A limit of seven years is imposed for completion of all requirements for the Ph.D., including 90 credit hours distributed among formal courses, seminars, and research. Programs leading to the master's degree in biology, requiring about three semesters for completion, are intended to prepare the recipient for secondary school and undergraduate college teaching or for certain research positions. Research Facilities Modern biological research requires a variety of experimental tools, and the facilities available within both the biology department and the University are excellent. Equipment used for contemporary biological research is available, including ultracentrifuges, electrophoresis equipment, PCR machines, oligonucleotide synthesizers, an automatic DNA sequencer, a peptide synthesizer, a peptide sequencer, high-pressure liquid chromatography apparatuses, micromanipulators, scintillation counters, a confocal microscope, electron microscopes, phosphorimagers, graphics workstations, and computerized systems for microscopic image analysis. Several mainframe computers can be accessed by students from terminals within the department, and most personal computers have access to the Internet.
Shops are available for specialized electronics and instrumentation construction.
In the adjacent Medical Center, a vivarium houses a variety of research animals and an inbred-mouse colony. The Cell Sorting Facility includes two computer-interfaced cell sorters and a Zeiss Axiomat. Library facilities at the University of Rochester are excellent. The biology research collection includes subscriptions to more than 330 journals. Financial Aid Funds are guaranteed for five years to support graduate students in the Ph.D. program as teaching and research assistants, assuming satisfactory progress toward the degree.