Grad Students

Graduate Students

The Life Sciences Institute provides a stimulating environment for graduate research. Our faculty is internationally recognized in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, immune responses, infectious disease, cancer biology, developmental disorders, bacterial regulation, neuroscience, structural biology, and molecular epigenetics. Vancouver provides a rich scientific environment and many opportunities for interactions with departments and medical research institutes. In addition to having access to state of the art infrastructure and unique opportunities for collaboration, LSI trainees also have access to outstanding facilities for microscopy, flow cytometry, high throughput screening, and animal models.


Graduate Programs

The LSI is home to the interdisciplinary graduate program in Cell and Developmental Biology, as well as the departmental graduate programs in Microbiology and Immunology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Medical Genetics. Home to approximately 300 graduate students in 12 different graduate programs in the Faculties of Science, Medicine and Dentistry, LSI graduate students are accepted through departmental programs and complete their research in a supervising faculty member’s lab. Admission to these graduate programs require meeting the common minimum academic requirements established by the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Post Doctoral Studies plus any additional program requirements.

One of the major requirements for a research based MSc or PhD is having a research supervisor.Please refer to the program websites or email the program’s coordinators for more information.

Grad Student Association

The Life Sciences Institute Graduate Students Association (LSI-GSA) was initiated by students and faculty in 2006. The goal of the GSA is to enhance the training experience of LSI graduate students. This is done by:

  • Providing opportunities for students to share student-generated research
  • Providing networking opportunities to promote collaborations both on and off campus
  • Facilitating outreach events between graduate students and the community
  • Representing graduate students by active involvement on the LSI Steering Committee
  • Being accessible to all students within the LSI to address concerns appropriately

The LSI-GSA executive are graduate student volunteers from multiple departments and research groups, who represent the 300 PhD and Masters students that work at the Life Sciences Institute.
Annual events include CSI@LSI, Research Day and Geek Olympiad.


Shelly’s Story…

“The LSI provided me with an incredible graduate and post-doctoral experience where I was exposed to a depth of knowledge from world-renowned researchers and a breadth of experience in the open space multidisciplinary research environment that was instrumental to my accomplishments. I also had the opportunity to visit and work with our collaborators at A*STAR (Singapore) and UCSF where I developed an interest in translational research. This led me to pursue research opportunities in the Department of Anesthesia at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the MS MRI Research Group at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health. It is through this exposure to both clinical and fundamental research where I recognized opportunities we have to truly transform our research from bench to bedside (to community). In my current role as Senior Manager, Research Programs and Services with the Faculty of Medicine (FoM) Office of Research, I manage all research-related resources for our faculty members and work on FoM strategic initiatives (i.e., creation of core platforms, precision medicine) that align with the vision to transform health for everyone.”

– Shelly Au PhD, PMP, CCRP | Senior Manager, Research Programs & Services, FoM, Office of Research, UBC