About Us
The Life Sciences Division of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) contributes to strategic Berkeley Lab and National efforts to address scientific questions and provide solutions in the areas of cancer, DNA damage and repair, radiation biology, genome structure and function, neurodegenerative diseases, structural biology, bio-fuel production and bioremediation. This is accomplished by developing multi-disciplinary, multi-divisional and multi-institutional teams to approach problems of scale and/or technical complexity that can best be accomplished in a National Laboratory environment. Laboratory scientists participate actively in these multi-disciplinary programs while maintaining outstanding independent research programs in areas of Divisional strategic emphasis. The Division is strongly committed to providing a safe and diverse work environment to support these research activities.
The Division is comprised of 50 Principal Investigators; nearly 300 scientists, technical, administrative and support staff; and approximately 185 participating guests (affiliates), organized into four scientific departments: Cancer & DNA Damage Responses, Bioenergy & Structural Biology, Radiotracer Development & Imaging Technology, and Genome Dynamics. Research in these areas is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), primarily in the Office of Science; the National Institute of Health (NIH); the Department of Defense (DOD); NASA; and industrial, national and international collaborators.
Funding for FY13 is approximately $42 M, 53% of which comes from the NIH and 18% from DOE, with NASA, DOD, state agencies, and university and private collaborations adding another 29%. The budget includes an additional $2.7 M of Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) funding.
The Life Sciences Division is one of 14 Scientific Divisions at Berkeley Lab that contribute to and take advantage of advanced technologies in 6 National User Facilities operated by the Laboratory. The Division enjoys mutually beneficial interactions with UC Berkeley scientists in various departments, including Molecular Cell Biology, Physics and Bioengineering. The Division supports an active Early Career Scientists Society that organizes an array of seminars and activities, and represents early career scientists' interests in the Division advisory committee.