Special Requirements for Admission Students wishing to join the Genetics and Development Graduate Program must be enrolled in the Division of Cell and Molecular Biology and be in good standing academically. Usually students seek enrollment in the program toward the end of the first year of study, following completion of the set of research rotations and selection of a mentor. The program in Genetics and Development extends the formal classroom and short-term laboratory research experiences of the first year of study by offering advanced courses, seminars and intensive research experiences. Each student must take three of the four courses that make up the second-year program covering fundamental topics in genetics and development. All students are required to complete the program core before the end of the second year of study, and it is anticipated that most will complete the elective requirement by then as well.
Students also participate in the program seminar series each year.
At the end of the second year of study, each student takes a qualifying exam by preparing an original research proposal and by defending it before a panel of program faculty. Course Descriptions 5102 Gene Regulation Gene Regulation expands the fundamental concepts studied in the first-year Core Course, emphasizing experimental strategies, reading of the primary literature, critical evaluation of data and student discussion. Topics change to keep current with advances in the field. Topics that may be covered include the nucleoprotein complex of the core transcriptional promoter, regulation of the core promoter by upstream elements, transcription factors, transcriptional modulation, cell-specific transcription and the transcriptional regulation of development. Classwork includes in-depth discussion of research papers that demonstrate modern genetic analyses of various topics in yeast, C. elegans and Drosophila.