Mind & Body

Link Between Dementia and Air Pollution Drives Research Collaboration

April 17, 2025

Students Zeyi Moo, back left, and Yaying Wang, right, work with Professor Xuan Zhang, center, on her Alzheimer's-related research. Photo courtesy of Kate Marsh.

California’s Central Valley, famous for producing much of the food Americans eat, is also infamous for its inferior air quality and its high rates of poverty, housing insecurity and at-risk workers. Increasing epidemiological evidence has shown a correlation between long-term exposure to...

GROW Grants Nurture Vital Projects During Pandemic

Two faculty members and three graduate students who are working on food systems, food security and food sustainability research have received small grants through the UC Global Food Initiative (GFI...

Prestigious Academy Recognizes Microbiology Advances by the LiWang Lab

Professor Andy LiWang is now the first from UC Merced to be elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Colleagues at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Texas A&M...

Undergrad Experience: Gehad Elhanafy

Name: Gehad Elhanafy Year: Second Major: Bioengineering Hometown: Merced What is a memorable project that you worked on during your time at UC Merced? In the summer of 2018, as an...

Undergrad Experience: Gabriel Viramontes

Name: Gabriel Viramontes Year: Fourth year Major: Biological Sciences Hometown: Lodi What is a memorable project that you worked on during your time at UC Merced? One of the most...

Rosa Manzo is heading up an asthma intervention project in the Valley.

Asthma Intervention Project Gets Green Light from Genentech

A new community health project addressing asthma issues in the San Joaquin Valley is underway thanks to a collaboration between UC Merced, UCSF and Camarena Health, supported by a grant from...

Bioengineer’s Infectious-Cells Research Earns an NSF CAREER Award

Bioengineering Professor Arvind Gopinath received a CAREER award for his research that seeks to understand how living biological materials such as bacterial swarms and fungal biofilms colonize...

Prestigious Biennial Grant Program Includes Funding for Ag-labor and Wildfire Research

Two new projects designed and led by UC Merced researchers will address challenges facing many Californians — wildfire recovery and agricultural labor — but will also have global reach...

Chemistry Professor Tao Ye and his students gathered on campus.

Chemical Biology Lab Creating DNA-based Nanomachines that can Self Assemble

Professor Tao Ye and colleagues have received a $1.18 million grant from the Department of Energy to study how DNA molecules can arrange themselves into nanostructures that could form the basis of...

Breast Milk Shows Promise for Treating COVID-19 and Protecting Babies

Health psychology Professor Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook and incoming grad student Jessica Marino have a new study suggesting that the breastmilk of mothers who have recovered from COVID-19 contains...

Research