The graduate curriculum

Graduate students in Molecular and Cellular Biology take coursework for the first three or four semesters, and a qualifying exam at the end of the second or beginning of the third year. There is no required curriculum; rather each student chooses his/her coursework in consultation with an advisory committee. Approximately nine didactic courses are taken for the Ph.D., and approximately five or six for the Masters degree. (see course list below and the schedule of MCB courses ).

 

While coursework is important, the emphasis in graduate school is on innovative research, which students begin in the first semester, Students with well-defined research interests may choose a faculty mentor immediately. However many students choose to explore several research possibilities, by undertaking "lab rotation," in which they spend part of the first semester working with two or three different prospective mentors. In either case, students are expected to have identified and begun a potential research project by the end of the second semester.

 

Graduate courses in Molecular and Cellular Biology:

BSC 507 - Research Techniques in Biology

BSC 526/527 - Human Physiology I and II

BSC 531 - Pathogenic Microbiology

BSC 535 - Immunology

BSC 536 - Immunology Lab

BSC 539 - Molecular Biology/Biochemistry Lab

BSC 541 - Developmental Biology

BSC 544 - General Virology

BSC 550/551 - Molecular Biology/Biochemistry I and II

BSC 560 - Human Developmental Biology

CH 561/562 - Biochemistry I and II

BSC 594 - Signal Transduction in Neurobiology

BSC 595 - Advanced Cell Biology

BSC 602 - Advanced Molecular Research Seminar

BSC 603 - Current Topics in Molecular Biology

BSC 607 - Advanced Research Techniques in Biology

BSC 631 - Molecular Genetics of Lower Eukaryotes

BSC 632 - Higher Eukaryotic Genetic Systems

BSC 635 - Developmental Genetics

BSC 656 - Microscopical Techniques

BSC 660 - Protein Structure and Function

BSC 695 - Special Topics (varies from semester to semester).