Faculty

The Department of Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB) at the University of California at Berkeley offers outstanding opportunities for scientific training in a highly interactive environment that enables doctoral students to pursue any of a wide range of modern fields of biological research. The Department of Molecular and Cell Biology is organized into five divisions and includes over 90 faculty.

The divisional organization offers the advantages of mid-sized, thematically focused, scientific groupings within the larger, more diverse academic environment in molecular and cell biology. The common purpose of the divisions is to foster and maintain a closely knit, stimulating and active community for study. The department is also part of a much more extensive biological sciences community at Berkeley. Often, faculty maintain affiliations with multiple divisions, as well as other graduate programs and institutes at Berkeley. These affiliations are included in the table below. Clicking on a faculty member's name will take you to their lab website. You can click on column headings to sort.

BBS - Biochemistry, Biophysics & Structural Biology

CDB - Cell & Developmental Biology

GGD - Genetics, Genomics & Developmental

IMM - Immunology & Pathogenesis

NEU - Neurobiology

Name	Title	Divisions	Roles	Keywords
Hillel Adesnik	Associate Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Dynamics of neural circuits underlying information processing in the cerebral cortex.
Georjana Barnes	Judy Chandler Webb Endowed Chair and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD	GSI Advisor	Microtubule cytoskeleton and cell cycle controls
Greg Barton	Class of ’36 Endowed Chair and Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP	Division Head	Innate immune system
Helen Bateup	Associate Professor of Neurobiology	NEU	GAC Member, Year 1 & 2 Adv	Molecular mechanisms of synapse and circuit plasticity
Diana Bautista	Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB	Equity Advisor	Molecular mechanisms of transduction in touch and pain receptors
Robert Beatty	Lecturer of Immunology	IMP	GSI Advisor	Infectious disease immunology
Eric Betzig	Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Development of new tools for imaging and image analysis to enable biological discovery
David Bilder	Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB	GAC Member (spring)	Genetics of cell and tissue architecture
Michael Botchan	Dean of Biological Sciences Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS	Dean	Eukaryote DNA replication and control of S phase
Gloria Brar	Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Regulation of meiotic translation, the roles of pervasive short translation products, and the co-option of stress responses for cellular differentiation through meiosis
Steven E. Brenner	Professor (Affiliated) of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Computational Genomics
Stephen Brohawn	Assistant Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Molecular basis of sensory transduction and cellular electrical signaling
Carlos Bustamante	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Raymond and Beverly Sackler Chair and Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Structural characterization of nucleo-protein assemblies
Jamie H. D. Cate	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Molecular Basis for Protein Synthesis by the Ribosome
Christopher Chang	Class of 1942 Chair and Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Deciphering roles for metals and redox signals in neurobiology, metabolism, and cancer enabled by activity-based sensing and related chemical technologies
Michelle Chang	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Enzyme catalysis and metabolic engineering
Kathleen Collins	Walter and Ruth Schubert Family Chair, Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS	Division Head	Biology, biochemistry, and biotechnology of retroelements, retroelement reverse transcriptases, and functional RNAs
Laurent Coscoy	Associate Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP	Year 1 Advisor	Molecular mechanisms of immune evasion in viral infection
Jeffery Cox	C.H. Li Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Endocrinology, Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP		Molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis and immune evasion in mycobacteria
Yang Dan	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Neurobiology	NEU	GSI Advisor	Information processed by neuronal circuits
Xavier Darzacq	Associate Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD	Year 2 Advisor	Transcription regulation during cellular differentiation
Karen Davies	Assistant Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Structural biogenesis of mitochondria and carbon concentrating mechanisms
Abby Dernburg	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Chromosome organization and dynamics during meiosis
Andrew Dillin	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Thomas and Stacey Siebel Distinguished Chair in Stem Cell Biology and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD	GAC Member	My laboratory works on the genetic and molecular mechanisms that regulate aging and aging-related disease.
Jennifer A. Doudna	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Li Ka Shing Chancellor's Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences and Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		RNA-mediated gene regulation
David G. Drubin	Ernette Comby Chair in Microbiology Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB	Co-Chair	Actin and microtubule cytoskeletons in yeast and mammalian cells
Peter Duesberg	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		The cancer karyotype: What it is and what it does
Michel DuPage	Assistant Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP		Epigenetic control of the functional plasticity of T cells in disease
Michael B. Eisen	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Genomics/Bioinformatics
Daniel Feldman	Professor of Neurobiology	NEU	Division Head	Sensory processing and plasticity in cerebral cortex
Marla Feller	Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		The development and function of retinal circuits
Gary Firestone	Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Molecular endocrinology; tumor biology
Yvette Fisher	Assistant Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Flexibility of neural circuits for navigation
John G. Flannery	Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Molecular mechanisms underlying diseases of the retina
Daniel A. Fletcher	Professor (Affiliated) of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Mechanics and dynamics of cell movements on the purified protein, single cell, and tissue levels
Hernan G. Garcia	Assistant Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Physical biology. Transcriptional regulation. Development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster
Gian Garriga	Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Developmental neurobiology; molecular genetics
Britt Glaunsinger	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Virology; messenger RNA processing and degradation
Andrea Gomez	Assistant Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Instructive cues for neural form and function
Iswar Hariharan	Department Co-Chair and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB	Co-Chair	Mechanisms of control of growth and cell proliferation. Regulation of regenerative growth.
Richard Harland	Senior Associate Dean of Biological Sciences, C.H. Li Distinguished Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD	Exec. Dean	Molecular biology of development
Lin He	Associate Professor and Thomas and Stacey Siebel Distinguished Chair in Stem Cell Research Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB	Year 1 Advisor (spring)	microRNA functions in cancer development, mouse tumor models
Rebecca Heald	Department Co-Chair and Flora Lamson Hewlett Chair and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Mitotic spindle assembly and function in Xenopus laevis
Dirk Hockemeyer	Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Telomere biology of human stem cells
James Hurley	Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB	GAC Member (spring)	Structural membrane biology
Nicholas Ingolia	Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Molecular basis and physiological roles of the Translational control of gene expression through global and genome-wide analyses
Ehud Isacoff	Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Ion channel function and synaptic plasticity
Na Ji	Associate Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Development of microscopy methods for clearer, deeper, and faster in vivo tissue imaging
Gary Karpen	Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB	Year 2 Advisor, GSI Advisor, GAC Member (fall)	Chromosome structure and function
Nicole King	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Choanoflagellates, animal origins, and the evolution of host-microbe interactions
David Kirn	Adjunct Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP
Arash Komeili	Professor (Affiliated) of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Assembly and Subcellular Organization of Bacterial Organelles
Doug Koshland	Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Chair in the Biological Sciences & Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Mechanisms and principles that mediate desiccation tolerance and the structure, integrity, and evolution of chromosomes
Richard H. Kramer	CH and Annie Li Chair in Molecular Biology of Diseases and Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Chemical signaling within and between neurons
John Kuriyan	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Chancellor's Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Structural and functional studies of signal transduction and DNA replication
Stephan Lammel	Associate Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Organization and function of neural circuits
Liana Lareau	Assistant Professor (Affiliated) of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD
Samantha Lewis	Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Mitochondrial biology; mitochondrial genome integrity in health and disease
Polina Lishko	Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Cell biology of mammalian fertilization
Ellen Lumpkin	Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB
Kunxin Luo	Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB	Year 1 Advisor (fall)	Signal transduction pathways mediated by receptors and the mechanisms controlling the activity of the receptor kinases
Michael Marletta	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Structure/Function Relationships in Proteins; Enzyme Catalysis; Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Signaling
Susan Marqusee	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Determinants of protein structure and folding
Megan Martik	Assistant Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Neural crest in development, disease, evolution, and tissue regeneration
Andreas Martin	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Energy-dependent proteases and molecular machines
Sabeeha Merchant	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Biochemistry of metals; photosynthesis and bioenergy; genomics of algae
Barbara Meyer	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD	Year 1 Advisor	Sex determination in C. elegans
Craig T. Miller	Associate Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD	Division Head	Developmental and evolutionary genetics
Evan Miller	Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS	Year 2 Advisor	Chemical biology, neuroscience, organic chemistry, fluorescence, imaging
Priya Moorjani	Assistant Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Human Population Genetics and Evolutionary Biology
Dipti Nayak	Assistant Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Physiology and evolution of archaea; biochemistry of methanogenesis; genome editing tools for archaeal genetics
Eva Nogales	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Structure-function of macromolecular assemblies: cytoskeleton self-assembly and nucleic acid transactions
Daniel K. Nomura	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Using chemoproteomic platforms for drug discovery against the undruggable proteome and incurable diseases
James Nuñez	Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Epigenome editing, epigenetic memory and inheritance; CRISPR technology development
James Olzmann	Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Regulation of cellular lipid homeostasis: lipid droplets, lipotoxicity, and ferroptosis
Eunyong Park	Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Structure and mechanism of membrane transport proteins; cryo-EM; biochemistry; biophysics
Daniel Portnoy	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS	Year 1 Advisor	Molecular and cellular basis of microbial pathogenesis
David Presti	Teaching Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Neurobiology
Michael Rape	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Protein ubiquitination, degradation and the control of cell division and differentiation
David Raulet	Esther and Wendy Schekman Chair in Basic Cancer Biology, and Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP		Innate immune responses to cancer and infections mediated by natural killer cells and T cells
Jasper Rine	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Gene regulation; cell biology
Donald Rio	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Molecular genetics; transposable elements; RNA splicing
Ellen Robey	Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP		Fate determination in the T-lymphocyte lineage
Henk Roelink	Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Induction in vertebrate development and ES cell differentiation
Daniel S. Rokhsar	Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Collective phenomena and ordering in condensed matter and biological systems
Kaoru Saijo	Assistant Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP		Nuclear Receptor-mediated regulation of Neuroinflammation
David Savage	Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS	GAC Member (fall)	Synthetic biology and metabolism.
David Schaffer	Professor of Neurobiology	NEU		Molecular investigations of stem cells and viral gene delivery
Randy Schekman	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Organelle assembly; protein transport
Alanna Schepartz	CZ and Irmgard Distinguished Chair of Chemistry, Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Chemical and synthetic biology; how cellular molecules and machines function and how this information can be used to design new and useful molecules.
Kristin Scott	Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Processing gustatory information in the Drosophila brain
William Sha	Associate Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP		B cell gene regulation and fate determination
Sarah A. Stanley	Associate Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP
Ian Swinburne	Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Multi-scale mechanisms of organ form and function
Mark Tanouye	Professor (Affiliated) of Neurobiology	NEU		Mechanisms of nervous system structure and function
Denis Titov	Assistant Professor (Affiliated) of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Metabolism and mechanisms of aging
Robert Tjian	Howard Hughes Medical Institute President and Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Eukaryotic molecular biology; biochemistry
Doris Tsao	Professor of Neurobiology	NEU
Elçin Ünal	Associate Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD	Head Advisor	Molecular basis of cellular rejuvenation, gene regulation during cellular differentiation
Srigokul Upadhyayula (Gokul)	Assistant Professor in Residence of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Multifunctional adaptive optical microscopy; 3D subcellular dynamics; computational tools for tera- to petabyte-scale projects.
Fyodor Urnov	Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development	GGD		Engineered zinc finger DNA binding proteins
Russell Vance	Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP		Host-pathogen interactions
David Weisblat	Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB		Developmental biology
Matthew Welch	Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology	CDB	Division Head	Cytoskeletal function in cell migration, membrane trafficking and microbial pathogenesis
Ross Wilson	Assistant Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic delivery of genome editing enzymes
Astar Winoto	Williams Endowed Chair and Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis	IMP	GAC Member & Year 2 Adv	Molecular mechanisms of apoptosis and proliferation in T cells, cancer, host pathogen interaction and human stem cells.
Ahmet Yildiz	Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS		Structural mechanism of molecular motors. High resolution imaging of subcellular structures
Qiang Zhou	Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS	Year 1 & 2 Advisor	Biochemistry of HIV gene expression and transcriptional elongation
Roberto Zoncu	Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology	BBS	Year 2 Advisor	How organelles sense nutrients and regulate cellular growth