UCLA Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology -- Undergraduate

How to Get Research Experience

For those who really want to know how to get research experience ...and letters of recommendation!

From the point of beginning study at UCLA, get into the habit of going to office hours. Do this even if you don't have questions, even if you're shy, even if the instructor doesn't seem friendly, etc. Introduce yourself to the instructor. Keep doing this throughout your time at UCLA. You will become known to your instructors and you will get into the habit of asking questions and participating in your own education. Start volunteering as early as you can, as well. If you start early, you will be doing more interesting and resume-worthy volunteer work by the time letters of recommendation are needed.

As soon as possible after your first quarter, start working on getting involved in research. There are multiple ways to accomplish this:

Life Sciences 10H and Honors HC70A/70AL: These courses are taught by MCDB senior faculty, and are sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The primary goal of Life Sciences 10H - Research Training in Genes, Genetics, & Genomics is to transmit the excitement and values of scientific research to undergraduate students through their direct participation in real, discovery-based research projects http://www.lscore.ucla.edu/research/ . HC70A - Genetic Engineering in Medicine, Agriculture, and Law, provides the foundations of molecular biology, and discusses the ethical, legal, and social implications that result from emerging genomic technologies. HC70AL - Gene Discovery Lab provides an original research experience for students who have completed HC70A, and uses functional genomics to address the question what are the genes required to make a seed? http://www.mcdb.ucla.edu/Research/Goldberg/HHMI_Program/hc70al.html

The Minor in Biomedical Research is designed to help you get involved in laboratory research at an early point in your college career. After initial training courses, you are placed in a laboratory in the College or Medical School for a minimum of four quarters of research. In addition to your research, you take courses in analysis of research literature, oral presentation of research data, science policy and ethics, and history or philosophy of science. After completing the Minor, you should be well trained in both the process of scientific research and the social issues facing science today. For more information, please contact the program coordinator, Dr. Ira Clark (iclark@ucla.edu).

Student Research Project (SRP)

To get set up for SRP, go to www.college.ucla.edu/urc-care (click on SRP, then on Getting Started). Please be advised that you can do SRP with faculty who have no posted open positions on this site, and that not all faculty who do post open positions will be approved by the major, if you later do research for a grade.

To find a research sponsor, first look at faculty research interests. To see MCDB faculty, you can look at www.mcdb.ucla.edu (click on Faculty, then on individual faculty names). See MCDB counselor for list of eligible faculty outside MCDB. You can look up research descriptions for the eligible faculty with whom you are interested in working by going to http://www.uclaaccess.ucla.edu/UCLAACCESS/web/ (click on Our Faculty, then look up by last name, department, or research affinity group). Narrow your choices to perhaps three professors at a time. Go to the Biomedical Library, look up and read the publications of each to get a sense of what their research is about. A few weeks BEFORE the quarter in which you would like to begin research, contact these professors. Introduce yourself, mention particular research projects or publications of that professor which interested you, and include your GPA, and any courses you completed with that faculty member and your grade. Propose, too, that you contact them again within a few days to discuss possible participation in the laboratory as an SRP student. Then call the potential sponsors, set up appointments to see them or their designee, and go from there.

Research for a grade and major credit, MCDB majors have a choice of three different research courses. Projects must be experimental laboratory research and not clinical, a literature search, literature evaluation, or survey work.

MCDB 198A-B,C (D) involves at least three quarters of research (12 units) and a written honors thesis, and makes you eligible for Departmental Honors/Highest Honors when you graduate. To be eligible, your GPA in the major must be 3.6 or above. MCDB 198A-B,C fulfills your Upper Division Laboratory requirement, as well as eight of your 20 elective units.

MCDB 199A-B (C,D) must be taken for at least two consecutive quarters (8 units). To be eligible, your GPA in the major must be 3.0 or greater. MCDB 199A-B fulfills your Upper Division Laboratory requirement, as well as four of your 20 elective units. You may continue with MCDB 199C, if you wish.

If you have senior standing, or junior standing with 3.0 GPA or above in the major, and you have completed the prerequisites, you may wish to enroll in MCDB 199, a one-quarter research course for a grade that fulfills your Upper Division Laboratory requirement on the major.