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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.

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Research in Action

uc davis electrical computer engineering storx technologies fetal oxymetry c-sections

Novel Fetal Monitoring System Wins Top Prize in Annual UC Davis Business Competition

Davis-based Storx Technologies has developed a noninvasive device that accurately determines a baby’s well-being in the womb — and helps doctors decide whether the baby can be delivered naturally, avoiding an unnecessary cesarian section. The innovation was developed in electrical and computer engineering professor Soheil Ghiasi’s UC Davis lab after Ghiasi’s wife experienced a C-section.

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A Microfluidic Approach to the Brain

Blood and cerebrospinal fluid flow are important transport processes in the brain that occur mostly in capillaries with a diameter of 5-8 micrometers, the smallest blood vessel in the brain. To microfluidic researchers like Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Jiandi Wan, this is an opportunity to play a significant role in discovering how the brain works.

Pregnant woman

ECE Lab Develops Fetal Oximetry Device to Prevent Unnecessary C-sections

Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Soheil Ghiasi's lab has built a transabdominal fetal pulse oximeter to measure a baby's blood oxygen saturation levels non-invasively.


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 technologies for the greater good 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.