Categories
Arts
Through War and Peace, These Doves Rock
By Daniel Erenstein, Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior ‘21 “The diversity of the breeds is something astonishing,” Charles Darwin wrote in “On the Origin of Species.” He was not referring to his famous Galápagos finches. [...]
Lazarus Dies, Lazarus Lives Again
By Jesse Kireyev, History ‘21 Each of these photos captures a landscape in slow degradation. Berryessa, for all the wintergreen beauty that it holds, has experienced horrifying fires numerous times over the past few years. [...]
COVID-19 Cover Art Gallery
This year, for the first time, The Aggie Transcript accepted submissions for our journal's cover from the wider undergraduate community at UC Davis. To celebrate the release of our fifth annual print edition, we present [...]
News
The Long-term Effects and Implications of Testicular Cancer Treatment
By Michael Guo, Molecular and Medical Microbiology ‘25 Author’s Note: After I returned home for winter break last year, I learned that a friend from my high school was diagnosed with testicular cancer. While I [...]
650-million year old enzyme used to target cell death in cancer cells
By Vishwanath Prathikanti, Anthropology, ‘23 Author’s note: As someone studying Anthropology at Davis, I often see my friends confused when I tell them how much of my studies consist of biology and chemistry. It’s a [...]
Clearing the Cellular Landfill: The Use of Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy to Treat Alzheimer’s Disease
By Reshma Kolala, Microbiology, ‘22 Author's Note: Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders, affecting nearly 1 in 9 individuals aged 65 or older. Available current therapies fail to address the underlying [...]
Campus Reports
How Poop is Fighting COVID-19
By Laura Gardner, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ‘22 Author’s Note: With so much information in the media and online about COVID-19, I find many people get lost in, and fall victim to, false information. I [...]
A Dive into a Key Player of Learning and Memory: An Interview with Dr. Karen Zito
Image by MethoxyRoxy - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5 By: Neha Madugala, Neurology, Physiology, and Behavior, ‘21 Author’s Note: After writing a paper for the Aggie Transcript on the basics of dendritic spines, I wanted [...]
Cryogenic Electron Microscopy: A Leap Forward for UC Davis
Photo originally published in Structural Studies of the Giant Mimivirus. PLoS Biol 7(4): e1000092. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000092. License: CC BY 2.5. By Nathan Levinzon, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior ‘23 Author's Note: The purpose of this article is to inform the [...]
Biology
Recovering Individual Based Model Outcomes on Spatiotemporally Coarsened Data
By Sameerah Helal, Applied Mathematics, Under supervision of Stephanie Dodson Author's Note: Individual Based Models (IBMs) are commonly used to study animal migrations and foraging behaviors. These flexible models are powerful in identifying the mechanisms [...]
Making Brain Stimulation a Mainstream Treatment for Aphasia
By Eva Clubb, Cognitive Science, '21 Author's Note: I started research on aphasia for an upper-division writing class, and was intrigued by the potential of brain stimulation as an effective and practical treatment option for [...]
The Impact of vasopressin and oxytocin and pair-bonding on social development in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster)
By Hera Choi, James Hagerty, Ananya Narasimhan, Elyza Ramirez, Rana Sherkat, Karen Bales, Logan Savidge, Academic Editors Acknowledgement: We offer our sincerest appreciation to Dr. Karen Bales and Logan Savidge for their continued guidance and [...]
Health and Medicine
Current and Potential Therapeutic Options for ALS Individuals
By Anna Truong, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, '22 Author’s Note: I wrote this piece of work for an assignment through my UWP 104F course, and felt very connected with it. I decided my topic to [...]
Physiological and Psychological Factors in Developing Comorbid Mood Disorders in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Patients
By Clara Brewer, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior ’22 Author's Note: In 2015, I was diagnosed with a rare pain disorder- Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Not only does this disorder cause unimaginable pain, it is [...]
Treatments for Eye Strain From Screen Exposure
By Anisha Narsam, Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior ‘23 Author’s Note: I hope to raise awareness about treatments for eye strain from screen exposure because of the current pandemic and the increase in online interactions. This article [...]
Technology
First steps in the development of small-scale 3D printed hydrogel bioreactors for protein production in space travel
By Maya Mysore, Laura Ballou, Anna Rita Moukarzel, Alex Cherry, David Duronslet, Lisette Werba, Nathan Tran, Hannah Mosheim, Stephen Curry, Simon Coelho Advisors: Kantharakorn Macharoen, Matthew McNulty, Andrew Yao, and Dr. McDonald, Dr. Nandi, and [...]
Fold@Home: Aid in COVID-19 Research from Home
Image via Folding@Home By Nathan Levinzon, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior ‘23 Author's Note: The purpose of this article is to introduce and inform the UC Davis scientific community of Folding@Home; a distributed computing project that allows [...]
Applications of Machine Learning in Precision Medicine
By Aditi Goyal, Statistics, Genetics and Genomics, ‘22 Author's Note: I wrote about this topic after being introduced to the idea through a speaker series. I think the applications of modern day computer science, genetics [...]
Book Reviews
It’s in the Blood- Or Rather, the Genes: A Review of The Gene: An Intimate History
By Gita Mallya, Plant Biology, ‘19 Author’s note: I wrote this piece for my UWP 104E class with Brenda Rinard during Fall Quarter 2017. The assignment was to read a classic book based in [...]
Understanding the Tumultuous Trajectory of a Concept in The Gene
By Daniel Erenstein, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, ‘19 Author’s Note: In my Writing in Science (UWP 104E) course, Dr. Brenda Rinard assigned us a review of a classic book in science. My interests in social [...]
To Infinity and Beyond: A Review of “The Life of Pi, and Other Infinities” by Natalie Angier
By Lo Tuan, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and Managerial Economics, ’17 Author’s Note: I wrote this review as an assignment for a UWP course that investigates the role of science in society using different lenses [...]
Literature Reviews
Smoking Cigarettes as a Potential Mechanism in Developing Alzheimer’s Disease
By Barry Nguyen, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ‘23 & Vincent Tran Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior ‘23 Authors Note: During my study abroad in South Korea, I was taken back by the number of people smoking [...]
Reviewing Methods of Studying Epigenetic Drift in Monozygotic Twins
By Pranjal Verma, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior ‘25 Introduction Twin births made up 3.11% of American live births in the year 2020 [1]. There are two types of twin pairs: monozygotic (MZ), or those [...]
Safety and Efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy for Refractory or Relapsed B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
By Palak Arora Author's Note: I wrote this review article because it was an assignment for me, for the course UWP102B. We were instructed to choose any topic from the field of biology which presented [...]
Science and Society
Vocal Communication in the Domestic Dog
By Sarah Su, Animal Science, '24 Abstract Companion animal species have multiple forms of communication, including tactile, visual, olfactory, and auditory signals. This paper will focus on vocal communication in canines, comparing the behaviors [...]
The Heart of the Matter
By La Rissa Vasquez, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior ‘23 and Shaina Eagle, Global Disease Biology ‘24 In 1818, Mary Shelly published what is now regarded as the pioneer of the science fiction genre, the [...]
What do scaling laws tell us about the biochemistry of life beyond Earth?
By Tammie Tam, Molecular and Medical Microbiology ‘22 Humanity has always been intrigued with the possibility of life existing elsewhere in the universe. In 1977, NASA attached the Golden Record, a detailed account [...]
Undergraduate Research
Recovering Individual Based Model Outcomes on Spatiotemporally Coarsened Data
By Sameerah Helal, Applied Mathematics, Under supervision of Stephanie Dodson Author's Note: Individual Based Models (IBMs) are commonly used to study animal migrations and foraging behaviors. These flexible models are powerful in identifying the mechanisms [...]
The Neck Raising Behavior of Branta canadensis
By Cristina Angelica Bilbao, Biological Sciences ‘22 Author's Note: I performed this ethological research study for my Zoology class at Las Positas College. I love animals and was excited to have the opportunity to conduct [...]
The Parable of the Passenger Pigeon: How Colonizers’ Words Killed the World’s Largest Bird Population
By Jenna Turpin, Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology ‘22 Author’s Note: I started this piece as an assignment for my undergraduate expository writing class under the guidance of my supportive professor Hillary Cheramie. Hillary urged me [...]