Computational Biology

Berkeley Connect links undergraduate students with experienced mentors in Computational Biology. These mentors lead small groups (not more than 20) students in regular meetings; they also meet with students one-on-one to provide guidance and advice. The core of the Berkeley Connect program is a one-credit, pass-fail course that is designed to create a community of students with similar intellectual interests.There is no homework associated with Berkeley Connect: no exams, no papers, no quizzes. Instead, small group meetings focus on sharing ideas and learning new skills related to Computational Biology as a way to foster friendships and provide a supportive intellectual community for Berkeley undergraduates.There is not currently an undergraduate degree program in Computational Biology at UC Berkeley. Berkeley Connect in Computational Biology is designed for students with an intended or declared major in the biological or mathematical/computational sciences who have a serious interest in the interdisciplinary field of computational biology.

Every semester, Berkeley Connect sponsors a wide range of activities and events for participating studentsThey include:

• small-group meetings led by your mentor;
• one-on-one meetings with your mentor;
• special events, including informal lectures by professors and guest speakers, and panels on career options, graduate school admissions, and other topics;
• and visits to Berkeley resources.

At the heart of Berkeley Connect is the relationship between you and your mentor. The Berkeley Connect mentors are advanced graduate students or recent PhDs in Computational Biology, who are chosen both for their demonstrated commitment to undergraduates and for their scholarly achievement. They are dedicated to providing the kind of close-knit community and one-on-one attention that can be hard to find at a large university.

When you sign up for Berkeley Connect, you will join one of the small groups of participants in Computational Biology. Your small group will be led by your mentor, and will meet every other week during the semester for an hour-long discussion session. Discussions will focus on key intellectual issues within Social Welfare as well as key skills you need to succeed in the major. Above all, the small groups will focus on building connections among students, so that each group becomes a supportive community for all participants.

You will meet with your mentor one-on-one at least twice during the semester, to talk about anything you choose related to your academic life—questions you have, challenges you are facing, resources you are seeking, goals you are seeking to achieve. Your mentor will also hold open mentoring hours throughout the semester, during which you are free to show up and continue these conversations, or just check in.

Faculty

Nicholas Ingolia is an Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cell biology and a core member of the Center for Computational Biology at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on the regulation of translation in order to understand how and why some mRNAs are translated better than others and some mRNAs show marked shifts in translation under different conditions. His lab develops and applies global and high-throughput experimental approaches to understand translational regulation and relies heavily on computational and statistical analysis of data from these experiments. Most notably, he developed the ribosome profiling technique for profiling translation by deep sequencing, and his lab continues to refine this methodology as well as applying it to a broad range of questions, ranging from the basic molecular mechanisms underlying translational control through its impact on human health and disease. You can learn more about the Ingolia lab here

Berkeley Connect Mentors

Fiona Callahan is a PhD candidate in Computational Biology.

Where did you grow up?

Whidbey Island, WA

Where did you go to college and what was your major?

Scripps College; Mathematical and Computational Biology

How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?

I am interested in developing and using mathematical models to better understand the effects of environmental change on ecological communities. I’m currently working on using data from ancient environmental DNA to understand what factors have influenced where plants and animals have lived.

Kailey Ferger is a PhD candidate in Computational Biology.

Where did you grow up?

Buffalo, NY

Where did you go to college and what was your major?

University of Rochester, majored in Computational Biology

How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?

I study ants found in California, including both native and invasive species, to figure out things like their genetic diversity across different landscapes, demographic history, population mixing, adaptation, and related topics. My work mainly uses the sequenced genomes of different ant species to answer these questions.

Semester Activities