Volunteering In A Lab?

[DorkRawk]

I will be moving to Berkeley, CA in a few months and I want to take advantage of my time there before I start my Fall 2012 PhD applications. I recently finished my Masters degree but I would like to have more research experience so I was hoping that I could volunteer in a lab at UC Berkeley. Is this something that professors allow? How should I go about contacting someone? I've seen professors put messages such as this one:

"I am no longer able to reply individually to the large number of messages from non-Berkeley students who are interested in summer internships. PLEASE do not send me messages describing your qualifications etc."

on their websites, so I don't want to just email people out of the blue.

If a professor hasn't made an explicit note asking people to NOT contact them, is it OK to just email a prof about something like this?

[BKMD]

It wouldn't hurt. The worst that happens is that they don't respond. I think some professors would be interested, and some won't, so try it. Also keep in mind that professors are already busy managing their own students, so they will probably be indifferent about this idea. You might try directly emailing students in the lab and looking for collaborators. You'll have better luck if you have specific research ideas in mind rather than offering open-ended support.