REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Courses:   Ideally, incoming students will have completed courses in general biology, cell and molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, general chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and calculus.   Deficiencies in any of these areas would normally be made up in the first year. A core curriculum of graduate courses in the following areas is given on a two-year cycle: nucleic acid structure, biosynthesis and its regulation, regulation of gene expression regulation of chromosome dynamics, structural mechanisms and energetics of protein-nucleic-acid interactions, protein structure and folding, protein trafficking in cells, physical techniques, molecular genetics, the cell cycle, biological spectroscopy, bioinformatics and functional genomics, and molecular, biochemical, and cellular bases of cancer and other human diseases. Additional graduate course electives are also available. Within this general framework, individual programs of study tailored to fit the student’s background and interests are designed in consultation with the graduate committee and the student’s advisor.

 Qualifying examinations:  The criteria for admission to candidacy for the PhD will be performance in courses, aptitude for research, a written qualifying examination at the end of the third semester, and the oral defense of an original research proposal by the middle of the fourth semester.

Teaching:  Normally, three to four semesters of teaching are required.