BIO

ENGINEERING
Nick Labao
Bioe Honor Society
 ABOUT ME

NAME
1 Nick Labao

YEAR / MAJOR
2 2024
Bioengineering

HOMETOWN
3 San Jose, CA

INTERESTS
4 Genetic Engineering, Guitar,
Martial Arts
 TABLE OF
CONTENTS
WHAT IS BIOENGINEERING?
background 01
CONCENTRATIONS
focus areas offered by UC Berkeley 02
EXTRACURRICULARS
clubs, research opportunities, and more! 03
CAREER PATHS
finding your place in this diverse field 04
 01
WHAT IS
BIOENGINEERING?
An introduction
 DEFINITION

“Bioengineering is a discipline that applies

engineering principles of design and analysis
to biological systems and biomedical
technologies”
- UC Berkeley Bioengineering
 02
CONCENTRATIONS
the four concentrations offered at UC Berkeley
 BIOMEDICAL
IMAGING
Advancing medical imaging
systems

SPECT
Current research: PET
● Bioimaging center at
UC Berkeley: MOSAIC Scintigraphy
allows for fluorescent
imaging of living cells X-ray, ultrasound
● Steve Conolly: built CT
the world’s highest
spatial resolution MPI MRI
scanner and the
world’s only
projection MPI
scanner
 BIOMEDICAL
DEVICES
Developing devices for use in
healthcare
Prosthetics designed for
optimal activity
Combination of: Advanced courses:
● cell biology
● physiology medical instrumentation
(functions of living
organisms) drug delivery systems
● mechanical
biosensors Pacemaker
engineering (controls heart beat)
● electrical microfluidic devices
engineering Applications
biomolecular/cellular analysis ● implants and stents
lab-on-a-chip
● surgical and dental
instruments, devices, and
bionanotechnology. fixtures
● devices and instruments
for medical checkups
 CELL AND TISSUE
ENGINEERING
Engineering replacements for
damaged tissue.

Applications Focuses within cell and

● Therapeutics tissue engineering: Brain organoids
(miniaturized and simplified
● Organ donation version of an organ )
● designing biocompatible materials
● Clinical/regenerative
medicine ● understanding cellular and
● Biomaterials physiological mechanics

● constructing engineered scaffolds

for cells
Cancer cell
● promoting desirable cell behavior mechanobiology
(field combining biology,
● stem cell research/work engineering, and physics)
 SYNTHETIC AND
COMPUTATIONAL
BIOLOGY
Designing novel biological
Current research: systems and functions
● Jennifer Doudna
○ CRISPR!!
Applications
● Liana Lareau: using
computation
high-throughput Therapeutics
experiments to understand
sustainability
RNA post-transcription
● John Deuber: engineering agriculture
metabolic pathways into
microbes to produce algorithms
chemicals of interest
● Adam Arkin: KBASE,
ENIGMA, CUBES, biodesign
 03
EXTRACURRICULARS
bioengineering clubs + research opportunities
 CLUBS ON CAMPUS

for BIOE COMMUNITY for LEARNING FROM PEERS for CELL/TISSUE for SYN/COMP

BioEHS/BMES DECALS BIOPRINTING iGEM@BERKELEY

 RESEARCH

summer research
RSI, RISE, CiS, HSE, COSMOS etc.
programs

contact local labs! this works

cold emailing better than you think

Each semester, open positions

URAP from labs, All fields available

ULAB Undergraduate run lab

 Bioengineering High
School Competition
● BioEHSCTM is the largest bioengineering high school competition of its kind that
immerses teams of high school students in a thought-provoking Bioengineering
design project that tackles a current problem in biology or medicine.
● High school teams are paired with an undergraduate mentor (or mentors) who
guide them through a research project in either biological or medical
engineering.
● At the end of the 7 weeks of the competition, teams prepare a video abstract,
research paper, PowerPoint presentation, and research poster to present to
judges in academia and the biotech industry.

● BioEHSCTM 2023: SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023

● Interest form: https://bit.ly/2023bioehscinterestform
 04
CAREER
PATHS
What’s after a bioengineering B.S.?
 CAREER PATHS

ACADEMIA PREMED
Always be on the forefront Start your journey to being
of the latest and greatest! a doctor!

INDUSTRY STARTUP?
Transfer your skills directly Take a risk and find a niche
to society to create tech! need in the market!
 Academia

conduct bioengineering research or interdisciplinary research pertaining to bioengineering

- One of the coolest thing about bioengineering!

Achieving further degrees in academics masters/PhD → Going to Graduate school

(ie. conducting research, becoming a professor, etc)

Self-driven / team researches, writing papers, and more

 Industry

Start getting a job in related industries and get paid

Work in a company or corporation

Making products, designing products, collaborating

with teammates, and more

Examples of biotech industries outputs: biomedical

devices (hearing aids, imaging devices), engineered
scaffolds for tissue regeneration, medicines

Examples of biotech companies:, Amgen, Regeneron,

Celgene, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, etc
Pre-medical

BioE curriculum has different advantages for pre-med

requirements:
❏ Built-in course plan directly integrates medical
school pre-reqs
❏ e.g. Physics, Chemistry, Biochem

Also offers unique perspective for the medical field

through the various concentrations
Startups

Biotech -> industry with tons of innovation:

❏ Technologies in the field are extremely new, leads
to huge potential for new companies to seize the
opportunity
❏ EX: genetic engineering (CRISPR and others)
❏ Investment rate increase was in the
hundreds of millions from 2021-2022
 Majoring in Bioengineering

AP Biology Utilize extracurricular activities:

● Internships
AP Chemistry
○ paid or unpaid
AP Statistics ● Lab work
○ hard to find
AP Physics ○ not expected
● Robotics club
AP Calculus ● Volunteering at local hospitals
○ Berkeley Free Clinic
Algebra I
○ UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals
Algebra II

Pre-calculus

= Classes Common to most

engineering majors
 UCSF High School Intern Program (HIP)
● Eight paid weeks for students to complete
their research projects
● Requirements:
○ must be a rising senior
○ attend an SFUSD high school or SF
charter school or participate in College
Track Oakland Long term outcomes for HIP alumni
● Conduct biomedical science research
alongside a scientist who is your day-to-day
mentor and teacher
● Application opens January 2023
○ Application, resume, essay, letter of rec
● Interns are paid $3200 upon program
completion and work ~25 hours/week.
 Science for Youth Intensive Program (SYIP)
● Through UC Berkeley College of Chemistry
● Interested in scientific research in chemistry,
biochemical chemistry, material science, or
related fields
● 4-week internship on site
Typical application requirements:
● Shadow their assigned mentor to assist with
data analysis and non- hazardous laboratory ● Rising students entering grades
procedures, and attend seminars and group 9-12 are encouraged
meetings ● Among the top 10% of their
● Interview portion respective class
● Also remote 9 month remote coaching ● Encouraged: general or AP chem
offered (work in lab)
● Also Summer Chemistry Academy Use this website as a resource!
○ 2 week course in chemical sciences
● https://chemistry.berkeley.edu/gold
● 2024 cohort application opens May 2023
/syip
 THANKS!

Any questions?

bioehs.outreach@gmail.com