MCB295 is a career and professional development seminar series for life science PhDs organized by students in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Each weekly session features a panel of speakers from a variety of careers who share their post-PhD paths. In addition, they host workshops on topics in career development, including networking, resume building, interview techniques, and negotiation skills.

To receive weekly updates about their events, sign up for their email list at the bottom of the page.

They meet every Monday evening in the spring semester from 6pm-8pm in Barker 101 on the UC Berkeley campus. Their full schedule can be found here.

Course Organizers: Spring 2016

Michelle Bloom is a 5th year graduate student in the Koshland lab. Throughout her graduate career she has been involved in many aspects of the Berkeley scientific community outside of lab by organizing Koshland Seminars, participating in planning the Expanding Your Horizons conference, and volunteering at the Lawrence Hall of Science. When she needs to get away from science, she finds comfort in her ongoing project to learn to play guitar, doing puzzles of all sorts, and baking. She is looking forward to exploring potential careers and networking with people who can help her get her ideal career through MCB 295.

Cindy Wang is a 5th-year MCB and Chemical Biology PhD student studying RNA structure to engineer RNA-based biosensors. Outside of science, she is an active classical musician and graphic designer, and her ideal career would merge all of these interests, but unfortunately no one has yet commissioned her to design an experimental modern opera about nucleic acid interactions. In the meantime, she continues to explore her options, and is looking forward to learning more through MCB295.