Admission to the Program
The Department no longer maintains its own PhD Program. Those students entering laboratories of faculty in the Department are admitted through one of 11 different PhD Programs that constitute the new Graduate Programs in the Biosciences (GPB). The majority of Departmental faculty are members of one or more home areas within the Molecular Biology Institute Interdepartmental Graduate Program (MBIDP). These home areas include Gene Regulation; Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology; Cell and Developmental Biology; and Immunity, Microbes and Molecular Pathogenesis. Some Faculty are members of Human Genetics and the Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program. Students interested in Departmental of Biological labs can apply to these home areas through the GPB website. Students who join through those programs will train in courses and programs associated with their specific home area. MSTP students entering through the David Geffen School of Medicine must join a GPB home area and will be subject to requirements of that Program as modified by agreements between the MSTP program and the home area.
Additional Requirements
Student who join Biological Chemistry labs are still required to participate in the department’s regular training activities including,
- Required attendance at Department retreat, years 2-4. Required presentation (poster/talk) at retreat in years 3 and 4.
- Required attendance and presentation in the weekly Biological Chemistry Intramural Seminars.
- Students should also participate in the preparation and discussion sessions for the Biological Chemistry Distinguished Lecture Series.
- Teaching Experience – For all GPB home areas that BC faculty participate in, students are required to act as teaching assistants for a total of two quarters in their 2nd-4th years. Students accepted through GPB must teach at least once in a science department of the College of Letters and Science. The area chosen for the second teaching obligation depends on student interest but BC students are advised to TA once in the Medical School lab course run by Professor Eryn Ujita Lee. This gives graduate students exposure to clinical lab techniques and opportunities for interactions with medical students. The lab course meets for approximately 50-60 hours total over two quarters.
