Biology Undergraduate Research Program
Become an undergraduate researcher
The Biology department has several specific programs to help undergraduates earn research experience both on and off campus. Every student of Biology knows that textbooks are full of information. But at one point, everything that's now in the textbook was a new discovery, made in a research laboratory.
In contrast to laboratory classes, in research labs, no-one knows what the answer to a question is going to be! You will be working as part of a diverse team (a professor, graduate students, perhaps research staff, and other undergraduates) to address a question that no scientist has answered before. It's slow, it can be frustrating at times, but ultimately being part of a new discovery is a great achievement!
Incremental, careful work in academic research labs produces the great majority of what we know about the world around us, and those novel discoveries eventually find their way to being established facts that we all learn in classes. But brand new discoveries are happening every day, as researchers - at SF State and around the world - work to advance understanding of life on Earth.
Find a research lab
Every lab in our department relies on graduate (MS) and undergraduate researchers to help propel their research. BURP allows undergraduates to take part in research by working for course credit (BIOL 699), in the lab of one of our faculty members. Before you apply, find the research that interests you. You'll need this for your application.
Apply Now
Apply for limited space in fall 2026. Faculty fill their positions in the first weeks of the semester. If you don't get in, reapply next semester
About BURP
Undergraduate lab positions
every semester
Research labs
in a variety of disciplines
Sign up
for undergraduate elective credit
Expectations for BURP
Each semester, students are expected to commit to 6 – 20 hours of work per week in a research lab, where they take part in ongoing experiments and projects under the mentorship and guidance of a Department of Biology faculty member. Some faculty members expect a two-semester commitment, so applying before your final semester is best.
Once accepted into the program and a research lab, BURP students must take the required safety trainings, and register for 1 – 3 units of BIOL 699 (Independent Study in Biology) each semester. BIOL 699 can be used as an upper-division elective class in every one of our concentrations.
At the end of each research semester, students are graded on an outcome that was agreed upon between the mentor and the student at the start of the semester, as well as their participation, attendance and contribution to ongoing research. The agreed deliverable could be a presentation at a meeting or research showcase, an abstract, a contribution to a research article, a figure or illustration, or something else. Each mentor will set their own expectation in consultation with their BURP students.
We expect that all students taking BIOL 699 will engage in an original research project that will result in a tangible product of some kind. We also recognize that research progress can be slow, and that products can be incremental. Students that have been working in the same lab across multiple semesters will naturally have different expectations than students who are experiencing research for the first time.
More information about BURP
Each semester, faculty members select undergraduates to participate in their research labs. Although open spaces can come up any time, typically faculty fill undergraduate research spaces toward the end of the semester prior to the space being open.
Each faculty member has their own expectations for students receiving BIOL 699 credit, in terms of skills, availability, career goals and interests, so one-on-one conversations are an essential part of the selection process.
The first step is to complete the application on this page (click the button "Apply for BURP!", above), where you can select a faculty mentor and answer some general questions about your goals for participating in BURP.
To be a part of BURP you must be an SFSU Biology major or Biology minor, and be in good academic standing (GPA >2.0) at the time of application. BURP is not available for graduate students, post-baccs or students from other departments. Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior and Senior Biology majors or minors are all eligible to apply.
Students who are already working in research labs do NOT need to reapply using the form each semester, but should discuss their plans for the next semester with their PI.
Go to the page "Faculty by Research Discipline", then click on each faculty member's profile and look at their lab website. Note that the application survey asks you to explain specifically why you chose a particular lab to apply to, so spend some time researching the different labs.
Choose a lab that interests you; you may apply to multiple labs by completing the survey more than once, but be specific in every application so the faculty mentor can see why you chose their lab. Be aware that not all labs will have spaces available in every semester, and in some labs spaces fill up quickly! Every lab is different in the number of students that can be trained each semester.
In general, having any research lab experience is more important that the specific research topic of that lab, so even if your career goal is medical school (for example), you will get almost the same benefit from working in a lab studying mosses, or sunflowers, or bacteria that live in thermal pools, as you would get studying cancer cells (we have labs doing each of these, and many more!).
Ask your class professors about their research, ask your friends about their research lab experiences, and don't forget that SF State Biology students can also get credit for research with faculty based at the EOS Center, the California Academy of Sciences, and other local institutions.
Being part of a research lab has so many advantages, no matter what your eventual career goal may be. Being part of an active community of researchers is intellectually stimulating, letting you spend your time thinking deeply about a significant biological problem or question. The community aspect of a research lab is great for studying together, working cooperatively on class work, and having ready access to more experienced peers whose guidance can be invaluable to your academic success. And, if you receive 3 units total in course credit for BIOL699, you can substitute BURP experience for an upper-division, class-based elective, making it easier to graduate on time.
Working in a research lab can lead to tangible benefits for your CV - contributing to a publication, a presentation or other product demonstrates that you understand biology in a deeper way, and that you have skills and knowledge to share with others.
If your goal is graduate school, medical school, a government agency, or industry, research lab experience lifts you over and above many other applicants and makes you stand out.
And having a strong letter of reference from a professor who knows you well, and can speak to your skills beyond your classroom performance, also offers substantial benefits as you apply to your next opportunities.
Yes! Research lab experience (BIOL 699) is already a built-in expectation for many of our undergraduate scholarships and awards administered by the SEO Office; these are competitive applications separate from the BURP application process. Students can also be paid by the hour if the lab has research grant funding; this will vary from lab to lab.
But you can participate in BURP with or without funding. And all students in BURP can earn course credit (up to 3 units of BIOL 699) toward their degree.