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Within the MCB Program there are five degree-granting departments or programs:
Students in these five departments/center complete:
Upon satisfactory completion of the qualifying exam, a student will be advanced to Ph.D. candidacy. Students may be advanced to the Ph.D. candidacy before completion of the three advanced courses.
During the first year in the program, MCB students are required to perform three research rotations in the labs of three different faculty members. Each rotation lasts approximately three months, covering the periods: September-November, December-February, and March-May. The choice of labs for rotation is based primarily on the interests of the students. After the rotations are completed, students will select a thesis lab from among their three research rotation labs.
Students are required to participate in a Journal Club during each year of their graduate education. Journal Clubs are informal seminars which allow students the opportunity to read, analyze, present and discuss papers from the primary literature. Each student has the choice of which Journal Club to attend. There are several existing Journal Clubs which meet during Fall, Winter and Spring terms:
Advances in Biotechnology ENGG 260
Advances in Integrative Neuroscience IND 600
Bioinorganic Chemistry CHEM 263
Biological Rhythms GENE 260
Biomass Energy Systems (Winter '23) ENGG 261
Cancer Biology GENE 261
Cancer Mechanisms and Therapeutics CANB 261
Cell Biology BIOL 263
Cell Biology: Cytoskeleton and Metabolism BIOC 259
Cell Signaling in Development BIOL 275
Cellular Neurobiology BIOL 274
Communicating Science (one-time, one-term journal club) UNSG 300
Epigenetic Aging Clocks and their Roles in Disease and Age-Reversal Studies QBS 193
Genes and Gene Products BIOL 268
Immunology MICR 264
Lipid Biology and Neurodegeneration BIOC 262
Microbial Ecology/Environmental Microbiology BIOL 265
Molecular Pathogenesis and Host-Microbe Interactions MICR 265
Neurobiology BIOL 274
Phosphorylation Signaling BIOC 261
Plant Molecular Biology BIOL 269
Structural Biology BIOC 260
Topics in Applied Computer Science COSC 189/200
All graduate students in the MCB program are required to gain experience in teaching. To fulfill this requirement, students serve as teaching assistants for one term, usually in the second year of graduate study. The teaching experience is considered an important part of graduate education and includes instruction from faculty on how to organize and present a lecture. Teaching normally involves supervising laboratory and discussion sections as well as grading lab reports and exams.
In the second year, students establish a thesis advisory committee. Research progress is monitored by meetings with this committee at least once a year. When the student, thesis advisor, and thesis advisory committee agree that the thesis is near completion, the student begins compiling and writing the thesis. For many students at this stage, thesis research has already resulted in publication in peer reviewed journals. After submission of the thesis and a public presentation, the student defends the thesis before an examination committee. On average, students complete their doctoral training in about six years.
All MCB students and faculty will abide by the official Official MCB Rules and Regulations