Go to Organized Research Units
The Adult Fitness Program serves as an educational
laboratory for undergraduate and graduate students engaged in advanced study of the role of exercise and nutrition in the management of optimal physiological function. Basic and clinical research studies focus on cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic functions.
The program emphasizes risk reduction for cardiovascular disease and development of cardiorespiratory endurance. Studies stress fitness, relaxation, and weight reduction and control through appropriate diet and exercise programs that are individually prescribed after extensive medical and physiological testing.
The California Agricultural Experiment Station has branches in Davis, Riverside and Berkeley. The Davis branch includes 500 faculty in more than 30 departments in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Division of Biological Sciences and the School of Veterinary Medicine. In addition to laboratory facilities, it has approximately 3,000 acres devoted to agricultural research in the areas of experimental crops, orchards and animal facilities. The Experiment Station facilitates research in agricultural production, food processing, nutrition, animal care and disease prevention, consumer sciences and community development and environmental quality, with emphasis on resource conservation and management, water and soil pollution and regional planning.
The Center for Child and Family Studies is a research, teaching and demonstration laboratory of the Division of Human Development and Family Studies in the Department of Human and Community Development. At the laboratory, students enrolled in human development courses develop observational techniques and participate with peers, children, parents and professionals in a fully integrated laboratory of developmental programs for young children. Students study theories of development in a naturalistic setting, linking theory to principles of interaction and developing a recognition and respect for individual differences. Selected undergraduate students participate in faculty and graduate student research at the laboratory.
The Center for Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary unit that serves as the focal point for the study of the neurosciences at UC Davis. Faculty affiliated with the center are from 13 departments and sections. The center sponsors a seminar series, conferences and symposia, distributes a quarterly newsletter, provides research space for center members and supports graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and distinguished visitors.
Faculty and students are engaged in the study of brain mechanisms responsible for normal human cognitive and perceptual processes and in the study of fundamental aspects of nerve cell function and development. A core group of cognitive neuroscientists uses various imaging techniques and electrophysiological techniques to study both the normal and lesioned cerebral cortex to increase their understanding of how the normal brain produces behavior. Four faculty members use animal models to understand how information is processed in the cortex.
The Facility for Advanced Instrumentation is a training and research center where students, faculty and staff have access to major scientific instruments. An electron microscope laboratory houses scanning and transmission electron microscopes with x-ray microanalytical capabilities and an atomic force microscope. A mass spectrometer laboratory consists of a research-grade GC/MS, MALDI, Magnetic Sector MS, and an HPLC/MS equipped with electrospray ionization for analysis of proteins and peptides. The facility also coordinates access to additional instruments located in other departments on campus.
The Food Intake Laboratory supports predoctoral and postdoctoral research in nutrition and behavior, emphasizing studies on the control of food intake and the nature of the factors that govern feeding choices. The laboratory promotes collaborative research involving the roles of metabolic, psychological, neurochemical, hormonal, gender, genetic and sensory inputs in the feeding behavior of experimental animals.
The Health Sciences Research Laboratories are biological science facilities with research staff and assistance for faculty, staff and students.
* Animal Surgery Laboratory
Information:
Buildings H and J--Animal Resources Service
530-752-7756
This unit is a surgical research facility in compliance with NIH, AAALAC, and USDA standards. Instruction in surgical techniques is available. Surgical instruments, drapes, anesthesia machines, scrub suits, and equipment for monitoring vital signs and physiologic parameters are available. Staff are available to perform or assist with both survival and non-survival surgical procedures depending on the investigator's requirements. Staff are available for post-operative care and collection of samples and data as required.
* Biochemistry and Special Instrumentation
Laboratory
Information:
TB 161
530-752-0320
This central facility provides investigators access to certain common but expensive laboratory equipment, including ultracentrifuges and high-speed centrifuges with rotors, scintillation and gamma counters, UV/VIS spectrophotometers, densitometers, Betaplate and Elisa readers.
The Human Performance Laboratory houses equipment for the study of blood and muscle chemistry and enzymology, metabolism and energetics, muscle mechanics and electromyography, movement kinetics and kinematics, body composition and anthropometry, cardiorespiratory function during exercise in a controlled environment, control and acquisition of motor skills and the psychosocial aspects of human performance. Apple Macintosh and IBM microcomputers are available for data collection, reduction, graphing and statistical analysis and for biomechanical, physiological systems and human performance modeling.
The Davis Humanities Institute organizes interdisciplinary research seminars open to faculty and graduate students and promotes creative exchanges among the humanities, social sciences and environmental sciences. Its fellowship program enables campus fellows and distinguished visitors to participate in year-long seminars on designated themes. The seminar theme in 1999-2000 will be "Understanding Performance." The institute also sponsors distinguished visiting lecturers, supports interdisciplinary research clusters and a graduate student research assistantship program, co-sponsors lectures with other departments, organizes a Friday noon series of talks entitled "Problems and Paradigms," produces a calendar of events and publishes a newsletter, Humanities at Davis.
This institute conducts research using the unique facilities at national and international accelerator laboratories, particularly the Enrico Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the Large Hadron Collider to be built in Europe. High-energy particle physics is the dominant area of research. The institute also promotes seminars and lectures by visiting researchers.
Plant scientists in the Louis K. Mann Laboratory direct their physiological, biochemical and molecular research to improving the quality of harvested fruits, vegetables and seeds. The five faculty housed in this facility are members of the Department of Vegetable Crops and are assisted by numerous students, postdoctoral researchers and visiting scientists. Research ranges from the basic molecular biology of fruit ripening and seed development to practical storage technologies for lightly processed fruits and vegetables. Results are of interest to other researchers in the plant sciences and to growers, shippers, marketers and consumers of fresh fruit and vegetables. The facility is equipped with 18 controlled-temperature rooms, seven research laboratories, a teaching laboratory and a conference room and library.
The Davis campus administers seven natural reserves that are available for teaching and research.
* Bodega Marine Reserve, located at Bodega Bay, 100 miles west of campus, consists of coastal dune vegetation and bay and coastal tidal areas with facilities for overnight and longer stays. (See Bodega Marine Laboratory in "Organized Research Units" section.)
* Eagle Lake Biological Field Station is on the shore of Eagle Lake in northeastern California and has boats, a small laboratory and facilities for overnight and longer stays.
* Jepson Prairie Reserve, located in Solano County 15 miles south of the campus, consists of native California bunchgrass grasslands, vernal pools, playa lakes and freshwater sloughs.
* Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Reserve, located near Clear Lake about 70 miles northwest of campus, consists of intercoastal range habitat with a mix of serpentine and non-serpentine soils. The reserve has a facility for long-term overnight stays with a well-equipped kitchen, full bath, and a camping area for class groups.
* Putah Creek Riparian Reserve is a 150-acre corridor along the north bank of Putah Creek with fairly good remnants of the riparian (streamside) ecosystem.
* Quail Ridge Reserve consists of 1,186 acres of intercoastal range habitat located about 25 miles west of campus on a peninsula jutting into Lake Berryessa. The reserve has a facility with a well-equipped kitchen, full bath, four-wheel drive vehicle, and camping areas for groups.
* Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve, located about 24 miles west of campus, has representative populations of several different plant communities found in California's inner and outer coast ranges.
The university maintains over 34 reserves throughout
the state, many of which are available for teaching
and research.
The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility provides qualified researchers in the biological, medical and physical sciences access to state-of-the-art NMR instrumentation for spectroscopy and imaging. At present,
the facility operates six spectrometers of varying purposes and capabilities. Three horizontal magnet bore spectrometers are used for in vivo spectroscopy and imaging of small animals and materials, and in vitro spectroscopy of perfused organs. Two vertical bore spectrometers are used primarily for solution studies of biomolecules, with an additional vertical bore instrument for in vitro studies. All of the spectrometers are multinuclear, and a large variety of high resolution, surface and imaging coils are available for use. The facility also has SUN and Silicon Graphics workstations for off-line data processing and molecular modeling.
The Protein Structure Laboratory provides state-of-the-art biotechnological instrumentation for protein sequencing, amino acid analysis, and protein and DNA synthesis and consultation for protein-related research. Also available are a micro-protein sample preparation (in-gel and on-membrane digestions) and various analyses (amino acid analysis, sequencing, peptide mappings and MS analysis) for protein identification.
The Social Science Data Service (SSDS) is a unit of the Institute of Governmental Affairs (IGA). SSDS provides consulting, computing and specialized support services to faculty involved in quantitative social science research on the UC Davis campus. SSDS staff provides consulting on a wide range of software used by social scientists and assists with questions regarding the use of SSDS computers, as well as statistical and data-related programming. SSDS manages a UNIX system that provides a platform for quantitative social science computing. Specialized support is available for extramurally funded research projects managed by IGA.
The Student Experimental Farm is an innovative teaching and research facility located on 25 acres of university land just west of the Recreation Pool. Since its inception, the Student Experimental Farm has provided students with unique opportunities to explore alternative agricultural technologies and philosophies through classes, special projects, internships, work study jobs and original research. Because the farm includes several acres of land that have been managed organically for two decades, it provides researchers with a facility for conducting field research into sustainable agriculture.
The UC Agricultural Issues Center, headquartered at Davis, is a universitywide research and outreach unit that draws on expertise from many disciplines. The center focuses on issues related to science and technology, international trade, agribusiness trends, rural-urban issues, resources and the environment, human resources and commodity policy and markets.
The UC Davis Herbarium is used for research in plant systematics and ecology, as well as for public service requests (especially identification of weeds and poisonous plants). The herbarium contains more than 200,000 plant specimens, including vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and algae. The majority of these specimens are angiosperms (flowering plants), mainly from California, but the collections are worldwide in scope, with strong holdings from North America, Ecuador, Baja California and regions with Mediterranean climate regimes. The herbarium is well known for its collection of weeds and poisonous plants, although it also has world-class collections of grasses, oaks and spurges.
The laboratory is recognized for its pioneering research on animal blood groups and biochemical polymorphisms. Current research activities include studies of the genetic basis of animal diseases, development of DNA marker screening tests and gene mapping. Knowledge acquired is applied to genetic disease diagnostics and parentage verification for domestic animals (horses, cattle, sheep, goats, elk, llamas, alpacas and dogs) and wildlife.
VMTRC is a clinical teaching and research center within the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The center offers a forum for teaching, research and service programs for D.V.M. students, M.P.V.M. students, graduate students, residents, university faculty and visiting researchers interested in food animal medicine. VMTRC programs emphasize herd health medicine, epidemiology and preventive medicine, production management, agricultural economics, environmental protection, food safety and animal welfare.
The center supports water-related research in such areas as agricultural and biological sciences, economics, engineering, history, geography, law, meteorology, physical sciences and political science. Research interests include drought responses, aquatic ecosystem structure and function, water resource systems engineering, economic evaluation of water development and conservation, political strategy in water resources development, environmental and energy relationships in water resources management, watershed hydrology, ground water use, water re-use, soil and land use management in relation to water resources use, and maintenance and improvement of water quality. The center has an annual call for proposals in fall quarter.
The center coordinates activities among the university's research and extension programs and stimulates research into conservation, management and utilization of wildland resources with a view toward the optimum present and future uses of wildlands. Projects focus on such topics as habitat conservation, assessment and management of timber resources and old-growth forests, and development of a system for evaluating
California's environmental resources. The center increases the awareness of the university's research and extension programs related to wildlands and serves as liaison between the university and state and federal agencies and other organizations concerned with wildland resources and problems.
The X-Ray Crystallographic Facility, located in the Department of Chemistry, provides crystal structure determinations for researchers. Single crystals from all branches of chemistry are studied. Recently, the facility acquired a Bruker SMART X-ray diffraction system with a low temperature accessory and a high powered stereomicroscope. The facility also has three older X-ray diffractometers, one of which is equipped with a rotating Cu anode source. Consultation and collaboration on a variety of single crystal related projects can be arranged.
UC Davis 1999-2000 Online General Catalog. Posted July 30, 1999.
catalog-comment@ucdavis.edu
Molly Theodossy, Keitha Hunter and Barbara Anderson, Editors
We welcome your comments.