Dr. Spratford is such an amazing professor! She cares so much about her students and is incredibly passionate and kind. BR10H is a really difficult class with a ton of work, but it is such a rewarding experience. I grew so much this quarter, both as a student and as a scientist. I highly recommend taking this class if you have an interest in scientific research!

I don't usually leave reviews for professors at UCLA, but I really felt the need to write something for Dr. Spratford and BR10H (a quarter late... writing this in Dec 2025). This class really challenged me beyond what I imagined. While there were plenty of moments when I would crash and lose my mind, and the workload was A LOT, I genuinely think this class was one of my favorites I've ever taken at UCLA and it is 1000% worth it. At the beginning of the quarter, I went through a constant cycle of "I don't know anything" and "Why am I so stupid". Research in general can be particularly humbling, and the learning curve is insane. To anyone who is reading this prior to taking this course, or during the early weeks, know that as much as this course is challenging, things really do start to click by week 4. And by week 4 and beyond, you get to enjoy piecing together the bigger story.
If you are considering taking this course, Dr Spratford is the sweetest, most dedicated, and supportive professor I know. I constantly felt encouraged through the process and I am so grateful to have a professor genuinely care and pour into me and my growth as a researcher. Really cherish everything that you learn through this class. Soak it all in. But also, be realistic with yourself. It is a ton of work. You will be spending so much time and energy on the assignments, especially the midterm and the final. Do not procrastinate! Ask tons of questions! and PLEASE DO NOT be taking more than 19 units this quarter (I'm literally begging).

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!)

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.

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.