additional...

Researchers Look Ahead to Fire Season 2025

April 22, 2025
Pictures accompanying Professor John Abatzoglou's presentation on the 2025 fire season were blurry. That was intentional, he said, because so much about wildfire is unpredictable. "There's a lot that we know, and a lot we don't know," he said. However, Abatzoglou said, some conclusions can be drawn...

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