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Advancing Human Health

We improve population health and healthcare through the development of advanced technologies, devices for personalized health monitoring and health informatics.

As we face the global health challenges of a growing and aging population, our ability to design bioinspired, bioresponsive, and biologically integrated devices and therapeutics is evolving rapidly. From wearable monitors to advanced imaging technologies, from pandemic responses to regenerative medicine, we learn from human diversity to design treatments that improve the health of all. 

Connecting Humans and Machines

Through the new UC Davis Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine and projects funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation, mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty members Sanjay Joshi, Jonathon Schofield and Steve Robinson are pushing the boundaries of the developing field of neuroengineering and finding new ways for humans and machines to work together.

A challenge in neuroengineering is that every human and every situation is different, so devices need to be adaptable. Signals the body produces can change with time, and the body can also change after using new devices like the ones Joshi, Schofield and Robinson are developing.

Human and a supernumerary robotic arm

Research in Action

A man's cheek is covered in electrodes

Restoring Voices and Identity with Neuroengineering

Each year, nearly 1 million people worldwide are diagnosed with head and neck cancer, with many losing their ability to speak intelligibly due to treatment. UC Davis researchers are working to restore their lost voices with adaptive technology.

A woman squatting near a large air cleaner

Improving Indoor Air Quality for Better Public Health

UC Davis researchers, including Dean of the College of Engineering Richard Corsi, are tackling indoor air quality — an often-overlooked factor in health and productivity. From ventilation strategies to airborne disease transmission, their work is shaping cleaner, healthier indoor spaces in homes, schools and workplaces.

An up-close photo of pink P-cadherin proteins

Outside-In Signaling Shows a Route Into Cancer Cells

A new study shows how an anticancer drug triggers an “outside in” signal that gets it sucked into a cancer cell.


Read more research in action

Engineering a better world calls for solutions of a different caliber, demanding innovation across disciplines using a design-centric approach.

We employ and develop intelligent systems and automation, tools at the nano-and-micro- scales and engineering for all that will revolutionize energy systems, strengthen climate resilience, advance human health and transform mobility to bring a sustainable, healthier and more resilient world within reach.