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Human & Animal Health

Investigating Age-Related Muscle Mass Loss with Arik Davidyan, ’14 B.S. in Exercise Biology and ’20 Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology

Summary
  • Skeletal muscles decay with age, a natural process known as sarcopenia 
  • During his time at UC Davis, alum Arik Davidyan investigated testosterone's role in muscle mass gain, maintenance and decay
  • Today, Davidyan is a postdoctoral fellow at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, where he investigates the role mitochondrial dysfunction plays in aging

Your muscles ensure your survival.

Bumblebees Carry Heavy Loads in Economy Mode

Written by Andy Fell

Bumblebees are the big lifters of the insect world, able to fly back to the hive with almost their own body weight in nectar on board. A study published Feb. 5 in Science Advances shows how they do it — and that bees can show more flexibility in behavior than you might expect from a bumbling insect. 

Discovering Curiosity: Brain Puzzles with UC Davis Center for Neuroscience Director Kimberley McAllister

Quick Summary
  • Kimberley McAllister studies the developing brain
  • Part of her research focuses on why viral infection during pregnancy can increase the likelihood of a child developing autism and schizophrenia
  • McAllister was named director of the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience in 2018, becoming the first female to occupy the role

Puzzles always fascinated UC Davis Center for Neuroscience Director Kimberley McAllister.

Discovering Curiosity: Fighting Neuromuscular Disorders with New Faculty Lucas Smith

Quick Summary
  • Assistant Professor Lucas Smith studies neuromuscular disorders, like cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy
  • Smith explores how scar tissue accumulation, which is seen in these conditions, affects muscle mechanics
  • He wants to find ways to increase the expression of proteins that can alleviate overly stiff muscles

In debilitating neuromuscular disorders, like muscular dystrophies and cerebral palsy, the body’s muscles scar, turning fibrotic and st

Social Bee-stortion: Exploring Pesticide’s Effects on Pollinators

Quick Summary
  • Researchers observed the effects of imidacloprid, a pesticide, on bumblebee behaviors within the hive
  • To study this hidden world, they outfitted bumblebees with tiny QR code tags and tracked individuals with video
  • They found imidacloprid disrupts nest behavior, causing reduced growth in exposed colonies 

A pesticide banned in the European Union but still in use in the United States is proving to have detrimental effects on pollinators.

Discovering Curiosity: Erwin Bautista Leads the Classroom

When Erwin Bautista, a lecturer in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, looks at the human body, he doesn’t see just the individual parts—the cells, organs, tissues, muscles and bones—he sees the sum.

“Whenever I teach things, I always tell students that physiologists love acronyms,” said Bautista. “We love naming things; we love all these itty-bitty points and details. But at the same time, we also love the big picture, and we’re going to try to impress upon you the big picture.”