Assistant​/Associate​/Researcher Machine Learning Models - Advanced Bioimaging Center

Assistant/Associate/Full Researcher Machine Learning Models - Advanced Bioimaging Center, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Position Overview

Position title: Assistant/Associate/Full Researcher

Salary range: The UC academic salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and step at appointment. A reasonable estimate for this position is $199,700- $357,200. Salary scales available at https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)..pdf

Percent time: 100%

Anticipated start: Winter/Spring 2026

Position duration: Initial appointment is for one year with possibility of renewal based on performance and funding availability.

Open date: February 26, 2026

Next review date: Thursday, Mar 12, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Saturday, Mar 28, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

The Advanced Bio Imaging Center (ABC) in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley seeks applications for a Professional Researcher at the Assistant, Associate, or Full rank. The selected candidate will be appointed at the rank to commensurate with prior experience. The position will report to Professor Gokul Upadhyayula, with Professor Eric Betzig serving as an additional academic mentor.

The researcher will conduct independent research at a level comparable to the Professor series.

ABC aspires to be a world-leading multidisciplinary imaging center that drives important biological discoveries through critical new advances in all aspects of imaging technology and disseminates that technology through a multi-pronged education strategy to scientists worldwide. The center leverages next-generation adaptive optical multifunctional microscopes, instrumentation scientists, applied mathematicians, and computational scientists to tackle terabyte and petabyte-scale imaging data processing, visualization, and dissemination.

This position will focus on advanced, independent research leading the ABC computational team to develop vision-transformer-based foundation machine learning models. The Researcher will work closely with an interdisciplinary team of optical physicists, engineers, and computational imaging researchers to create a generative AI model for segmenting and querying complex 4D high-resolution data of zebrafish development.

As the project grows, the individual will be expected to expand leadership and adapt to the evolving scope of the research. The role will begin with leading efforts to supervise data collection and management, model development, and collaborating with leadership across the center. The researcher will build and manage a team of data scientists and computational biologists to test AI-driven imaging models and will facilitate scientific collaborations with local, domestic, and international researchers.

• Conduct and design independent research and lead a team of data scientists and software engineers to enable the development of state-of-the-art AI models for light sheet microscopy data.
• Collaborate with experts in optical physics, engineering, and computational imaging to support a foundational AI model for high-resolution developmental biology data.
• Conduct and lead experimental design, data acquisition, and data analysis pipelines to ensure optimal data quality.
• Facilitate and maintain scientific collaborations with local, domestic, and international researchers as the project expands.
• Publish research findings in high-impact journals and present at scientific conferences.
• Supervise and mentor graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, staff scientists, and academic research titles involved in machine learning and biological data analysis.
• Lead the development of new AI models and data processing tools for datasets generated on multicellular tissues, organoids, transparent embryos.
• Oversee the design and development of new machine learning tools for…