The selection of rotation laboratories is assisted by an MCB faculty member who serves as Rotation Advisor. Stony Brook is the recommended site for the first rotation, but subsequent rotations can be performed at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory or Brookhaven National Laboratory. Following your first academic year, you will select an MCB Program faculty as your Ph.D. research mentor and initiate a research project for your Ph.D. thesis. Diverse biological systems of study are offered from Agrobacterium, C. elegans, Drosophilia, humans, mice, plants,viruses, Xenopus, yeast, to Zebrafish. The MCB Program offers a unique opportunity for the student to then choose between three areas of specialization.
Performance is guided by the faculty instructor for the course.
In the third and subsequent years in the MCB Program graduate students present their research progress to other students and faculty. The Graduate Student Seminars are an opportunity for you to gain communication skills and to learn about ongoing research of other students and research laboratories. Faculty from outside the institution are invited for weekly seminars and symposia. These are opportunities to meet visiting scientists who are leaders in their fields and to learn of their latest findings. In January of the second year MCB students are given a comprehensive qualifying exam.