Academic Departments

The Division of Biological Sciences encompasses a breadth of disciplines spanning all levels of organization and encompassing diverse organisms. With about 112 full-time faculty in three departments, the division offers a variety of programs that allow students to prepare for future careers in professional fields such as health sciences, veterinary medicine, biotechnology, environmental science, and academia.

Undergraduate majors are encouraged to gain experience through independent research studies(link is external)(link is external)(link is external)(link is external) by working closely with faculty in cutting-edge research using advanced technology. Our 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. New insights — many discovered in our laboratories — make life sciences the defining research enterprise of the 21st century.

To learn more about various biological programs and research projects in L&S, visit the links below.

(IB) emphasizes organismal, ecological and evolutionary biology with a broad comparative approach, including both plants and animals. Faculty members are also associated with three major research museums (Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Museum of Paleontology and Herbaria), and several field research stations facilitate studies of behavior and marine, fresh water and terrestrial ecology. Students have access to all of these outstanding research facilities and collections.

Michael Boots
Chair of Integrative Biology, Trevor J. McMinn Endowed Professor
5017 Valley Life Sciences Building
mboots@berkeley.edu

(MCB) focuses on lower levels of organization with the divisions of: genetics, genomics and development; cell and developmental biology; biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology; and immunology and pathogenesis. Faculty members are also affiliated with independent research centers in cancer research, genomics, and aging.

Matthew Welch
Co-Chair and Professor of Cell Biology, Development and Physiology
301A Weill Hall, MC 3200
welch@berkeley.edu

Gregory Barton
Co-Chair, Howard Hughes Investigator, C.H. Li Distinguished Professor and Professor of Immunology and Molecular Medicine
401A Weill Hall, MC 3200
barton@berkeley.edu

(NEU) The Department of Neuroscience, which launched in July 2024, will advance the understanding of brain, mind, and behavior through research, education and training. Our faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and postdoctoral researchers study how the brain functions in health and disease, how it generates behavior and thought, and how it computes. We investigate the nervous system on levels ranging from molecules and cells, to neural circuits and systems, to behavior and cognition, to neural computation. We also develop neurotechnology and explore the impacts of neuroscience on society.

Dan Feldman
Chair, Professor of Neuroscience, Coates Family Endowed Chair in Neuroscience
189A Weill Hall
dfeldman@berkeley.edu
(510) 643-1723

(PhysEd) provides a wide range of physical activity classes as well as various lecture/laboratory courses. The activity offerings are designed to provide sequential instruction in classes such as aquatics, martial arts, dance, fitness and sports.

Steven Murray
Chair
207 Hearst Memorial Gymnasium
smurray@berkeley.edu