UCLA PI Name: Brittany Wolff
Division/Department: Department of Psychiatry
Lab website: https://www.semel.ucla.edu/initiatives/seedlab/
Expected Weekly Time Commitment: 10 hours

Job Description:

The SEED Laboratory (Signatures of Early Emergence and Divergence) investigates why some individuals with shared familial liability for psychosis and bipolar spectrum disorders develop serious mental illness while others remain resilient. Our research seeks to identify the earliest developmental markers of risk and resilience by integrating neuropsychology, digital health, artificial intelligence, electronic health records, natural language processing, and multimodal clinical data. Through collaborations with large national and international research studies, the laboratory develops innovative approaches to improve early identification, precision risk stratification, and personalized intervention for serious mental illness. Students will have the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research at the intersection of clinical psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry, and data science.

Undergraduate research assistants will become active members of the SEED Laboratory and receive training in clinical research methods, responsible conduct of research, and scientific communication. Responsibilities may include literature reviews, data management and quality assurance, participant recruitment and scheduling, preparation of study materials, coding and organization of behavioral and clinical data, assistance with systematic reviews and scientific manuscripts, and participation in weekly laboratory meetings and journal discussions. Depending on their interests, experience, and project needs, students may also gain exposure to neuropsychological assessment, digital mental health technologies, machine learning, natural language processing, and electronic health record research. Motivated students will have opportunities to contribute to conference presentations and scientific publications while developing research skills relevant to graduate study and careers in psychology, neuroscience, medicine, psychiatry, and related fields.

Application Instructions:

Please email your CV and a one-page cover letter explaining your interest in our research to laboratory PI, Brittany Wolff, Ph.D. at bwolff@mednet.ucla.edu.