About

QBio-EDGE started in 2020. We are an outreach organization open to volunteers from the QCB Institute and the greater UCLA community. Our group was initiated and driven by graduate students and postdocs from UCLA laboratories. The goal of our organization is to connect with local Los Angeles schools to (1) promote racial and ethnic inclusion and diversity in academia, (2) expose teenage students to quantitative biology research and opportunities in STEM, (3) engage with people of different backgrounds that make up the racially diverse LA community, and (4) develop inclusive teaching and science communication skills.

We work with low-income, majority minority Los Angeles high schools doing the following:

  1. Workshops on computational biology topics (designed by us!)
  2. Longitudinal one-on-one mentoring
  3. College and career preparation activities

We are recruiting organizers/mentors/instructors for future activities so that our organization can continue improving DEI in future years! If you are interested in working with us (see opportunities bellow), please fill out the following form: https://forms.gle/v28zj6vwPGeVJWGWA

Current Opportunities:

  1. Organizers for QBio-EDGE: lead QBioEDGE organization, design and coordinate the activities in the 2025-2026 school year and beyond
  2. Mentors for college application essay workshop (deadline: 10/15/2024): Virtual/in person, help high school juniors with college application essays
  3. Instructors for cancer modeling workshop (deadline: 02/30/2025): In person, teach high school students how to use a mathematical ODE model to simulate the spread of cancer in different conditions (training provided)
  4. Instructors for GWAS workshop (deadline: 02/30/2025): In person, teach high school students about the concept of GWAS using a smaller-scale example of finding a SNP associated with a disease (training provided)
  5. Mentors for longitudinal mentorship program (deadline: 12/31/2024): Virtual, monthly meetings with high school students to discuss school and other concerns, culminating in UCLA lab visit at the end of the school year
  6. Panelists for college and career panel (deadline: 02/30/2025): Virtual/in person, answer questions about college, graduate school, and science career pathways
  7. Presenters for lab tour for high school students (deadline: 04/30/2025): give a scientific presentation about your lab research/experiments, etc.
Coming Events

College and Career Panel: 

To be decided 2025 at Synergy Quantum Academy High School
A group of trainees from UCLA present information about college, educational paths, and career options, particularly in science. Trainees also serve as a group panel, fielding questions from students.

GWAS Workshop: 

March/April 2025 at Cathedral High School
Explain basic concepts and calculations of GWAS and how to use computational tools to find correlations between diseases, phenotypes, and genetic mutation sites. Aim to lead students to explore related social issues and ethics. Aiming to improve the awareness of the flaws inherent to GWAS and the influence of GWAS in the context of EDI.

Mentoring one-on-one 

January to May 2025 at Synergy Quantum Academy High School & Cathedral High School

We have established a mentoring system with classes at the high school. Each student is paired with a mentor from QBio-EDGE for monthly meetings throughout the school year to discuss college, science, research, and any other questions the students have.

Previous Events

QBio-EDGE Events (Public).xlsx

Galleries

Contact Information:

xiaoluguo@g.ucla.edu

Additional Resources

Classroom module in virology and immunology: Students learn and present about viruses and viral life cycles and are given a case study to identify a viral infection through immunological assays. (Resources)

Commentary article on scientist trainee-run community outreach: Commentary paper discussing starting an outreach organization as a trainee (Paper)