The national recommendations were recently published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

Lung cancer screening using low-dose CT scans can find small nodules in the lungs before symptoms appear, helping doctors treat cancer sooner and more successfully. However, experts say that how patients are evaluated and treated after a suspicious finding is just as important as the screening itself.

To address this, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) convened a multidisciplinary panel of specialists — including surgeons, radiologists, pulmonologists and other lung disease experts — to review the latest research and establish clear, practical standards for care.

UC Davis Health makes big impact

“CT lung cancer screening is saving lives by finding cancers earlier. Our goal was to make sure patients receive the safest, most effective care at every step after that initial scan,” said one of the study’s authors UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Physician-in-Chief David Tom Cooke.

Cooke is also founding chief of the Division of General Thoracic Surgery at UC Davis Health.

Also contributing to the new standards is Chinh Phan, medical director of Interventional Pulmonary Services at UC Davis Health.

Cooke and Phan, with the help of medical staff, have launched a nationally recognized lung cancer screening program that emphasizes education and prevention. This comes as UC Davis Health, for the first time, is diagnosing more early- than late-stage lung cancer, due to new technology and low-dose CT lung cancer screening.

“By setting clear, evidence-based standards and encouraging a team approach, we can help ensure every patient everywhere receives high-quality care and low-dose CT lung cancer screening,” Phan said.

Clear benchmarks for safer care

The expert panel reviewed current research and developed 23 consensus decision recommendations focused on improving quality and consistency in care. These recommendations cover key aspects of diagnosis and treatment, including when to perform biopsies, acceptable complication rates and how quickly patients should receive treatment after a concerning finding.

Among the key highlights:

• Careful decision-making before surgery: Doctors may proceed directly to surgery for some patients even without a biopsy if the risk of cancer is high. However, less invasive surgical approaches are strongly preferred. The guidelines discourage major procedures like removing an entire lung without a confirmed diagnosis.
• Safety standards for procedures: The panel established clear benchmarks for complications from diagnostic procedures, such as keeping lung collapse rates (pneumothorax) below 5% and serious bleeding under 2%.
• Timely treatment: Patients with suspicious findings should ideally receive definitive treatment within 12 weeks.
• Team-based care: The panel emphasized that patients benefit most when their care is managed by a multidisciplinary team that includes surgeons, pulmonologists, radiologists, and other cancer specialists.
• Focus on overall health: Smoking cessation and pulmonary rehabilitation were highlighted as important steps to improve outcomes before surgery.

The new guidance also recommends tracking how often surgeries reveal non-cancerous conditions, ensuring that unnecessary procedures are minimized.

Supporting better outcomes nationwide

The recommendations provide a framework for hospitals and screening programs to improve care quality, enhance communication among specialists and support shared decision-making with patients.

Experts say these standards will help ensure that the benefits of lung cancer screening translate into better long-term outcomes — while reducing risks associated with diagnosis and treatment.

“As lung cancer screening becomes more widely adopted, these guidelines offer a roadmap for delivering consistent, patient-centered care across the country,” Cooke said.

To schedule a CT lung cancer screening at UC Davis Health, call 916-734-0655.

Related links:

National recognition elevates UC Davis Health for its premier lung cancer care

Early Low-Dose CT Screening Key to Curing Lung Cancer Through Advanced Treatment (video)

The Center for Land-Based Learning is bringing its mobile farmers market to Aggie Square every other Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., making it easier for employees, neighbors and visitors to shop for affordable, locally grown fruits and vegetables right where they work and gather.

The mobile market offers a convenient way to support regional farmers while increasing access to healthy food. It also reflects a shared commitment to strengthening local food systems and investing in the next generation of agricultural leaders and environmental stewards.

The market is open to everyone and features a rotating selection of seasonal produce grown by local farmers connected to the Center for Land-Based Learning. Eligible shoppers can take advantage of a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program EBT match, helping stretch food dollars even further.

To make visiting the market even easier, community members who attend receive free validated parking in the Aggie Square garage.

Spring events kick off with music, art and sustainability

The mobile farmer’s market launch includes special pop-up events designed to turn a midweek lunch break into something a little more memorable.

The Wednesday, May 20 market will feature a sustainability-focused afternoon, with partners including Atrium 916’s Zero Waste Art Cafe, the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen Mobile Fixery, UC Davis CORE officers and K-9s, and the UC Davis Health Green Commuter Program. Visitors can explore alternative transportation options, learn about waste reduction and enjoy the market’s fresh offerings all in one place.

The market takes place outdoors at Aggie Square, 4480 2nd Ave., every other Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Whether you’re stocking up on produce for the week, discovering new ways to live more sustainably or enjoying time outside with colleagues, the mobile farmers market is designed to be an easy, welcoming stop in the middle of the day.

“Join us for an inspiring day of celebration and connection as we honor cancer survivors and their journeys,” said UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Primo “Lucky” Lara Jr.

The family-friendly celebration will feature activities and experiences for cancer survivors, patients, caregivers and families throughout the cancer center and on the grassy area adjacent to Shriners Children's Northern California. Attendees can connect with fellow survivors, meet cancer experts, explore wellness and supportive care, and access community resources. Speakers will include cancer survivors, cancer researchers and physicians.

Activities will include spending time with facility dogs, family-friendly art projects and complimentary Reiki sessions (Japanese energy healing technique). Free snacks, ice cream and lemonade will be available, too. Food trucks will sell lunch options onsite.

Pedaling to the event will be 20 college students with Texas 4000 for Cancer who have been biking across the country to raise money for cancer research.

Celebration is open to all

The cancer center’s Supportive Oncology and Survivorship team organizes the event every year to honor people impacted by cancer. The celebration is open to the community. You do not need to be a UC Davis Health patient to attend.

Please RSVP by June 2. Cancer patients will be allowed to valet park at the cancer center. Follow signs to the event. General (paid) parking is available in parking structures 2 or 3.

What is National Cancer Survivors Day?

The nonprofit National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation held its first gathering in 1988. The annual event is a “celebration of life,” where survivors connect with doctors, nurses and other staff as well as friends and family to show that life after a cancer diagnosis can be full and fun.

Corporate sponsors of National Cancer Survivors Day at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center include Gilead, Tempus, Eisai and AstraZeneca.

New doctors, he said, will encounter imposter syndrome, doubting their competence after four years of medical school, likely asking, “Am I doing good enough?”

He then turned to the graduates and urged them to reconsider that common question, and instead, ask, “Am I doing enough good?”

Students responded with enthusiastic applause.

The phrase — “Am I doing good enough” — is self-focused and performance-oriented, Tran said. But the phrase, “Am I doing enough good,” he explained, is focused on others and it is service oriented. “One is about your ego,” he continued, “and one is about your impact.”

Tran, a pediatric gastroenterologist and popular social media influencer, delivered his poignant advice Saturday to an attentive audience: The 119 graduating medical doctors sitting beside him at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis. The students wearing blue and black regalia, plus another five who didn’t attend the commencement ceremony, represented the largest graduating class of the UC Davis School of Medicine.

Medical student proposes on stage

As with every UC Davis School of Medicine commencement, graduates invite family and supporters to cross the stage with them to be hooded and receive their diploma.

During one of these moments, the ceremony took an unforgettable turn: Medical student Habib Salamah pulled off a wedding proposal on stage.

When Salamah’s name was called, he was joined on the stage with three people important to him: his big sister and their 8-year-old brother whom they helped raise after their mom died, as well as Salamah’s partner Alaa’i Alshabrawy. After he was hooded by Associate Dean Sharad Jain, the group paused for photos and walked toward the diploma table. That’s when Salamah stopped, reached into his pocket, dropped to one knee and opened a cherry red ring box.

His partner appeared stunned. She covered her open mouth with her hand before nodding yes. Students and faculty erupted in cheers and a standing ovation.

Salamah later admitted he was nervous — and not because he feared Alshabrawy would say no. But because he said their Muslim faith values modesty and restraint in public, and he wasn't sure how the high-profile gesture — like pausing a graduation ceremony in front of more than 1,000 people — would be received.

Salamah said he ultimately saw the proposal as an opportunity to show that he and his future wife were bonded by love and a cause they care deeply about.

“When I got down on one knee, I wasn't just asking Dr. Alshabrawy to marry me, I was also pleading with the world to see Palestinians as human beings, too."

Salamah spent three childhood years in Palestine. Alshabrawy, his fiancé, is of Egyptian background and a 2025 UC Davis medical school graduate and UC Davis Health internal medicine resident.

Very few people knew about the plan to propose on stage. He told school officials and his partner’s father, who gave his blessing.

The proposal was captured on video from multiple angles.

Before the ceremony briefly went off script with the proposal, graduates also heard from several speakers, including one of their own, Mustafa Saleh Jundi, who was selected by fellow classmates to deliver the student address.

The Class of 2026: “A beautiful tapestry”

Jundi, the son of Palestinian refugees, honored the Class of 2026 for their unique stories and varied backgrounds that he called “a beautiful tapestry” of life experiences that led them to the UC Davis School of Medicine.

He referred to classmates who grew up picking fruit as child laborers alongside their farmworker parents. He spoke about the soon-to-be doctors who were raised in Palestinian villages enduring the “unique taste and smell of tear gas.”

He highlighted the cultural and religious diversity of the class.

“Long before ever first having stepped foot in a hospital, our calling to medicine was minted. It is amongst this gorgeous mosaic that I have the privilege to stich my story and add to its texture,” he said.

Jundi also thanked a UC Davis Medical Center patient care team and countless classmates for visiting his father in the hospital while being treated for a serious medical condition. His father, Jundi said, was watching the ceremony from his hospital bed. “While I know you hear us, I cannot wait to rewatch this together as you continue to regain consciousness.”

Near the end of the ceremony, a portion of the physician’s oath was recited by 21 students in 21 different languages, each of which represented their ancestral heritage.

The entire class then stood to read the oath in English and moved their tassels from right to left. Thunderous cheers and applause marked the conclusion of the School of Medicine’s 55^th commencement as the new doctors marched out of the theater and on to residency.

“I felt very scared,” Emily said. “I had to leave our trip to go to the hospital again.”

Emily’s mother, Cecille Roberts, is haunted by the memory of their drive to the emergency department. “It’s the worst experience, to hear your child screaming in pain, saying she wishes her life would be over, so she won’t hurt anymore,” Cecille said.

A year of frightening symptoms

Emily had already endured a year of worsening, unexplained symptoms. Usually an active kid playing softball, hiking and camping, she began to experience back pain that progressed to leg weakness and incontinence.

“Emily just screamed and cried at home,” Cecille said. “She’d have bathroom accidents at school because she didn’t have the sensations to tell her to go. She was so embarrassed.”

She was repeatedly misdiagnosed and sent home from hospitals and clinics with pain medication that didn’t help.

Paralysis leads to emergency spine surgery and discovery of aggressive bone cyst

Everything changed when UC Davis Children’s Hospital pediatric neurosurgeon Cameron Sadegh received a transfer request. “Based on her symptoms, I knew something was compressing her spinal cord,” he said. “When a person starts losing sensation, doctors have 24-48 hours to intervene before effects may become permanent.”

Sadegh arranged for Emily to take an air ambulance to UC Davis Children's Hospital, where he met her and her mother on the helipad late one Saturday night. Within 30 minutes of arrival, she was in surgery with Sadegh and UC Davis Spine Center neurosurgeon Rick Price.

The emergency procedure removed enough of the lesion and affected vertebra to restore movement to her leg. It also confirmed the cause of her symptoms: an a rare, aggressive lesion weakening her spine and several ribs. Emily needed more surgery.

Further imaging showed the cyst had grown into her chest cavity. The team brought in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery expert Gary Raff to help protect Emily’s left lung. In addition, vascular neurosurgeon Branden Cord prepared Emily for safer spine reconstruction surgery. To reduce blood loss, he carefully injected material into blood vessels feeding the cyst to block them, a procedure called embolization.

High‑risk DLBCL can be difficult to treat and many patients relapse even after standard therapies.

“This is a group of patients at high risk for relapse and they need better options,” said Joseph Tuscano, the doctor who initiated the clinical trial. “We’re trying to combine the best of targeted immunotherapy with the strength of chemotherapy to create a more effective plan.”

Local lineman and father of three enrolls

Bryan Mazza is one of the first to benefit from Tuscano’s clinical trial. The 39-year-old father of three lives in the former gold-mining town of El Dorado. After spending a decade traveling the country as a utility lineman, he settled into the foothills with Pacific Gas & Electric. Mazza specializes in power line restoration and often hikes or even snowshoes to get to power poles, which he then climbs for repairs. It is a physically taxing job, but he loves it.

In August 2023, Mazza had back pain that would not go away. He wondered if it was from a strained muscle.

“It was worse when sleeping or after eating a big meal,” Mazza explained. “I went to the local urgent care and was told I might be suffering from gallstones, so they recommended I get an ultrasound.”

A patient at Marshall in Placerville, Mazza was scheduled for an ultrasound there. It showed possible kidney cysts. Follow-up imaging with a contrast abdominal CT scan was scheduled.

Worsening symptoms prompted trip to ER

Before the appointment, Mazza’s back pain suddenly became worse. He didn’t feel well. His wife, Jessica, whom he credits for saving his life, insisted he go to the Marshall emergency room. He did so, he said, only to appease her.

A CT scan showed multiple masses on his kidneys and nodules on his lungs.

At the doctor’s appointment following the hospital visit, Mazza said he could see on the doctor’s face that he was about to be told something he did not want to hear.

“My only thought was how I was going to tell my wife and kids,” Mazza said.

Teaming up to take on cancer

At that point, doctors at Marshall knew they were dealing with cancer — but what type of cancer they weren’t sure about. They believed it could be kidney cancer or a lymphoma, which can show up nearly anywhere in the body. What was apparent was that the cancer had spread.

Biopsy results showed it was stage four DLBCL, a cancer that develops from blood cells. It grows rapidly and is an aggressive form of non‑Hodgkin lymphoma.

Mazza’s wife wasted no time diving into research online to determine where her husband could get the best cancer care.

She knew that National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers specialize in the latest medical science advancements. Quickly, she discovered there are only a few in Northern California.

Jessica called UC San Francisco first, which encouraged her to seek immediate care at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center because of Tuscano’s reputation as a leading expert in blood cancer.

The referral to UC Davis was a smooth process. As a UC Davis Cancer Care Network affiliate, Marshall agreed that getting Mazza in to see Tuscano was the right choice.

Because his cancer was spreading rapidly, Tuscano personally called Mazza the evening Marshall sent the referral. He explained that he had a new clinical trial he thought could really increase Mazza’s chances of successfully fighting his cancer.

“I’m a big believer in science, so it was not a hard choice to tell Dr. Tuscano I was willing to enroll,” Mazza said.

A two-pronged attack

Tuscano said he wanted to give Mazza’s cancer a “one‑two punch,” with immunotherapy striking the cancer first, followed by chemotherapy to wipe out any remaining cells. The hope was that it would have a better chance of long-lasting results.

“I liked Dr. Tuscano’s candor,” Mazza said. “He didn’t sugarcoat anything. He told me I faced an uphill battle. But because of my age and other reasons, he said he felt the clinical trial plus the chemotherapy would save my life, and it did.”

Tuscano gave Mazza two targeted drugs: loncastuximab tesirine and rituximab. These medicines find and attach to specific proteins primarily on lymphoma cells, making it easier to destroy them.

• Loncastuximab tesirine attaches to a protein called CD19 and delivers a cancer‑killing drug straight into the cell.
• Rituximab targets a different protein, CD20, helping the immune system recognize and remove lymphoma cells.

“We’re essentially using targeted therapies to specifically destroy the cancer cells without damaging normal surrounding cells. We do this from the start when the patient’s immune system is the strongest,” Tuscano explained. “Then we follow with chemotherapy to finish the job.”

Next: personalized chemotherapy plan

After the targeted medicines, Mazza received a well‑known chemotherapy combination called DA‑EPOCH‑R. It includes several drugs, all delivered intravenously.

Tuscano adjusts the chemotherapy dosage for each patient, depending on how they are responding. “One size doesn’t fit all in cancer treatment,” he said. “Dose adjustment helps us tailor care so patients get exactly what they need.”

“The aggressive chemo protocol meant I had to stay five days at UC Davis Medical Center every three weeks for six treatment cycles,” Mazza explained. “It did a number on me, but the nurses and everyone on the cancer floor known as Davis 8 were amazing.”

Mazza and other patients in the trial undergo lab tests and imaging, which allow Tuscano’s team to closely watch how well the cancer is responding.

Fortunately, because of the relationship between Marshall and UC Davis, Mazza had coordinated care that allowed him to get his frequent blood tests and dressing changes to his infusion port close to home at Marshall’s Cancer Center in Cameron Park.

“It really helped me save time, and it was much more convenient because I live an hour from Sacramento but only 15 minutes from Cameron Park,” Mazza said. “I even drove myself most of the time.”

Getting his strength back

By April 2024, Mazza was in remission but weak during his recovery. He had lost his hair and some muscle mass. Regardless, he was starting to think about what he needed to do to get ready to return to his physically demanding job.

“I decided to walk a half mile, then a mile, and before I knew it, I was starting to jog. So, I signed up for a 5K run, which was a few months away,” Mazza said. “That became my goal: to enter a race.”

By then, Mazza was back on the job but still enjoying running. So, in November, he entered a half marathon (13.1 miles) in scenic Apple Hill, near his home. He trained by himself and ran the race by himself.

But that wasn’t enough for Mazza. By conquering cancer, he felt he could conquer just about anything, so he entered the American River 25-mile Endurance Run. Again, he was alone in the race but not alone in his cancer fight, because Jessica and all three of his children were at the finish line to help him celebrate.

Mazza said he was surprised how quickly he recovered, and he thanked Tuscano for being such a positive force every step of the way.

This year, he completed a 50-mile ultra marathon.

Looking ahead

“Every advancement starts with research,” Tuscano said. “Our goal is simple: Give patients a better chance at long‑lasting remission. But we need patients like Mazza to be willing to participate in clinical trials. For that, we are grateful he put his confidence in our team at UC Davis Health and the leading-edge clinical trials we are bringing to the region.”

Visit the cancer center’s clinical trial website to learn how to enroll in this or another clinical trial. To make an appointment, call (916) 734-0565.

Interventional pulmonologists at UC Davis Health are expanding treatment options for patients with severe emphysema. They are conducting a clinical trial that provides access to a novel implantable investigational device designed to reduce lung hyperinflation and help patients breathe more comfortably.

“Many people with emphysema struggle with severe shortness of breath and feel limited in what they can do each day,” said Chinh Phan, director of the UC Davis Interventional Pulmonology Program and principal investigator of the trial. “This investigational device offers a new approach intended to treat the affected lung while potentially reducing some of the complications associated with current procedures. When medications aren’t enough, we hope this new minimally invasive treatment can help patients with severe emphysema breathe easier and live better.”

BREATHE-3 clinical trial

The BREATHE-3 clinical trial is a pivotal, multicenter, randomized controlled trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of the Apreo BREATHE Airway Scaffold. The device represents a new potential therapy for individuals with severe emphysema who continue to experience significant shortness of breath despite optimal medical management.

How the therapy works

The Apreo BREATHE Airway Scaffold is a small, self-expanding implant that is placed into selected airways using a bronchoscope. Once placed, the scaffold is designed to:

• Reduce lung hyperinflation by supporting weakened or narrowed airways
• Potentially improve breathing efficiency, stamina, and overall quality of life by facilitating the release of trapped air

Unlike other lung volume reduction procedures, this device aims to treat multiple regions of the lung (up to six scaffolds) without removing tissue or blocking airflow. 

UC Davis Medical Center is the only site in California providing this investigational therapy and the team successfully treated its first patient in January.

BREATHE‑3 will include up to 250 patients at 25 sites in the United States and Europe. Participants will be followed for three years. The study will look at changes in lung function, quality of life and a person’s exercise capacity.

“Through this research, we hope to bring forward a treatment that helps people with severe emphysema breathe better and improve their daily lives,” Phan added.

A faculty member at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis is working to address that gap — and his effort has earned him top recognition from the University of California.

Assistant Professor Alex Fauer received the Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Award from the UC Office of the President.

The award includes a one-time $50,000 allocation in the 2026-27 academic year to support his research project: “Survival Outcomes and Cost-Effectiveness of a Geriatric Assessment-Guided Model of Supportive Care for Older Adults with Cancer.”

The competitive award honors promising early career faculty whose research shows strong potential to improve lives and shape the future of their fields.

Improving outcomes for older adults with cancer

Fauer‘s research focuses on improving care for aging patients with cancer, one of the fastest-growing patient populations in the United States. His work examines how geriatric assessment-guided supportive care — including coordinated symptom management, care planning and family support — can improve survival, reduce emergency visits and hospitalizations, lower treatment complications and better align care with patients’ goals and quality of life.

The clinic, set to open on May 12 on the UC Davis Health campus, provides care for patients with conditions that were diagnosed in infancy and may still require the expertise of pediatric specialists. These include anorectal malformations, Hirschsprung disease, cloacal anomalies and other congenital colorectal and pelvic conditions.

Many of these patients continue to experience long-term issues such as fecal incontinence, chronic constipation, pelvic floor dysfunction, urinary concerns, and sexual and reproductive health challenges.

“These patients often fall into the gap between pediatric and adult care systems,” said Payam Saadai, interim co-chief of the Division of Pediatric General, Thoracic and Fetal Surgery in the UC Davis Department of Surgery and director of the Pediatric Colorectal Center at UC Davis Children’s Hospital. “Some patients have continued to follow with pediatric providers, even beyond the typical age cutoff, due to a lack of access to adult providers with appropriate expertise. Others have transitioned to adult colorectal surgeons or gastrointestinal physicians, who may be less familiar with congenital conditions.”

Fewer than five adult congenital colorectal programs exist nationwide, making the UC Davis Health clinic a uniquely valuable resource both regionally and nationally.

The multidisciplinary clinic brings together pediatric and adult specialists in congenital colorectal care under one roof. Pediatric specialists bring knowledge and experience in treating the original congenital anatomy, prior surgeries and lifelong disease trajectory. Adult providers contribute expertise in managing adult physiology, comorbidities and long-term complications. A collaborative model ensures continuity, addresses inherent fragmentation in the health care system, and allows for both comprehensive and more individualized patient care.

The clinic is anchored by advanced nurse practitioner Kendall Ouzts, a nationally-recognized expert in congenital colorectal diseases. Ouzts is an educator in congenital colorectal diseases and serves as the clinical lead for the program. She works alongside adult colorectal surgeon Sean Flynn, pediatric GI physician Maheen Hassan, and Saadai.

“In addition to clinical care, this program creates opportunities for care standardization, patient education and smoother transition from pediatric to adult services, which can be modeled for other clinical service lines at UC Davis Health,” Saadai said. “Over time, we will also support research and outcomes tracking to further improve care for this population.”

The clinic team sees patients the second Tuesday of every month. It is located in the new Pediatric Surgery and Subspecialty Clinic, 2221 Stockton Blvd., Suite E, Sacramento. For more information, call 916-734-4148.

Jawdat Al-Bassam, an associate professor of molecular and cellular biology at UC Davis, often hears from these families.

“I’ve gotten emails from folks all over the world,” he said.

By the time they contact him, they’ve undergone a bewildering medical journey lasting months or years — and received devastating news: Their child has a rare genetic disorder called a chaperone tubulinopathy. 

“The parents are asking if there’s a way to do gene therapy,” Al-Bassam said. These life-shortening diseases, with names like infantile encephalopathy, corpus callosum hypoplasia and Kenny-Caffey syndrome, currently have no treatments. But Al-Bassam and his team have made a major discovery that could change that.

In two scientific papers — one published May 8, and the other in December 2025 — they have mapped the structure and mechanics of a critical cellular machine that malfunctions in people with these diseases.

In addition to enabling new treatments, this discovery could help scientists identify dozens of other genetic diseases in which children experience various neurological problems with no clear explanation.

Cellular skeletons guide neural connections

Al-Bassam studies structures called microtubules, which form protein skeletons inside cells. As a cell grows and changes shape, its cytoskeleton drives the process — lengthening its scaffold of microtubules.

“They are the cell’s force generators,” Al-Bassam said. These telescoping structures are crucial in the developing nervous system.

They help nerve cells grow the long tendrils, called axons, that connect with other nerve cells. These axons allow neurons to communicate across long distances, especially in the optic nerves that connect the eyes to the brain, in the corpus callosum that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and in the long nerves that reach down to the arms, legs, lungs and other organs.

For a baby to develop normal vision, cognition, coordination and breathing, the neurons have to connect properly. The microtubules must form perfectly inside the growing neurons. 

The cell builds microtubules from two proteins, called α-tubulin and β-tubulin. Before they can be used, they have to be snapped together into thousands of αβ-tubulin “dimers” — forming the building blocks that can then assemble into microtubules. 

Cells control the formation of microtubules, in part, by controlling the supply of the αβ-tubulin dimers. Special “chaperone” proteins — called “tubulin cofactors” — perform this delicate process. As soon as a cell produces a β-tubulin protein, these cofactors assemble into a cage that holds onto the β-tubulin until it can find an α-tubulin and snap them together into an αβ heterodimer, which it then releases.

But this process can easily go awry, with terrible consequences.

If the tubulin cofactors malfunction, it reduces the cell’s supply of αβ-tubulin, disrupting the microtubules that guide neuronal growth. “Even a small percent decrease in αβ-tubulin supply is toxic to the cell,” Al-Bassam said.

Devastating disorders of unknown origins

Scientists have discovered that some children with severe, unexplained neurologic disorders actually have mutations in their tubulin cofactor genes. This may reduce the supply of αβ-tubulin — leading to underdeveloped corpus callosum, optic nerves and other brain structures. 

“Some of these mutants were identified almost 35 years ago in yeast,” Al-Bassam said. They were discovered 15 years later in humans. But the delicate proteins were difficult to study, he said, “so this whole field of research was essentially shelved for a long time.”

The UC Davis team has now broken that impasse. Using cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM), they found how these proteins assemble into a complex machine. Their initial results, published in December 2025 in Nature Communications,show the elegant spring-and-latch mechanism that it uses to capture β-tubulin, snap it onto α-tubulin, and release the αβ dimer. “This was a surprise,” Al-Bassam said. “It was really beautiful.”

These experiments were led by Aryan Taheri, a former UC Davis undergraduate who was working in Al-Bassam’s lab at the time; Taheri has since graduated and is now pursuing a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley. “He’s extremely talented,” Al-Bassam said. “We look forward to seeing more amazing work from him in the future.”

In the second paper, published May 8 in Science Advances, Al-Bassam and Taheri unveil additional cryo-EM structures, showing the machine frozen in at least nine different configurations. These snapshots reveal how it functions in a complex cycle, snapping together αβ-dimers when they are needed, and pulling them apart when they aren’t.

These discoveries won’t immediately lead to treatments, but they could offer hope to affected families, Al-Bassam said: “For the first time, we have a precise picture of exactly what’s going wrong, and what a future therapy would need to fix.”

They could also allow disorders to be diagnosed more quickly. Today, families often endure a diagnostic odyssey in which the genomes of parent and child are sequenced in search of a mutation that might explain the problem — often yielding inconclusive results. A clearer understanding of which mutations disrupt the function of tubulin cofactors could lead to quicker diagnosis.

This new knowledge might even spur the discovery of other genetic disorders still flying under the radar. 

“Many children are born with minor, unexplained neurologic disorders,” Al-Bassam said. “Some of them may turn out to have small changes in these genes. Finding that out would be a huge step forward.”

Al-Bassam’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health. His team’s research on αβ-tubulin biogenesis utilized advanced scientific facilities at UC Davis, including the Biological Electron Microscopy Campus Core and the High Performance Computing Core.

A new study led by UC Davis Professor Courtney Lyles stresses the importance of keeping a human in the loop to review how AI makes decisions, to help reduce bias and improve safety. The study was published in Social Science and Medicine.

Lyles is the director of the UC Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research. She is also a co-founder and co-director of UC S.O.L.V.E Health Tech, an initiative involving researchers from UC Davis, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco and private digital health companies.

In this Q&A, Lyles answers questions on AI use in health care and ways to detect and prevent bias. She also shares two examples of how UC Davis Health is building fairer and more reliable AI systems to serve patients and physicians.

What is this study about?

The study is a collaboration with Google and researchers at University of California and Northeastern University. We used a human-centered approach to critically assess explainable AI model to identify areas of bias. We formed a panel of experts in different fields to find potential factors driving bias in the AI interpretation.

Why can bias be a problem in AI health care systems?

Interpretation of AI models requires an understanding of the social and structural forces that shape health data.

Without this lens, AI systems may produce outputs that sound convincing but are incomplete, biased or unsafe. As AI becomes woven into everyday clinical care, we can’t rely on algorithms alone. Human expertise in combination with explainable AI tools become essential.

What is explainable AI and why is it important in evaluating AI models?

Explainable AI (XAI) is about understanding why the model made decisions the way it did. It provides insights by peeling back what AI is doing so we can understand how the model arrived at its determinations and predictions.

How would human reviewers assess bias in XAI models?

Our study has shown that a panel of experts from several disciplines can look closely at XAI model output and provide additional contextual interpretation of whether the results make sense in the real world. In the study, this panel included experts from medicine, epidemiology, behavioral science, engineering and data science.

The study also recommends including community members and patient advocates. Their lived experience offers insight that traditional experts may miss and can help ensure AI tools reflect the needs of the communities they serve.

This interdisciplinary framework shows how bringing diverse voices into the process makes AI not only more accurate, but more equitable, more trustworthy and more reliable.

How does an interdisciplinary panel assess XAI results?

When an XAI tool highlights why a model makes certain predictions, it often reveals patterns.

When reviewing XAI findings, interdisciplinary experts could then ask:

• Could this pattern be caused by differences in the dataset?
• Is this result linked to how patients interact with medical devices?
• Does this reflect a social or structural issue rather than a medical one?

This process helps uncover where AI may be relying on “shortcut features” — patterns that look meaningful but actually reflect bias in the data.

How can you turn this XAI study into real-world practice?

Our work included a case study of how this interdisciplinary panel of experts reviewed real-world XAI results from medical imaging and suggested clear next steps for research and practice.

By combining technical tools with human judgment, this approach can also be used in other cases, improving accuracy and grounding results in context. In practice, you can establish teams ahead of time to gather the right types of expertise at the AI decision-making table. This improves implementation and trust between data scientists, clinicians, patients and communities.