I have never left a review for a class before. I’m an "A student" and have not had a problem with a class at UCLA before. BUT, after seeing it listed in the classes for W’22, I feel obligated to give an in-person perspective given how different it feels from the online sentiments here, so that people know what they are really signing up for. The professor is amazing as the other reviewers say. She really cares about us learning the material and how research is conducted. She works very hard (even through the night sometimes) to get us all feedback on assignments. I feel that I have learned a lot about research that is truly valuable in the real world beyond any other class so far here at UCLA. Another pro to the class is that she doesn’t care that much about grades. I predict most of the class will get an A, just like other quarters.

However, this is by NO MEANS AN EASY A. It seems simple enough: weekly quizzes and M,T,W,R homework assignments are all completion-based and due the next Monday. Completing them sincerely will take a few hours out of your week. Content is hyper-focused, but it is taught well. Seems easy right? The catch is that this ALL CHANGES WITH THE MIDTERM PREP starting WEEK 4. This goes from a 6 unit class to about a 10 unit class in a matter of 2 weeks. You have to write a grant proposal which is very technical, completely cited, includes two scientific figures from scratch, and is upwards of 3000 words in a WEEK. You cannot work ahead on this assignment, you only get a week. Then, the professor will give you upwards of +100 in-depth, technical comments on that paper to incorporate into the next draft in another week. And she then encourages you to turn that draft in BEFORE the week is up so that you can receive another 70-80 comments on the draft and incorporate all of that information in whatever time you have left. To be fair, the professor did give a lot of extensions to students who were struggling to keep up with this massive homework assignment in Week 4, but they were a day or two beyond the week deadline. For reference, I dumped about 50 hours of my life into writing this assignment over those two weeks.

Then at the beginning of Week 6, you go from theoretical readings and a little bit of lab practice in the scheduled two 3-hour times to a commitment paralleling joining an actual research lab here (+10 ADDITIONAL lab hours a week) ON TOP of regular course work for the class. You need to be in the lab to dissect, stage, and image 15 lymph glands using a process that some graduate students struggle with. This is the only thing I have encountered at UCLA which is truly SKILL-based. If you suck at dissecting things smaller than your forceps in timed, 20 minute windows, you just need to put in more time and set up more crosses. Lots of the "best" (most technically and mechanically adept) students have struggled to even get 7-8 lymph glands after about 10-12 additional hours of work a week because you can loose them at every stage in the process and are very fragile. The online students were just given images, but we have had to create all of our data ourselves. It pushed this class from borderline manageable to near impossible if you had a full schedule where you expected this class to only be 6 units large (15-18 hours a week total). I have had to put everything else on hold just to make this class go smoothly. It was the first time at UCLA that I truly loved a class, but this level of progressively ramping-up the commitment to the class every week to the point where it has reframed my every waking moment for the rest of the quarter has sincerely killed my passion for this class. After 7 weeks, I’m now physically managing to survive knowing that it only has 3 more weeks to get worse. I don’t even have the time to feel good about writing this review because it’s eating into my time to do this class’s final presentation draft, final paper draft, and go into the lab to get lymph glands. I hope someone reading this is not immediately deterred from taking this class, but that you at least plan to take EASY classes to work around this behemoth of a class.

This is the best class I have ever taken! You really get to feel like a full-fledged researcher, even if you're doing everything online (as I did). Dr. Spratford expects great things of her students, and she shows it through her intensely detailed lectures. But you are never punished for not understanding something, and she's always eager to explain the concept again until you understand. And no need to worry about your grade--Dr. Spratford definitely cares more about you learning than on grading harshly. Most everything is participation, but the lectures are so interesting that you'll want to pay attention anyways.

All in all, this is a class to take if you want to learn, and get a taste of what it feels like to work in research. The topics are not something you can find in a textbook, simply because they're such new sciences. Also, be prepared for mega impostor syndrome--everyone in this class seems like a genius pre-med gunner, but I promise that everyone's feeling just as out of their league as you are!

If you're reading this, Dr. Spratford, thanks for a fantastic quarter. Looking forward to meeting you in person!

Dr. Spratford is the best professor in UCLA. period.

I loved this class! I took it as a first year transfer and my counselors warned me that it would be a heavy load for my first quarter and I had read the reviews online before I signed up for the class so I was definitely anxious going in. I'm so glad I didn't let that deter me from taking the class because it was a class that has shaped my future interests and career goals. There isn't another class like this at UCLA and if you have the opportunity to take this class and are on the fence about research you should definitely take it.

Yes, after week 4 the workload in this class significantly increases and you will have to come to the lab outside of class time. However, it helps you paint a realistic picture of whether or not you are genuinely interested in research. Also Dr. Spratford's passion for what she is teaching is infectious so even if the material is far from your research interests it's still an enjoyable experience. Dr. Spratford is such a kind and caring professor and genuinely cares about her students. The learning environment in this class is super supportive and you get to know you classmates from spending so much time together. It's also important to note that Dr. Spratford has made changes to the class to make the workload more doable so don't get too intimidated by the other reviews.

If you do end up taking this class, I highly recommend getting a head start with the lab techniques so start coming outside of class as early in the quarter as possible. This will cut down the amount of time you have to spend in the lab later in the quarter and gives you more time to work on the other assignments. Plus it helps you work out all the kinks before you start working on your own flies and collecting data.

This is a hard class - and they warn you about this before you sign up. It's six units, but to really get all you can out of the class, you will need to put in more hours than that. But in the end, this is the best class I have ever taken and it is so worthwhile. Professor Spratford is the most dedicated professor I have ever met and both she and our TA Kui gave so much of their time and effort to give us countless opportunities for feedback or growth. If you are looking for an easy or course load of any sort, I would not recommend taking this class. But if you are truly interested in the subject material and are willing to put in the effort and time, this class can change your life. I came into this class with zero experience and moderate interest in research and left with a strong foundation and intense interest.

Dr. Spratford is the best professor at UCLA. I went to her office hours every week and she was always happy to help (even if I asked the same question 5 times). The material is a bit difficult and there was a lot of work that went with this class. That being said, I did take it during COVID so it is highly likely that the in-person version would be more lab time and less paper work. Overall, Dr. Spratford is a wonderful person to know, and I recommend taking this class if you have a real interest in learning about biomedical research.

To echo the other reviews, yeah this class will have you pretty busy. Completing the big projects (grant proposal, manuscript, PowerPoint presentation, and producing data) is extremely time consuming and I found myself worrying about completing the assignments for this class the most. Including lectures and lab times (which on its own is 10 hours per week) I found myself spending at most an additional 10-12 hours per week outside of class to complete all assignments and collecting data (which involves some time-consuming dissections). The weeks around the midterm (grant proposal) and final (manuscript and presentation) is when the time commitment is the greatest.

That being said, the teaching team and Dr. Spratford are the most supportive instructors I've had as a student. They consistently worked late into the night providing helpful feedback on drafts. Dr. Spratford created an infectiously friendly and supportive class environment. She's enthusiastic about supporting her students (ie writing letters of rec, being a reference for job applications) and lectured on skills like resume building, grad school, med school, and becoming proficient in PowerPoint.

Can't recommend this class enough if you're looking to get involved in biomedical research (regardless of major and prior experience!) and your down for the time commitment required.

Amazing class. It's a big time commitment, but Dr. Spratford is an amazing scientist, professor, and person.

Make sure you'll be able to devote time outside of the scheduled class times to come into the lab to collect data and practice, but ultimately (with good planning) the class was manageable.

Week 5 and Weeks 9 - 10 were the most hellish because that's when the midterm and final proposals are due, so plan to be pretty busy during those weeks.

Highly recommend if you are at all interested in biomedical research.

BR10H is the best class I have ever taken and I truly cannot recommend it enough. I went into this class kind of intimidated because I didn't have any prior research experience, but I came out feeling amazed at how much I had learned and how many skills I'd acquired in such a short time. Dr. Spratford is the most supportive, helpful instructor ever and will go above and beyond to make sure you understand the material if you go to her outside of class. You'll also find a great community with your classmates due to the smaller class size and it was just a really great experience between everyone: my classmates, the LAs, TA, and the professor. The midterm and final projects are extremely hard and time-consuming, so do not procrastinate unless you want to not sleep! Go to lab as often as you can, as early as you can, and you will end up learning skills like fine tissue dissection at a much quicker pace and this will help you immensely with your data collection. Even though this class was a lot of work and definitely caused me to lose some sleep, I enjoyed it so much and would take it again if I had the opportunity. (Dr. Spratford you're the GOAT!)

Dr. Spratford has to be one of the best professors at UCLA! This class definitely is not like your usual science class, as you actually get to participate in some pretty cool research and do lab techniques that I can't imagine you would do in any other context. The lectures are very well done, and Dr. Spratford helps keep you engaged, even when lectures can be quite long.

When I took this class, I was going through a lot of personal issues and things happening unexpectedly, and Dr. Spratford was really amazing and understanding, helping with deadlines and extensions, and offering her empathy and own personal stories of struggle. She really acts as more of a friend to her students and a mutual colleague, rather than an academic superior.

TL;DR: Great class, even greater professor!