Intensive specialized laboratory education constitutes the foundation of the Ph.D. degree program. The goal is to develop a professionally trained scientist, prepared for a career in academic, medical or industrial research.

After successfully completing the core curriculum, comprehensive examination and research proposal, students will concentrate the majority of their time on their individual dissertation laboratory research project under the guidance and tutelage of their faculty advisor/research director, and continue to participate in journal clubs, as well as attend seminars.

Laboratory Education Requirements

B507 - Research Laboratory Rotation
Description: Each first-year graduate student is required to have a minimum of three lab rotations (fall, winter, spring). Rotations are graded Pass/Fail. The purposes of the rotations are to (1) help students find the research area and lab in which they want to conduct their thesis research, (2) learn experimental techniques, and (3) expose students to a broad range of intellectual and technical approaches to address current research challenges. Each lab rotation lasts for 10 to 12 weeks. Students are expected to spend a minimum of 20 to 25 hours per week in the lab, and student must submit a written report at the end of each rotation.
Units: 10
 
B599 – Dissertation Research
Description: Upon completion of the first year of graduate school, students are expected to conduct full-time, individual dissertation research under their chosen faculty mentor.
Units: 10

Every student after the first year is required to participate in a journal club, where members take turns presenting a current research article to the group. Participants must attend all seminars and make at least one presentation. General format involves one hour for a seminar and one hour for discussion.  It is a required course, graded satisfactory (S) or no credit (NC).

Available Journal Clubs (All 2 Units)
                                                          
RNA Journal Club
Coordinators: R-J Lin, Ph.D., and John Rossi, Ph.D.

Diabetes Journal Club
Coordinator: Chih-Pin Liu, Ph.D.

DNA Repair and Recombination Journal Club
Coordinator: Adam Bailis, Ph.D.

Epigenetics Journal Club
Coordinator: Judy Singer-Sam, Ph.D.

Journal Club of Current Science
Coordinator: Michael Barish, Ph.D.

Animal Medicine
Coordinator: Rick Ermel, D.V.M., Ph.D.
 
Immunology
Coordinator: Zuoming Sun, Ph.D.

Neuroscience
Coordinator: Yanhong Shi, Ph.D.

Protein Post-Translation Modification
Coordinator: Yuan Chen, Ph.D.

Stem Cell Biology
Coordinator: Theresa Ku, Ph.D.

Tumor Immunology
Coordinator: Julie Ostberg, Ph.D.