About CCB
The Center for Computational Biology (CCB) was established in 2003 through the Chancellor’s New Ideas Initiative, an outgrowth of the 2002 Strategic Academic Plan, to expand the research base at the University and produce the next generation of leaders in the fundamental and applied biological sciences. The Center is an Augmented Graduate Group administratively under the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) and reports to the Associate Provost for the Division.
Our Mission
The mission of the Center for Computational Biology is to support interdisciplinary research on the broad array of subjects that cover the interface between computation and biology, and to foster graduate and undergraduate education in the field.
The Center includes distinguished faculty and graduate students from more than a dozen academic departments across six colleges at UC Berkeley, and represents all disciplines underlying computational biology. All CCB faculty are members of the Computational Biology Graduate Group, which administers the Computational Biology PhD program (launched in 2011) and the Designated Emphasis in Computational and Genomic Biology (established in 2003, concurrent with CCB).
Our Goals
Our goal is simple: To establish UC Berkeley as the premier institution for education, training and research in computational biology. Our specific aims include:
- Hire new faculty leaders to catalyze interdisciplinary interactions;
- Create a training program in computational biology that will be a model for universities worldwide;
- Catalyze large-scale projects that cut across departmental boundaries;
- Develop joint programs with industry and raise and administer industrial funding;
- Develop outreach programs to attract women and underrepresented populations to computational biology;
- Ensure Berkeley faculty have the resources they need to successfully lead interdisciplinary teams.
Research and Education Programs
Our faculty are leaders in the development and/or application of sophisticated computational methods that help solve some of the grand challenges facing humanity, including improved health care, early cancer detection, revealing human disease etiology and more recently, the development of tools and methods for COVID-19 testing and early detection of the coronavirus.
Our Computational Biology PhD program (launched in 2011) and the Designated Emphasis in Computational and Genomic Biology (established in 2003, concurrent with CCB) emphasizes multidisciplinary competency and interdisciplinary collaboration and research. Students are provided with systematic education in the component disciplines of computational biology, and interdisciplinary courses developed by our faculty as well as an integrated customizable curriculum tailored to each student’s background and interests.
