Graduate students at UC Davis are very fortunate to have access to numerous specialized laboratories, research units, and high technology research facilities.
For a complete listing of facilities available at, or associated with UC Davis, link to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
The Bodega Marine Laboratory is dedicated to research and teaching in marine biology and related fields. Research areas include population biology/ecology, cell and organismal biology, and aquaculture and fisheries. Well-equipped facilities feature running seawater in two classrooms and most laboratories, a marine science library, lecture hall, housing facilities, greenhouses, experimental freshwater system for anadromous fish studies, and a dive locker and air station. The laboratory is located in Bodega Bay, Sonoma County, 100 miles west of Davis. A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Bodega Marine Laboratory is a helpful resource for incoming graduate students undertaking research at BML - please contact the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory lab manager and ask to be connected with the BMSA Sponsorship Chair for access to this document.
The California National Primate Research Center investigates selected human health problems for which the nonhuman primate is the animal model of choice. Research programs include behavioral and neurobiology, developmental and reproductive biology, respiratory diseases, virology and immunology, genetics and a variety of biomedical collaborative research projects. Self-sustaining breeding colonies of macaques are available for study of spontaneously occurring disorders.
The Center for Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary unit that serves as the focal point for the study of the neurosciences at UC Davis. Faculty and students are engaged in the study of brain mechanisms responsible for normal human cognitive and perceptual processes and in the study of fundamental aspects of nerve cell function and development.
The Center for Biophotonics Science & Technology advances biomedicine and photonics engineering – by focusing its intellectual, scientific, educational and industrial outreach efforts on the rapid and directed development of biophotonics technology.
The Center for Molecular and Genomic Imaging offers the research community state-of-the-art imaging technologies for small animal research. Located in the new Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility (GBSF), the CMGI currently provides and supports positron emission tomography (MicroPET), MicroCT, ultrasound, and optical (bioluminescent and fluorescent) scanning procedures for non-invasive imaging of small research animals.
The Human Performance Laboratory houses equipment for the study of blood and muscle chemistry and enzymology, metabolism and energetics, muscle mechanics and electromyography, movement kinetics and kinematics, body composition and anthropometry, cardiorespiratory function during exercise in a controlled environment, control and acquisition of motor skills and the psychosocial aspects of human performance.
The Center for Health and the Environment coordinates interdisciplinary research concerned with biomedical and toxicological problems related to exposure to chemical, physical, and biological toxic agents or to ionizing radiation, to determine basic mechanisms of toxic effects and to predict hazards to human and animal health from continual exposure to realistic levels of toxic substances in the environment or at the workplace.
The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility provides qualified researchers in the biological, medical and physical sciences access to state-of-the-art NMR instrumentation for spectroscopy and imaging. At present, the facility operates six spectrometers of varying purposes and capabilities. All of the spectrometers are multinuclear, and a large variety of high resolution, surface and imaging coils are available for use.
The University Library, located on the Davis Campus, is a predominantly open-stack library which contains more than 2.2 million volumes and receives more than 60,000 periodicals, serials, and government publications annually. In addition to the collections and facilities, there are branch libraries for the health sciences, and the physical sciences and engineering.
The Center for Comparative Medicine is a cooperative, interdisciplinary research and teaching center that is co-sponsored by the School of Medicine and the School of Veterinary Medicine. CCM Faculty members have academic appointments in one or both Schools.
The Western Human Nutrition Research Center strives to improve the health of all Americans by: creating and testing nutrition interventions to improve health; assessing how an individual's environment and genetics affect nutrient metabolism; and providing reliable and reproducible research results for the development of national nutrition policies.