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Two universities, one mission
We award a Ph.D. in Bioengineering jointly from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, among the top public universities in the world in health sciences and engineering. Drawing on the strengths of both campuses, our program trains future leaders and innovators in bioengineering.
Recent News
Outstanding Graduate Peer Mentor Awards for Leen and Carlos
Congratulations Leen Arnaout and Carlos Ng Pitti, winners of UC Berkeley’s 2026 Outstanding Graduate Peer Mentor Award! Peer-to-peer mentoring is a critical part of graduate education — we appreciate our fantastic student guides.
Tejal Desai named AAAS Fellow
PhD alumna Tejal Desai, now Dean of the Brown University School of Engineering, has been elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s most prestigious general scientific societies.
Three bioengineers are Grad Slam finalists
Grad Slam challenges PhD students to present their research in three-minute talks. Grace Hu and Kavita Parekh are finalists in the UC Berkeley slam (April 8), and Nadja Michelle Maldonado Luna at UCSF (April 7)! The winners from each campus will compete in the UC-wide Slam on April 22.
Conolly receives Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award
Congratulations to Professor Steve Conolly for his well-deserved receipt of the 2026 Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award at UC Berkeley. This award recognizes his many years of advising literally hundreds of students with a sympathetic ear, constructive criticism/feedback, and sound advice rooted in experience.
Scientists Build ‘Speed Scanner’ to Test Thousands of Plant Gene Switches at Once
PhD student Lucas Waldburger is co-lead author on a paper describing their new tool which promises to vastly accelerate plant engineering. ENTRAP-seq can simultaneously screen thousands of transcription regulators for plants, and shrinks experiments that previously required a whole plant or whole leaf down to a single cell.
Torres and Brener receive UCSF Mentoring Awards
Congratulations to awardee Alonso Torres and Honorable Mention Stephanie Brener, recognized in the 2026 Dean’s Awards for Excellence in Mentoring for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars at UCSF!
Gu and O’Connell receive PECASE awards
Berkeley engineering faculty Grace Gu and Grace O’Connell were awarded the 2025 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government to scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers.
UCSF Health ranked among nation’s best
UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center has again been named to the national Honor Roll in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-2026 Best Hospitals rankings for adult care, a distinction earned by only 20 medical centers nationwide and four in California. It tied as the No. 1 hospital in California and ranked best in the state for cancer, geriatrics, neurology and neurosurgery, pulmonology and rheumatology.
