URAP

Reza Abbasi-Asl - Professor, Neuroscience

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: Off Campus

Deep neural networks achieve state-of-the-art performance in many tasks such as computer vision and natural language processing. Interpreting deep networks is essential for applying them to scientific applications such as healthcare. Two prominent approaches to interpret neural networks are saliency methods and network compression. However, both methods...

Reza Abbasi-Asl - Professor, Neuroscience

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: Off Campus

Characterizing the the neural function in the brain and its relationship with connectivity is an eminent question of visual sensory processing. With the recent increase in the amount of the data collected from brain, tools based on machine learning principles play an essential role in understanding the brain function. The...

Reza Abbasi-Asl - Professor, Neuroscience

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: Off Campus

Computational tools based on machine learning principles have shown promising results in analyzing medical images. Deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are one of the most successful tools in this domain. While most of the algorithms based on CNNs are supervised and with the increasing amount of un-labeled datasets, it...

Reza Abbasi-Asl - Professor, Neuroscience

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: Off Campus

There is an immense amount of unstructured and uncollated data in neuroscience and bioinformatics that could be used to guide knowledge discovery. Large language models (LLMs) have shown potential in extracting and analyzing unstructured natural language corpora and are promising for semi-automated processing of text into scientific knowledge such...

Nima Alan - Professor, UC San Francisco

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Assistant will remotely call patients before and after surgery to collect data and will review medical records for retrospective databases. Assistant will also have the opportunity to shadow in clinic and assist with in-person research tasks...

Rodrigo Almeida - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Grapevine leaf roll disease and red blotch disease are two economically important grape pathogens in California. The diseases are currently not curable, so mitigation efforts including roguing (removing infected plants) are used to reduce disease spread. Roguing requires correctly identifying infected plants, which can be difficult to do visually due...

Rodrigo Almeida - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Xylella fastidiosa is a xylem-limited bacterium associated with several important diseases in a wide range of plants. In California, the bacterium is most known for causing Pierce's Disease (PD) of grapevine, which has significant economic implications for the wine industry. However, this pathogen has also been identified in a...

Christopher Ames - Professor, Neurological Surgery

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

At the UCSF Spine Center, Dr. Christopher Ames has a number of studies examining patient outcomes after open scoliosis surgery; ranging from functional gait analyses and bioelectric assessments of fall risk to AI-powered spine surface scans and long-term tracking of frailty/activity levels/complications/pain medication usage before...

Sergio Arroyo - Professor, UC San Francisco

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

The goal of this project is to investigate the role of cell-type specific inhibition in learning a sensorimotor task. We use calcium imaging and electrophysiological recordings with 'optotagging' to record the activity of specific inhibitory cell tasks as mice learn a cued go task. We aim to understand how...

Colette (Coco) Auerswald - Professor, Public Health

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Internship Pilot Program with Youth Experiencing Homelessness and Toolkit Development - YEDI Affiliated Project Youth and Allies Against Homelessness (YAAH) is a research team based in i4Y (Innovations for Youth), a Berkeley School of Public Health research center. YAAH is made up of people with lived experience of homelessness or who...

Doris Bachtrog - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

Sex chromosomes are expected to segregate equally during meiosis, but in many species they show signs of genetic conflict. In Drosophila, certain genes are found in unusually high copy number on the X or Y chromosome, suggesting they may act as “meiotic drivers” that bias their own transmission at the...

Doris Bachtrog - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

How do new species form? One of the major challenges in evolutionary biology is identifying the genetic changes that cause populations to stop mating with one another. We study this question in Drosophila athabasca, a group of closely related fruit fly populations that are at a very early stage of...

Barbara Baker - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

In eukaryotes, small RNAs (20–30 nt) derived from double stranded RNA precursors direct proteins to regulate chromatin function, transcription, RNA stability, and translation through sequence-targeted mechanisms termed RNA silencing. Two main categories of plant small RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) and short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), guide cleavage of mRNA and...

Greg Barton - Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

Our immune systems have evolved to balance defense against foreign pathogens with the capacity to damage normal “self” tissues. B cell and antibody function are central to this balance: in nearly all vertebrates, each among billions of B cells co-expresses 1) a highly variable B cell antigen receptor (BCR...

Jeff Belkora - Professor, UC San Francisco

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

INDICATION OF INTEREST - JANUARY 12, 2026: Fill out this form ASAP so I can contact you during the application period about an information session and other topics: https://forms.gle/eYRcXJFNAVSub3T4A **** **** UPDATE - JANUARY 15 - INFO SESSION **** We are tentatively planning an information session on Thursday January 22 at 7:15 pm in...

Jeff Belkora - Professor, UC San Francisco

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

PLEASE NOTE A PROJECT-SPECIFIC VARIANCE FROM THE GENERAL URAP STATEMENT OF INTEREST INSTRUCTIONS IN THE DESCRIPTION BELOW. *** This project is a semester-long pre-requisite (requirement) for students interested in continuing on with the main Patient Support Corps URAP project. You can read the main project description at the...

Stefano M. Bertozzi - Professor, Public Health

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

1) Rapid Reviews\ Infectious Diseases (RR\ID) Rapid Reviews\Infectious Diseases (RR\ID) [rrid.mitpress.mit.edu], is an initiative of the MIT Press and the University of California, Berkeley. It is an open access, rapid-review overlay journal for the accelerated curation and peer review of infectious disease-related research. RR\ID...

Stefano M. Bertozzi - Professor, Public Health

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

In addition to applying through the URAP portal, please fill out this interest form as soon as possible if you are interested in joining us: https://forms.gle/1jsvCGKgj3rb6KZx8 Potential projects for AY 2026-27 · We are interested in direct application of both home grown and other tools in building out (fine...

Stefano M. Bertozzi - Professor, Public Health

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

Psychiatric disorders, including PTSD, depression, alcohol use disorder and other addictions, are responsible for a large portion of both the global burden and US burden of disease. Current therapies help some people suffering from these disorders. Nevertheless, many patients do not respond adequately or cannot tolerate the side-effects accompanying...

Stefano M. Bertozzi - Professor, Public Health

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

In 2022, there were an estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV and 31,800 new HIV infections in the United States. The U.S. HIV epidemic disproportionately affects men who have sex with men and is defined by persistent racial/ethnic disparities. We have two ongoing projects evaluating access to HIV...

David Bilder - Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Malignant tumors are distinct from benign growths in their ability to hijack and disrupt various processes in the body. Some common examples that most people are familiar with are tumor invasion of adjacent tissues, recruitment vasculature to accelerate growth, and dissemination of metastasizing cells. However, a less well-appreciated fact...

Benjamin Blackman - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

In order to test the function of specific genes or the impact of genetic variants on phenotype, genetic manipulation is required. The aim of the project is to assist with development and implementation of methods for genetic transformation of sunflower and monkeyflower, the two main study systems in the lab...

Benjamin Blackman - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

A major focus of our lab is identifying how genetic and phenotypic variation that has evolved among plant populations adapts plants to their local climates. Understanding how these adaptations to climate variation across space have evolved will help us understand mechanisms by which plants can evolve to cope with a...

Benjamin Blackman - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Flowering and reproduction are highly regulated processes in composite plants like sunflower which produce disks that are clusters of many individual flowers. Environmental cues like light and temperature interact with the circadian clock regulate what time of the season buds first start to develop, and the same integration of internal...

Benjamin Blackman - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

During floral development, patterns of pigment are painted on to the petals of many plants, and these pigments often serve to attract and direct bee pollinators toward pollen and nectar rewards. We have found several natural variants affecting the nectar guide pigmentation patterns of the common monkeyflower in both the...

Mike Boots - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Our research group in the Department of Integrative Biology researches the dynamics of infectious disease evolution and population biology in multiple insect systems, including Lepidopteran hosts (moths and butterflies). We are currently working on two interconnected projects: The first project investigates host heterogeneity by examining how environmental factors (such as...

Mike Boots - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Our research group in the Department of Integrative Biology researches the dynamics and evolution of infectious disease. Pairwise host–parasite relationships are typically embedded in broader networks of ecological interactions, which have the potential to shape parasite evolutionary trajectories. Understanding this ‘community context’ of pathogen evolution is vital for wildlife...

Mike Boots - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

The Boots' lab in the Department of Integrative Biology studies disease ecology and evolution across multiple systems, with research ranging from theory to empirical to field biology. This project focuses on the honey bee – native bee – virus field system. Each year managed honey bees in the USA face high overwintering...

Mike Boots - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Our research group in the Department of Integrative Biology studies the dynamics, ecology, and evolution of infectious diseases through various systems. Almonds are majorly grown in California and require mass imports of honeybees for their pollination. However, honeybees used for mass agriculture also suffer from constant exposure to pathogens. RNA...

Rauri Bowie - Professor, Integrative Biology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

We are working on a project to study the adaptation and evolutionary history of hummingbirds and sunbirds. Hummingbirds and sunbirds are two groups of birds that have independently adopted nectar as a major component of their diet and have evolved to be morphologically similar. Our project aims to explore whether...

Rauri Bowie - Professor, Integrative Biology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

My lab is involved with a large collaborative project to study disease transmission within and among species of wild birds. As part of this project, swabs of a variety of bird species are being collected to study their microbial communities (i.e. their microbiome). Lab studies suggest that microbial diversity can...

Rauri Bowie - Professor, Integrative Biology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Students can assist with several ongoing research projects that investigate geographic variation and species limits in birds and integrate these data with quantification of prevalence of disease vectors such as bird malaria and trypanosome infections...

Rauri Bowie - Professor, Integrative Biology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Nest structures are widespread across animals including insects, fish, amphibians, and most conspicuously, birds. Despite their ubiquity, nests remain one of the most understudied components of avian life history. Some of the most remarkable examples of elaborate nest design are within the passerine weaverbirds (family Ploceidae). Weaverbirds are an Old...

Steven Brenner - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

RNA-seq has been widely used in biological and medical research because of its capability to quantify transcriptome changes. Researchers usually use their impressions and experience to choose whether to analyze transcriptome changes in gene expression or alternative splicing levels. A more systematic way to determine whether to focus on...

Steven Brenner - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

Genome sequencing identifies a vast number of genetic variants. Predicting these variants’ molecular and clinical effects is one of the preeminent challenges in genetics. Accurate prediction of the impact of genetic variants improves our understanding of how genetic information yields molecular and cellular functions and is an essential step toward...

Steven Brenner - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Proteins often fold into compact structural units, called domains. Protein domains are basic units of protein function and evolution. Delineating domain boundaries is a prerequisite for further analyses of protein structures. However, this process is largely a manual process and the accuracy of these computer programs is still not satisfactory...

Steven Brenner - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

Structural variants (SVs) encompass diverse genomic alterations spanning hundreds to millions of base pairs and can profoundly impact genome function by disrupting coding sequences, altering gene dosage, or perturbing regulatory landscapes. However, it remains challenging to determine which SVs contribute to disease due to their complex effects on gene regulation...

Charles Briggs - Professor, Latinx Research Center

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Project Title: Documenting Latinx Contributions to Health Care Access and Services “That's what you call solidarity. Everybody pitching in, everybody doing their part. We each one, teach one, each one, reach one!” - Yolanda Chacon- Serna (labor organizer and health advocate) “Health is politics by other means.” Alondra Nelson, author of...

Stephanie Carlson - Professor , Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Sacramento Pikeminnow are a large and long-lived predatory fish endemic to California and native to many rivers and streams in our area. One place they are not native to, however, is the Eel River Basin, a major river system to our north. Since their 1980 introduction, these fish have...

Stephanie Carlson - Professor , Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Mobile consumers may move across landscapes to exploit spatially and temporally variable resources and conditions, which can impact individual survival, growth, and reproduction. Furthermore, variation in movement patterns within populations can impact demography and stability. Understanding the factors that drive animal movements (and their consequences) is paramount to conserving imperiled...

Lu Chen - Professor, Optometry

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

Our research focuses on mechanisms and regulation of lymphatic and blood vessel formation and implications in eye diseases, such as glaucoma, inflammation, and transplant rejection. Lymphatic research represents of field of new discovery in recent years. A wide spectrum of in vitro and in vivo techniques are used in our...

Jan Christoph - Professor, UC San Francisco

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

This project is a joint project between the Christoph and Chuang labs at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at UCSF. The Christoph lab studies the heart and cardiac physiology using computational modeling and 3D imaging. The Chuang lab studies lung development using mouse models and genetics...

Susana Chung - Professor, Optometry

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

This research project focuses on the understanding of how the visual system works in people with normal vision, as well as in people with uncorrectable sub-normal vision (visual impairment). Uncorrectable sub-normal vision can occur as a result of an eye disease (e.g. macular degeneration, the leading cause of...

Susana Chung - Professor, Optometry

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

This research project focuses on the understanding of how the visual system responds to the onset of vision loss as a result of eye diseases. By understanding how the visual system responds to vision loss, our ultimate goal is to develop effective rehabilitative strategies to help people with vision loss...

Susana Chung - Professor, Optometry

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

The research project focuses on the understanding of how the visual system recognizes faces and other objects in normally sighted people and people with low vision. Psychophysical methods, retinal imaging and functional brain imaging will be used to answer the research question...

Susana Chung - Professor, Optometry

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Loss of vision in the central visual field brings about dramatic changes to everyday activities (e.g. reading, identifying objects). This research project focuses on identifying how the informative features of objects contribute to overall visual function, with the clinical goal of visual performance improvement by enhancing selected parts of objects...

Carla Cicero - Emeritus Staff Curator, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Students will assist with research projects that investigate geographic variation and species limits in birds. Work may involve morphologic measurements, color measurements, DNA laboratory work, and/or sound analysis. Positions are not available every semester, and students must already have some experience in the MVZ working with specimens and data...

Iain Clark - Professor, Bioengineering

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

This project aims to build a high-throughput platform for single-cell sequencing of genetic and chemical perturbations. We will measure how thousands of CRISPR/Cas9 and drug combinations reshape a cell's phenotype and predict gene-drug interactions with machine learning...

Yang Dan - Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

Sleep problems are a common symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and in some cases an early warning sign before movement deficits. Sleep problems in PD are diverse and can be made worse by medications that treat other PD symptoms by affecting dopamine levels in the brain. While dopamine-releasing neurons...

Robert Dudley - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Flying insects are the most diverse and abundant form of animal life in the terrestrial biosphere. However, the origins of insect flight remain obscure given the absence of a transitional fossil record. This project will involve construction of a small robot that mimics the likely morphology of early insects, and...