Current Research Teams
Research teams recruit new members on a rolling, as needed basis. Join our mailing list to receive the recruitment emails.
Real Vegan Cheese
Recruiting Status - Full
The Real Vegan Cheese project is exploring the potential of using yeast expression systems to produce vegan-cheese and related proteins. Their project involves DNA cloning, protein expression, bacterial/yeast culturing and transformation.
To learn more, reach out to Allison Muller (allmuller@ucdavis.edu) or Victoria Welsh (vcwelsh@ucdavis.edu)
Microfluidics
Recruiting Status - Full
Microfluidics is the science of manipulating tiny quantities of fluids — think microliters and nanoliters. The team is using these technologies to make a single cell capture and culture device for mammalian cells.
To learn more, reach out to Jennifer Tah-Espens (jetahespens@ucdavis.edu) or Alex Truong (axtruong@ucdavis.edu)
ALGene
Recruiting Status - Full
The ALGene project aims to genetically modify Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a strain of single-cell green algae, to produce insulin and/or other pharmaceutical-relevant proteins in a cost-effective and sustainable manner.
To learn more, reach out to Caleb Humphrey (cchumphrey@ucdavis.edu), Michelle Azuma (mkazuma@ucdavis.edu), or Sky Tuse (srtuse@ucdavis.edu).
Organo-Chip
Recruiting Status - Full
To learn more, reach out to Chayuth Pantrattanamongkol (cpantrat@ucdavis.edu)
iGEM
Recruiting Status - Fill out the Interest Form
iGEM is an international synthetic biology competition where teams will choose a project topic, conduct wet lab research at UC Davis over the summer, and compete at the Grand Jamboree in Paris in October 2025. Projects can be based on a variety of topics, including therapeutics, diagnostics, bioremediation, and more!
Member Qualifications: We are primarily looking for undergraduate students who have biology, chemistry, or materials science-related wet lab experience, and who are free to conduct research at UCD over summer 2025. Other member responsibilities include building a project website, educating others about synthetic biology, and contributing to team fundraising efforts.
Getting Started: Fill out this quick form to learn more and be added to our interest list!
To learn more, reach out to Varun Poojary (vrpoojary@ucdavis.edu)
Past Research Teams
3D Organic Polymer Silk (3D-OPS)
This team of BIG researchers worked to use spider silk in a variety of medical applications.
3D-OPS is now a company - find more information about them here.
ELISA Optimization
Through a collaboration with HM Clause, this team was developing a better workflow for detecting plant disease using ELISA.