Making News

Blue-gloved hand holding a microtube above a white rack of capped tubes on a lab bench

A Century of California Wine Yeast, Reunited

Viticulture and Enology

UC Davis Awarded Funding to Merge the Viticulture & Enology Wine Microbe Collection with the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection

For more than sixty years, two of the most important libraries of California microbiology have lived in separate departments on the UC Davis campus. Now, thanks to a grant from the American Vineyard Foundation and Washington Wine Commission, they're (re)uniting.

Kasey Schalich in lab coat at glovebox isolator in a research laboratory

UC Davis Postdoctoral Researcher Receives NIH F32 Fellowship to Study How Milk Components May Influence Cognition Through the Gut Microbiome

Food Science and Technology
UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology postdoctoral researcher Dr. Kasey Schalich has been awarded an NIH F32 fellowship to investigate how a bioactive component of milk may influence cognitive development through the gut microbiome-brain axis. The project, “A bioactive milk component promotes cognition through the gut microbiome-brain axis,” will examine how milk-derived glycoconjugates interact with beneficial gut bacteria and whether these interactions increase the availability of sialic acid, a molecule important for neurodevelopment.
Yeasts in the UCDVEN and UCDFST collections are used in research labs at UC Davis, other universities, companies, and government agencies for basic science discoveries, and to develop new products such as food ingredients, chemicals, and consumer products. These yeast cultures in Erlenmeyer flasks are being grown in an incubator in the Boundy-Mills research lab to develop new food ingredients. Photo: Kyria Boundy-Mills

A Century of California Wine Yeast, Reunited

Food Science and Technology
UC Davis Awarded Funding to Merge the Viticulture & Enology Wine Microbe Collection with the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection

For more than sixty years, two of the most important libraries of California microbiology have lived in separate departments on the UC Davis campus. Now, thanks to a grant from the American Vineyard Foundation and Washington State Wine Commission, they're (re)uniting.

2025-26 UC Davis Food Science College Bowl team: Crystal Mai, Karina Miao, Elen Huang, Jesselyn Zhang, Angela Weber

UC Davis takes second place at 41st Annual IFT College Bowl

Food Science and Technology
What do cereal mascots and atomic absorption spectroscopy have in common? Both are fair game in the annual College Bowl Competition hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association, or IFTSA. Started in 1985, College Bowl is a team-based quiz competition about food science spanning universities throughout the United States and Canada.
Graphic banner: Regenerative Agriculture Research Symposium — June 16–17, Nashville

Zhuo Chen selected for CPS Professional Development Program 2026

Food Science and Technology

Congratulations to Zhuo Chen, Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Luxin Wang's lab, who has been selected along with six others to be in the Center for Produce Safety's Professional Development Program for 2026.  

The Center for Produce Safety (CPS) congratulates the recipients selected for the 2026 Professional Development Program Awards. On behalf of the CPS Board of Directors, Vice Chair Charles Leftwich (Sysco Corporation) recognizes these emerging professionals for their commitment to produce safety, scientific excellence, and future industry leadership.

Smiling woman pointing at a large academic poster on a hallway wall

Sheryl Long wins NCIFT grad student poster competition

Food Science and Technology

Sheryl Long, a Ph.D. student co-advised by Drs. Luxin Wang and Erin DiCaprio, won the graduate student poster competition organized by the Northern California Section of the Institute of Food Technologists. Her research, titled “Survival of Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution,” assessed the behavior of common foodborne pathogens in fresh and recirculating nutrient solutions and provided scientific data for the risk assessment of fresh produce cultivated in controlled environment agriculture. 

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