URAP

Winston Tseng - Research Scientist, Public Health

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

PROJECT 1. The Central Valley towns of Allensworth is partnering with Gadgil Lab and Health Research for Action at UC Berkeley on a research project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and National Alliance for Water Innovation. This project is about assessing community perspectives on water safety, community education, and...

Winston Tseng - Research Scientist, Public Health

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

PROJECT 2. The environmental health project is focused on the program evaluation of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health/National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health-Education and Research Center (COEH/NIOH-ERC) across the campuses of UC Berkeley, UCSF, and UC Davis. The purpose of the Center for...

Winston Tseng - Research Scientist, Public Health

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

The goal of the project is to conduct an evaluation of the Zoosiab program, a community-based prevention and early intervention program that aims to prevent and/or reduce further mental health problems and social isolation among Hmong elders by strengthening sense of community and social engagement, improving both psychological...

Winston Tseng - Research Scientist, Public Health

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

The purpose of the project is to monitor and increase the visibility of Pacific Islander (PI) health disparities and align local health department efforts in the counties of San Francisco, Alameda, and San Mateo to be more inclusive and effective in serving PI communities. The project activities include conducting a...

Jack Tseng - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

Bone crushing dogs were a diverse and successful subfamily of canids that thrived throughout North America for nearly 30 million years. As bone crushing dogs evolved they show convergent features with hyaenas in their cranial anatomy (i.e. a large sagittal crest and domed forehead to dissipate stress). While the skull...

Jack Tseng - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

With over 260 recognized extant species, the order Carnivora is one of the most diverse mammalian groups today, with a history tracing back approximately 60 million years. Crown carnivorans are divided into two suborders: Feliformia (cats, genets, hyenas, mongooses, etc.) and Caniformia (dogs, bears, raccoons, weasels, skunks, seals, etc.). Despite...

Jack Tseng - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

Studying vertebral measurements and trabeculae's shape and orientation can provide a more comprehensive understanding of how rodent groups adapted to their specific environments and lifestyles. Quantifying the gross morphological variation of each rodent group through vertebral measurements can provide information about weight-bearing capacity, stability, strength, mobility, and flexibility. Additionally...

Jack Tseng - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

Human actions and infrastructure are impacting biodiversity in real time, rapidly changing environments, modifying ecological interactions, and introducing new selection pressures that living organisms have never before encountered. To develop effective, targeted conservation strategies, we need to understand how anthropogenic actions, infrastructure, and management decisions influence evolution. One of the...

Neil Tsutsui - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

The experimental removal of introduced species can provide unparalleled opportunities to examine community reassembly. Invader-removal experiments, for example, can clarify how recovery is influenced by processes acting within a given system or alternatively reflects processes acting at larger spatial scales. Despite the obvious value of such studies, surprisingly few...

Gustavo Valbuena - Professor, Public Health

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

The necessity for integrating health equity concepts into medical education is critical now more than ever considering the recent years marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened awareness of racial injustices. These events have highlighted the critical disparities in health outcomes across marginalized communities, emphasizing the urgent need for...

Gustavo Valbuena - Professor, Public Health

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

Uncontrolled hypertension (HTN) is a growing global public health crisis requiring novel interventions. As a major risk factor for ischemic heart disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), heart failure, dementia, pregnancy complications like preeclampsia and stroke, hypertension is a leading cause of premature death and healthcare costs in the United States...

Maryam Vareth - Researcher, Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS)

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

Our project focuses on developing a clinician-facing platform designed to enhance the lives of individuals with diabetes and hypertension. By integrating real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and blood pressure (BP) data into a dynamic, interactive dashboard, we empower healthcare professionals with comprehensive insights into patient health, enabling more...

Jose Pablo Vazquez-Medina - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

Oxidative damage to mitochondria has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetes, stroke, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and many other metabolic syndrome disorders. Recent work shows that deletion of the antioxidant protein peroxiredoxin 6 (PRDX6) dysregulates mitochondrial function. PRDX6 is a multi-functional enzyme that expresses at least 2...

Jose Pablo Vazquez-Medina - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

This project seeks to characterize cells isolated from the blubber of northern elephant seal pups during the post-weaning fasting period. Elephant seal pups nurse from their mothers for ~1 month, after which they are abruptly weaned and carry out a terrestrial post-weaning fast for several months prior to...

Jose Pablo Vazquez-Medina - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

The focus of this project is to develop tissue culture models to answer mechanistic questions that are relevant to physiological responses during diving and under stress conditions in sea turtles. This project will examine sea turtles’ adaptations to hypoxia by characterizing gene expression and reactive oxygen species generation under differential...

Jose Pablo Vazquez-Medina - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

The aim of this project is to examine the impact of acute and chronic glucocorticoids (GC) on marine mammal muscle cells. Environmental and ecological stressors increase the concentration of circulating GC potentially affecting an individual’s behavior, physiology, and fitness. However, the consequences of chronic GC exposure remain elusive in many...

Julia Walsh - Professor Emerita, Public Health

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

Learn how to read and assess draft laws submitted to California Legislature that are aimed at alleviating climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and related issues for their potential Health impact on Environmental/Climate Justice (EJ/CJ) communities. This information will strengthen the ability of CJ Advocacy Groups to...

Ian Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

What makes some groups of animals species rich, while other groups are species poor? This project will examine the diversity of spiny lizards (genus Sceloporus), a group of 100+ described species that range across North and Central America. We will quantify the phenotypic, ecological, and genetic diversity of spiny lizards...

Ian Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Understanding how phenotypic variation is generated and maintained in natural populations is a fundamental goal in biology. We are studying the evolution of color and other phenotypic traits in Aegean wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii), an island-dwelling lizard native to the Greek Cycladic islands. Our goal is to understand how...

Ian Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Genetic diversity is crucial for adaptation and may be a key factor that shapes species responses to climate change, habitat loss, and other stressors. Recently, the California Conservation Genomics Project (CCGP) has gathered genomic data for over two hundred species across California in order to inform conservation efforts. This dataset...

Ian Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

This research investigates the genetic basis of lizard coloration, which is an ideal trait for studying evolution. Animal coloration is divided into pigments and structural colors. Pigments, often red and yellow, are small particles that directly absorb and reflect light of different colors. Structural colors, often blue, are caused by...

Noah Whiteman - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

Approximately fifty percent of all insect species are herbivorous and together with plants, comprise over half of all named species of life. To feed on a plant, an herbivore must evolve strategies to overcome the chemical defenses (toxins) that plants produce to protect themselves from herbivory. These toxins may inhibit...

Noah Whiteman - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

During the evolutionary transition from one feeding guild to another, such as microbe- to plant-feeding, it is hypothesized that behavioral adaptations are among the first to evolve. In insects, changes to the chemosensory systems that determine host preference are necessary, not only for finding an appropriate host, but in...

Noah Whiteman - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

NOTE TO APPLICANTS: This project is only open to onboard a previous Whiteman Lab undergraduate researcher who had not been enrolled through URAP. We will not be evaluating new applications for this project at this time.] While much of genetic inheritance occurs via vertical transmission (i.e., from parents to offspring...

Mary Wildermuth - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Powdery mildew is an obligate biotrophic fungus that infects a broad variety of plants including plants of agronomic (e.g. grapevine) and ornamental (e.g. roses) import. It has lost many essential metabolic pathways and relies on the plant for these compounds. We are interested in figuring out the powdery mildew genes...

Christine Wildsoet - Professor, Optometry

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

Myopia or short-sightedness has become the focus of increasing concern as its prevalence steadily climbs. Figures of around 90% have been recorded for some Asian university student populations and a recent US-based study also reported a dramatic increase in the prevalence of myopia, especially among AfroAmericans. Myopia is...

Christine Wildsoet - Professor, Optometry

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

This research has a number of different aspects. One aspect involves collection of optical images of the back of the eye, using an advanced high resolution SD-OCT imagining machine. Initial work will involve images already collected. It will involves working with large amounts of data in excel, using smoothing...

Christine Wildsoet - Professor, Optometry

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

Myopia or short-sightedness has become the focus of increasing concern as its prevalence steadily climbs. Figures of around 90% have been recorded for some Asian university student populations and a recent US-based study also reported a dramatic increase in the prevalence of myopia, especially among AfroAmericans. Myopia is...

Christine Wildsoet - Professor, Optometry

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

There is increasing interest in the role of sunlight and light exposure in the development of myopia. In this project, we are using a wearable light sensor/activity monitor (Actiwatch), for human subjects. The sensor will record the intensity of light subjects are exposed to, and will allow us to...

Caroline Williams - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

The Williams Lab in the Department of Integrative Biology studies the life history and physiology of the California variable field cricket. Crickets are a model system to study how animals can adjust energetic investments to activity, reproduction, and maintenance throughout their lifetime because there are winged and wingless types within...

Caroline Williams - Professor, Integrative Biology

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

We are using grasshoppers from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to study the biological impacts of recent anthropogenic climate change, from the level of genes and molecules to whole organisms and communities...

Carol Wilson - Research Botanist, University and Jepson Herbaria

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

Mistletoes are shrubby, aerial-branch parasites belonging to order Santalales. Most are hemiparasites that obtain water and mineral nutrients and a portion of their carbon from the xylem sap of their host plants. Although they can be forest pathogens, particularly to conifer tree species that are under stress from drought...

Carol Wilson - Research Botanist, University and Jepson Herbaria

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

Carol A. Wilson is conducting research that examines phylogeny, biogeography, endemism, and ecology of a lineage of Iris that mostly occur in a biodiversity hotspot (California Floristic Province). Iris comprise a highly diverse genus of perennials that provide significant food resources including nectar, pollen, arils, and underground structures, as well...

Ashley Wolf - Professor, Public Health

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

Bacteroidetes is one of the main bacterial groups of the human gut microbiome. Although several reference strains related to species such Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Bacteroides fragilis and Phocaicola vulgatus have been investigated and even used as model organisms to understand the gut microbiome, strain level diversity is extensive and remains to...

Ashley Wolf - Professor, Public Health

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

The gut microbiome is a complex community of microbes that have unique enzymatic capabilities. Some gut bacteria metabolize sialic acids that are found in the diet and/or produced by host cells. We have identified putative genes that encode enzymes responsible for sialic acid metabolism. This project will use cloning...

Ashley Wolf - Professor, Public Health

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

Dietary ingredients can provide fuel to the gut microbiome and influence the abundance of particular bacterial species in the gut. During heating steps in food processing, Maillard reaction products (MRPs) are formed from non-enzymatic reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars. As one of the MRPs, ε-fructoselysine (FL...

Wendy Yue - Professor, UC San Francisco

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

Spiny mice are among the few mammals capable of shedding and regenerating large areas of skin, a unique adaptation that helps them escape predators. However, this ability comes with a challenge: how do they manage the pain from such severe injuries? This project aims to investigate potential mechanisms that allow...

Qing Zhou - Professor, Psychology

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

Professor Qing Zhou’s Family and Culture Lab (https://zhoulab.berkeley.edu/) aims to investigate cultural, contextual, and temperament influences on socio-emotional/mental health, academic, executive function, and language development from childhood to young adulthood, with a particular focus on children/youth of immigrant families. We have multiple ongoing research projects investigating...