Twelve UC Davis biological collections — including the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection — will host open houses on the same day as part of Biodiversity Museum Day, Saturday, February 21, 2026. This annual, free public event is a fantastic chance to meet scientists, learn about current discoveries at UC Davis, and explore facilities that are usually closed to visitors.
Yeast Collection Open House: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
RMI Brewery, Winery, and Food Processing (BWF) Building
Phaff Yeast Culture Collection curator Dr. Kyria Boundy-Mills joins Esculent podcast host Elizabeth McQueen and UC Davis professor Charlotte Biltekoff for a lively conversation about how the Phaff Collection is helping improve the foods we eat.
by Kyria Boundy-Mills, Charlie Silver, Pavan Kambam
The UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences recently published a story about discovery of a new detergent using yeasts from the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection. Some details were edited out in the interest of space. This version of the story contains those missing details – including how an error when ordering lab supplies led to a new discovery.
Nine UC Davis biological collections including the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection are all having open houses the same day, Saturday Feb 8, 2025! More information at the event website https://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu . The yeast collection exhibits will be open 10AM-2PM in the RMI Brewery, Winery and Food Processing building.
Research on yeast oil being done at UC Davis was mentioned in a May 15, 2024 article in Bon Appetit magazine about microbial cooking oils. Phaff Yeast Culture Collection curator Dr. Kyria Boundy-Mills was quoted several times in this article about the future of cooking oils made by fermentation of microbes, including yeasts. The article discusses the favorable properties of several commercially available microbial cooking oils, the improved carbon footprint relative to vegetable oils, and discusses challenges, especially the costs of production.
The Phaff Yeast Culture Collection and ten other biological collections at UC Davis are putting on our annual, FREE, public event called Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday February 10, 2024. The yeast event will be open from 10AM to 2PM in the Brewery, Winery and Food Processing facility.
The Phaff Yeast Culture Collection was highlighted in a recent blog piece by Andy Fell of UC Davis News and Media Relations. A recent publication by Phaff collection curator Kyria Boundy-Mills and collaborators demonstrated that yeasts can consume most (but not all) sugars in degraded almond hulls and increase the protein content, for potential use in animal feed.
A popular species of yeast that’s used to make beer, bread and wine is also contributing to the food industry in a different way – improving food safety. A yeast strain from the UC Davis Phaff Yeast Culture Collection is being used commercially to remove a toxic compound from fried and baked foods.
The Phaff Yeast Culture Collection is participating in the 11th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday February 18, 2023. The yeast displays and activities will be open from 10AM to 2 PM at the Robert Mondavi Institute Brewery, Winery and Food Processing facility. Come explore the exhibits about yeast, hear about the latest discoveries from the Phaff collection, and tour the teaching winery and brewery.
GREAT NEWS: The National Science Foundation is funding the transfer of a collection of 6,000 yeast strains from the University of Western Ontario to UC Davis! This will ensure preservation of this endangered yeast collection, expand the range of yeast species and strains in the Phaff collection catalog, and will make these yeasts and decades of characterization data available to the scientific community for the first time.
