These courses are selected from graduate offerings in molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, pharmacology, genetics, physiology and biophysics. We recommend that students select courses after discussion with their advisor. Forty-two credits are required to complete the degree program. In addition to the core courses and track requirements, additional courses should be selected after consultation between the student and his or her advisor. The Qualifying Examination for the Molecular Neuroscience Track has both a written and oral examination.
Most students complete their course and didactic requirements within the first year of study.
There are 132 Ph.D. students in the Biomedical Sciences. The average student completes the Ph.D. program in five years. The strengths of the program are the extraordinarily high quality of the laboratories in which the students may work. Within the Neurosciences there is a very strong focus on membrane biophysics, receptors, ion channels, growth factors, intracellular transduction mechanisms, intracellular and axonal transport, structural cell biology, and control at the transcriptional and translation levels. Since all student stipends and tuitions are institutionally funded, there are very few limitations upon finding an appropriate thesis laboratory.