About CoLabs

CoLabs is a campus-wide organization that is part of the UCSF Office of Research and seeks to drives the sharing of expertise, resources, and data for our research community.

The CoLabs Initiative was created to tackle the growing need for complex data generation and analysis that arises from multidisciplinary research. This combination of resource sharing, technical know-how, and computational expertise began with a large research project, the ImmunoProfiler Initiative, that required bringing together researchers in multiple laboratories and core facilities at UCSF and creating new paradigms for collaborations involving many clinical, laboratory, and computational scientists. A recognition of the value of this new model and its potential for transforming our approach to collaborative research projects led to the establishment of the CoLabs Initiative, with substantial support from the Bakar ImmunoX Initiative and Strategic Initiatives funding made available through the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. CoLabs paved the way for UCSF’s rapid response to COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic. CoLabs, in collaboration with UCSF colleagues and researchers around the world, was able to quickly implement studies addressing the pathogenic process and host immune response.  These results helped identify biomarkers and develop therapeutics. CoLabs has now expanded into other disease areas and increased our network of scientists. 

CoLabs Principles

• Bring together expert CoLabs teams with specialized instrumentation for processing of human samples, flow cytometry, microscopy, genomics, and data analysis into a single facility to promote multidisciplinary research.  
• Allow UCSF investigators to take maximum advantage of the new model by basing multidisciplinary CoProjects in CoLabs and physically embedding students and trainees who are leading these projects in CoLabs.
• Promote data sharing by developing standardized open protocols and supporting a robust data library.
• Inspire innovation by supporting CoLab teams developing new approaches for asking and answering fundamental biological questions.

CoLabs Goals

• Promote renewal and rejuvenation by being a highly visible model for developing bold initiatives at Parnassus Heights.
• Complement strengths at Parnassus and beyond by partnering with UCSF's vibrant clinical enterprise and exploring the biological basis of disease in transformative new ways.
• Create a highly collaborative and inclusive central research platform to enhance a sense of community among researchers by moving beyond the traditional "core" model and facilitating the communization of resources, expertise, and data.
• Recruit and retain outstanding scientists who are engaged and nimble in recognizing emerging opportunities, and who can promote the sharing of ideas and tools developed in individual labs.
• Use the CoProject model for embedded researchers and other approaches to contribute to UCSF's education and training missions.

CoLabs Teams

CoLabs currently has five teams that form the central hub of CoLabs and are physically located next to each other to foster collaboration and facilitate workflows. These teams offer both collaborative research support and traditional core services. Additional Incubator and Plug-in groups provide complementary expertise and can quickly integrate with the CoLabs Teams and collaborators. CoLabs is located at UCSF’s Parnassus Heights campus near UCSF Health inpatient and outpatient facilities and affords a centralized facility to process human and model organism samples for various applications.

Each individual team offers their own specialized knowledge, equipment, and tools for specific research needs. Many instruments for flow and mass cytometry and optical microscopy are accessible for independent use, and support for various genomic assays are available. The UCSF Data Library is curated and maintained by CoLabs for researchers to explore and utilize a variety of datasets. Furthermore, CoLabs brings in cutting-edge technologies to provide UCSF researchers with new methods and instruments.

CoLabs Teams also join together in various combinations to collaborate with scientists on research CoProjects that integrates multiple approaches. Collaborators are given lab space within CoLabs for the duration of the CoProject to promote communication, training, and resource access.

There are many opportunities for research at CoLabs. Learn more about how to connect and ways that CoLabs can help at our Technologies page.