Student Profile: Saket Budhia
Meet Saket!
A senior double majoring in bioengineering and electrical engineering & computer science, Saket Budhia embraces the variety of bioengineering at Berkeley.
Born and raised in the Bay Area, his teenage hobby of keeping aquariums sparked a fascination with the diversity and complexity of biology. When deciding on a major he looked for a field that could combine his interest in biology with his aptitude for engineering and math, and was drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of bioengineering. Coming to Berkeley was a “no brainer,” he said, between its excellence in his chosen fields and culture of innovation.
“Even though I was just learning about the university, I understood that innovation and entrepreneurship are at the heart of what Berkeley does.”
He’s embraced the diversity of opportunities here from the beginning, devoting time to research in computational and experimental biology, a startup internship, tutoring, and finding community through the Bioengineering Honor Society and acapella singing groups on campus.
Most recently he co-founded the new Computational Biology @ Berkeley student group. With students interested in computational biology spread across multiple majors and colleges on campus, he and co-founder Anthea Guo were inspired to form a central community for students to share insights about the field and prepare for their careers. The club has attracted over 100 members in its first semester.
“I thought we should start small,” he said, “but Anthea felt we should aim higher. That is definitely a lesson I’m going to take with me, to dream big even when it seems difficult to achieve.”
Saket knew that doing independent research would be key to adding depth to his understanding of the field. In an upper-division programming course he learned about the really cool applications of AI to proteins and biology, and asked his GSI to point him to faculty doing work in that area. He now works in Jennifer Listgarten’s lab, researching generative AI algorithms to design proteins and other biomolecules.
“Designing biomolecules with AI has the potential to revolutionize many different fields. Proteins can be used to detect and treat diseases, design sustainable biomaterials, engineer more resilient crops and much more. AI models can help bridge the gap between knowing what we want a molecule to do and figuring out exactly what that molecule should look like.”
His long-term goal is to start a company using AI-driven protein design for sustainability purposes. “Once we figure out how to integrate AI and lab techniques to design biomolecules, we can tackle all sorts of problems like plastic degradation and sustainable food production. That has the potential for a lot of impact.”
The best thing about bioengineering?
“The freedom to explore. You can come in just loving biology and math and get to try out a lot of different fields, from genetic engineering to medical imaging. It’s so exciting to think that I am at the forefront of science and that the work I am doing has the potential to make a real difference.”
Saket is set to graduate in Spring 2026 and plans to pursue a PhD in computational biology.