The Ph.D. Program in Cell and Molecular Biology is designed to train research scientists for careers in biomedical research, the biotechnology industry and academic medicine. It represents a consortium of cellular, molecular, and developmental biologists drawn from the faculties of the departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Pharmacology, Physiology, and Radiology. Students are urged to develop creative ability rather than simply to acquire and transmit knowledge. Training includes course work, actual experience in designing and carrying out experimentation, teaching, giving research seminars, and writing grant proposals and journal manuscripts under the sponsorship of a thesis advisor.
Qualifying exams test the capacity to perform original research.
Areas of research include studies on regulation of eukaryotic transcription, cell differentiation, and development, Aids, enzyme structure and function, membrane structure and transport, signal transduction, intercellular communication and electrical coupling, extracellular matrix, cytoskeletal protein structure and function, molecular neurobiology, oncogenesis, virology, hormone action, tumorigenesis, and immunology. Research Facilities Graduate student research is carried out in Investigator's laboratories and in shared core facilities equipped for research in modern techniques of cellular and molecular biology. The departments each have reading rooms containing the latest issues of journals pertaining to cellular and molecular biology. In addition, the Health Sciences Library houses an extensive collection. Financial Support and Benefits Admission Requirements and Procedures Candidates are expected to have a general background in biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics and demonstrate potential for excellence in research.