Bioengineering

Thymus Research Could Unlock Immune System Improvements

March 12, 2025

Photo is a graphic depiction of the thymus gland.

A multimillion-dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health will fund research at UC Merced that could help cancer patients and others live longer, healthier lives. The $3.5 million, five-year grant will fund bioengineering Professor Joel Spencer's lab, which is investigating the...

Professor Goyal, front, with several of his students.

Mechanical Engineer Receives Prestigious CAREER Award

Mechanical engineering Professor Sachin Goyal has received a CAREER award for his research into how the arrangements of atoms and interatomic bonds affect the deformability of biological...

UC Merced Leaps Up in Nature Index’s Young University Rankings

UC Merced has earned the distinction of ranking No. 20 among the world's Rising Young Universities, according to the just-released Nature Index 2021 Young Universities — the only U.S...

NSF-CREST Center members, including faculty, staff and students, as well as center contributors and affiliates.

NSF Awards CCBM Center $5 Million to Continue STEM Research

UC Merced’s NSF-CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines (CCBM) has been awarded an additional $5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue its mission. In total...

Incoming freshman Kyle Chun (mechanical engineering), third-year Daniel Baerwaldt (chemistry) and first-year Alejandro Lopez-Vaca (engineering) in front of their presentation.

USDA-funded Internship Program Introduced New Bobcats to Agriculture Research

Shortly before the fall semester kicked off in person, 11 students were wrapping up their first summer on campus as part of the FACTS summer bridge program. FACTS stands for San Joaquin Valley...

Professor Joel Spencer (far right) and members of his lab at UC Merced.

Spencer Lab Publishes New Technique for Live Imaging

Some scientific discoveries are a happy accident (think: penicillin). Others have been there all along, they just take a keen eye to notice, which was recently the case in Professor Joel Spencer...

Professor Marc Beutel waits to collect a wastewater sample as a facilities employee helps to remove the manhole covering on campus.

Campus Wastewater Testing Offers COVID-19 Early Warning System, Establishes Protocols for the Future

COVID-19 upended life as we know it, especially among the science community. While some scientists rushed to develop a vaccine, others sought a better understanding of the virus, hoping to predict...

Engineering Professor Awarded $1 Million NSF Award to Study Protein Folding

Proteins operate like biological machines, regulating nearly every major function and organ in our bodies through a still-mysterious shape-shifting process. Bioengineering graduate group chair...

UC Merced Professors on TV to Inspire Girls to Consider STEM Careers

UC Merced takes pride in encouraging the younger generation to learn more about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers by counting on some of the top educators in the fields...

The Manilay and Spencer lab groups sit together on campus.

Collaboration Furthers Understanding of Immune Cell Development

Immunology Professor Jennifer Manilay and bioengineering Professor Joel Spencer are using a new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand a project they’ve been working...