About the Department of MCB

The Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology brings together diverse faculty members interested in tackling fundamental biological questions at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels. Our research and teaching activities transcend phyletic separations among plants, animals, and microorganisms. Rather, they focus on the molecular structure, dynamic function, and regulation of the molecules, supramolecular assemblies, and cells that underlie nearly all biological processes on earth.

The Department administers three long-standing undergraduate majors in Genetics, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry and makes significant contributions to graduate education across several graduate programs in the College of Biological Sciences.

We are committed to fostering excellent interdisciplinary research across the UC Davis campus and beyond by maintaining two state-of-the-art research technology cores. The MCB Light Imaging Facility specializes in live cell imaging and super-resolution methods for a wide variety of applications. The Bio Electron Microscopy facility provides expertise and imaging systems to support research in biology, biochemistry, biophysics and medicine across the spatial resolution scale from macromolecular assemblies, subcellular organelles, and tissues.