About the Division of Biological Sciences

Students examining specimens under a microscope in an integrative biology lab

Photo by Neil Freese

Transforming Our Understanding of Living Organisms

UC Berkeley’s Division of Biological Sciences generates profound shifts in our understanding of the function and behavior of living organisms. New insights — many discovered in our laboratories — fuel the widely accepted belief that the life sciences form the defining research enterprise of the 21st century. CRISPR genome engineering, immuno-oncology, telomeres and telomerase, the proto-human “Ardi,” and the molecular behavior of insulin — these are examples of world-altering discoveries that originated at Berkeley. With about 112 full-time faculty in two departments, our undergraduates and graduate students learn from and work with some of the world’s leading scientific minds, deciphering the interplay of living systems from the intracellular to the ecosystemic to the planetary.

Video: UC Berkeley Biological Sciences

Divisional Leadership

Biological Sciences Fast Facts

  • MCB and IB maintain high national standings and their faculty continue to engage in revolutionary and high-impact research. Tools such as CRISPR genome engineering, next-generation imaging, and our natural history museum collections are among the signature resources that unlock discovery in previously unimaginable ways, giving Berkeley Biological Sciences an edge.

  • Nobel laureates associated with the Biological Sciences division include current faculty members Jennifer Doudna, who won the prize in 2020 for her CRISPR gene-editing technology; Randy Schekman (2013), and Eric Betzig (2014), as well as former faculty members Jim Allison (2018) and Elizabeth Blackburn with her then-graduate student Carol Greider (2009). David Julius (2021) received his PhD from UC Berkeley.

  • A number of undergraduate programs are affiliated with the Biological Sciences division. They are the Robinson Life Sciences Business and Entrepreneurship Program (a dual-degree track in MCB and Business), SEED (STEM Excellence through Equity and Diversity) Scholars Honors Program, and the Biology Scholars Program (an inclusive wrap-around program for predominantly Biology majors pursuing biology-related careers).

Our DNA holds the story of our ancestors. We use this to learn who our ancestors were in the past, what they have shared with us, and how their legacy is still retained in our genome.
Priya Moorjani, Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular & Cell Biology