Our curriculum helps students develop critical reading of scientific literature, experimental design and data interpretation, oral and written communication, and proposal writing. Students obtain additional knowledge in specific areas of research from elective courses and journal clubs.
Core courses:
- Graduate Research Fundamentals – Bio5098 (0.5 credits, fall year 1) – DBBS required course
- Experimental Design and Analysis in Biological Research – Bio5703 (2 credits, fall year 1)
- Nucleic Acids and Protein Biosynthesis – Bio548 or Fundamentals of Molecular Cell Biology – Bio5068 (3 credits, fall year 1)
- Current Approaches in Plant & Microbial Research – Bio5702 (4 credits, spring year 1)
- Seminar in Plant and Microbial Biology – Bio5723 (2 credits, fall year 2)
- One Additional Journal Club – Students in their third year should take one journal club from another DBBS program related to thesis project area.
- Ethics and Research Science – Bio5011 (1 credit, spring year 2) – DBBS required course
- Advanced Electives – 6 credits of 400/500-level courses
Year One:
Integrated Communication Component
Concise communication is critical for success as a scientist. Bio5703 and Bio5702 center on integrated oral and written components. In addition, first year students are encouraged to participate in the Graduate Fellowship Writing Workshop.
- During the fall semester (Bio5703) students will:
- Write and revise 6 sets of specific aims on different topics
- Select one set of specific aims for a 30-minute presentation.
- During the spring semester (Bio5702)
- Students turn the project they selected for the oral presentation in Bio5703 into a full-length NIH NRSA style proposal
- Submit final proposals for evaluation in faculty led by student run study sections modeled on the NIH. Each proposal will be evaluated by 2 students serving as Reviewers 1 and 2 and by the faculty leader serving as Reviewer 3
- DBBS Fellowship Writing Workshops. To obtain further practice writing, students who have not received outside funding prior to graduate school are encouraged to participate in DBBS predoctoral fellowship workshops during the fall of year 1 or 2.
Year Two:
Bio5723 Seminar in Plant and Microbial Biosciences:
- 2 credit course – counts towards PMB’s journal club requirement
- Students divide up assigned papers and present them such that each student gets a fair share of the burden. Each presenting student provides a 1-page primer for the class prior to their presentation. Primers are essentially short reviews of the field that hit summarize highlights from the assigned paper.
Elective courses
In addition to the core requirements, students must take at least 6 credits of advanced electives that deeper study in areas of interest. Students are strongly recommended to complete their elective requirement by the end of year 2. Examples are:
- How Plants Work: Plant Physiology, Growth and Metabolism (Fall, odd years) – Bio4023; 3 credits
- Advanced Genetics (Spring); Bio5491; 3 credits
- Fundamentals of Molecular Cell Biology (Fall) – Bio5068; 4 credits
- Developmental Biology (Spring); Bio5352; 3 credits
- Molecular Microbiology & Pathogenesis (Fall); Bio5392; 3 credits
- Protein Analysis, Proteomics and Protein Structure Laboratory (Spring); Bio4522; 3 credits
- Introduction to Coding and Statistical Thinking for Genetics and Genomics (Fall) – Bio5075; 2 credits
- Genomics (Spring) Bio5488; 3 or 4 credits
- Mass Spectrometry (Spring); Chem550; 3 credits
- Biotech Industry Innovators (Fall); Bio5014; 3 credits
- Communicating Science: Writing for Multiple Audiences (Spring); Bio5866; 1 credit
- Career Planning for Biological Scientists (Spring); Bio5867; 1 credit
Important notes concerning course requirements:
1. Students must earn a grade of B- or better in core courses. Students earning grades lower than B- will need to take the course again.
2. Students must earn a grade of C or better in advanced elective courses.