When September rolls around, how do you choose which UC is the best for you? Several factors that affect these decisions include distance, majors, environment, and rankings even. Each school has their own niche and reputation, but out of the nine public universities in California, a common trait that unites them all is the open resource of endless research opportunities.

Below is a list of the UC’s and the top leading research held prior in their school. What’s great about these is having the endless opportunities to be mentored by a doctor or well- known researcher. Who wouldn’t want their name on the next most significant scientific discovery on Nature or ScienceDirect? Read below to find out the breakthrough discoveries in each of these universities.

1. University of California, Los Angeles

• Professor Dean Ho of Oral Biology analyzed nanodiamond that can help tissue heal, such as recovery from root canals!
• Professor Kang Wang of Electrical Engineering explored the Majorana particle to carry data in quantum computers.
• UCLA researchers led by Melanie Barboni found the moon to be at least 4.51 billion years old when previously thought it was 40 to 140 million years old.
• UCLA researchers devised a smartphone- based microscope to analyze specific DNA sequences and genetic mutations in tumor cells without having to first extract DNA from them.
• UCLA researchers led by Richard Kaner designed a 2-in-1 device that can make electricity or hydrogen for more affordable hydrogen cars.

2. University of California Berkeley

• Researchers found high- diet in grapefruit juice resulted in 18 percent less weight when they drank water.
• Berkeley Lab researchers discovered a material ideal for smart photovoltaic windows made with perovskite solar cell.
• Discovery in brain plasticity to compensate for Alzheimer’s- Related Protein
• The Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute (Kavli ENSI) at the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are leaders in energy research dedicated to studying how nature manages energy at the nanoscale.

3. University of California, Irvine

• Breakthrough treatment for crippling jaw disease
• Professor Andrea Tenner and Dean Frank LaFerla led an effort to create a mouse that more closely mirrors human Alzheimer’s.
• Chemists have developed a way to neutralize deadly snake venom more cheaply and effectively compared to the traditional anti-venom.
• Researchers have invented a nanowire-based electrode that is more energy efficient and could be recharged hundreds of thousands of times without being replaced.
• A strain of mosquitoes capable of rapidly introducing malaria-blocking genes into a mosquito population through its progeny, ultimately to eliminate the insects’ ability to transmit the disease to humans.

4. University of California, San Diego

• Breakthrough finding in sea spray aerosols ejected from the ocean to help understand the formation of clouds.
• In a collaborative effort of researchers, Professor Congjun Wu helped show for the first time that string states dominate quantum spin dynamics.
• The research team launched a new center for anti-parasitic drug discovery to deal with tropical diseases from climate change.

5. University of California, Santa Barbara

• Joseph Polchinkski showed for the string theory that if you mathematically shrink the space around one class of strings, space is forced to ‘bounce back’ — that is, to expand again into a larger volume.
• Dr. Craig Montell’s research revolves around a central goal of neurobiology: to define the molecular and cellular mechanisms through which animals translate sensory input into behavioral outputs.
• Direct Cris Sandoval of the Coal Oil Point Reserve has successfully restored more than 20 acres of wetland margins, vernal pools, coastal sage scrub, dunes and beach habitats.
  

6. University of California, Riverside

• Discoveries helped realize the promise of faster, energy-efficient spintronic computers and ultra-high-capacity data storage.
• UCR Professor of Mathematics Mark Alber and researcher Oleg Kim are leading advancements in stroke and heart attack treatments in a breakthrough blood clot research.
• Molecular Virology and Immunology Professor Shou-Wei Ding has done groundbreaking work into how certain viral infections function in human and found a virus-fighting mechanism from plants, insects, and mice that are also present in humans.
• In the development of a material that could drastically lower the price of fuel cells.

7. University of California, Davis

• Worked on linking the toxicity of ambient aerosols (particles and gases) to emission sources.
• Designed and implemented the control plane for an all-optical packet switch based on label-switching.
• Developed a methodology for power optimization of embedded software on mobile phones using Markov Decision Processes and collaborative bandwidth sharing based on user profiles.

8. University of California, Santa Cruz

• In 2017, UC Santa Cruz was ranked 3rd best in the world for research influence by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, tied with Stanford University.
• Research on fruit flies is predicted to further gain understanding on river blindness and debilitating disease
• Further prediction on U.S. national forests to sequester carbon within in the next 60 year  
• Nader Pourmand, a biomolecular engine, developed a nanopipette technology to track changes in a single cell’s life over time.

9.University of California, Merced

• Research has found how therapy-resistant cancers arise and are comparing genetic and metabolic pathways in treatment- responsive and treatment-resistant melanomas.
• Professor Clarissa Nobile is working to find the fungus that forms the biofilms that cause yeast infections inside and on outer surfaces of the human body.
• UC Merced Professor Roland Winston is working on a groundbreaking hybrid solar collector that generates electricity.
• UC Merced graduate student Melissa Ricketts has come up with a way to use the compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) to emit light, rather than gather it.