Bioengineering

UC Merced Scientists Use Sewage to Track Nicotine Use in Central Valley

June 24, 2026

UC Merced researchers extract sewage samples from university system

Key points: Researchers successfully tested a technique that uses human sewage to measure the use of nicotine products such as cigarettes and vaping pens in a selected community. The project, led by scientists at UC Merced, can strengthen public health efforts by supplementing...

Professor Marc Beutel waits to collect a wastewater sample as a facilities employee helps to remove the manhole covering on campus.

Campus Wastewater Testing Offers COVID-19 Early Warning System, Establishes Protocols for the Future

COVID-19 upended life as we know it, especially among the science community. While some scientists rushed to develop a vaccine, others sought a better understanding of the virus, hoping to predict...

Engineering Professor Awarded $1 Million NSF Award to Study Protein Folding

Proteins operate like biological machines, regulating nearly every major function and organ in our bodies through a still-mysterious shape-shifting process. Bioengineering graduate group chair...

UC Merced Professors on TV to Inspire Girls to Consider STEM Careers

UC Merced takes pride in encouraging the younger generation to learn more about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers by counting on some of the top educators in the fields...

I2G will be virtual for the third time, meaning students and community partners can engage from the comfort of their own homes.

Engineering Ag Tech Solutions Just One Element of Annual Innovate to Grow Expo

You can’t avoid seeing grazing cattle in California’s Central Valley, where UC Merced has its own pastured cows on campus. Now imagine if those cows were kept secluded without the use of...

$2.2M NIH Grant Designed to Produce Highly Trained, Diverse Ph.D. Workforce

A five-year, $2.2 million training grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will assist UC Merced with the development of diverse cohorts of doctoral students in interdisciplinary...

The Manilay and Spencer lab groups sit together on campus.

Collaboration Furthers Understanding of Immune Cell Development

Immunology Professor Jennifer Manilay and bioengineering Professor Joel Spencer are using a new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand a project they’ve been working...

Five Years in, CCBM Looking to Expand Research and Student Opportunities

From graduate student Jose Zamora’s perspective, the CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines (CCBM) has been a spectacular success. “There is so much value to being part...

The U.S. News & World Report Rankings included the debut of two UC Merced graduate programs, Political Science was ranked No. 63 and history discipline of the Interdisciplinary Humanities program was ranked No.127.

U.S. News & World Report Rankings Showcase Growing Engineering Program, Debuts Interdisciplinary Humanities and Political Science

For the first time, UC Merced’s Political Science and Interdisciplinary Humanities (history discipline) graduate groups made national rankings. US News & World Report’s annual...

Undergrad Experience: Diana Cruz Garcia

Name: Diana Cruz Garcia Year: Fourth Year Major: Bioengineering Hometown: Los Angeles What is a memorable project that you worked on during your time at UC Merced? The most memorable...