A
Message from Vickery Trinkaus-Randall, Ph.D.
Director
of the Cell and Molecular Biology Program
Greetings
from the Cell and Molecular Biology Program at Boston University School
of Medicine!
Cell and
Molecular Biology is an exciting field with opportunities in academia,
biotechnology and law. The Program in Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB)
is an interdisciplinary program that allows you to take advantage of
opportunities offered by several academic departments. Our program is
designed so that entering students take a number of core courses during
which they are exposed to faculty that participate in the program and
have appointments in the following departments: Biochemistry, Physiology
& Structural Biology, Microbiology, Medicine, Pathology, and the
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology in the Goldman School of Dental
Medicine. In this first year, you will also rotate through 3-4 laboratories
that are doing research that interests you. It is important that you
spend some time investigating the faculties' research interests. This
will help to make sure that your lab rotations will result in placing
you in a lab you want. Most of the faculty can be found on the web as
a start. Once the candidates have been identified, look up their literature
and ask around. It is also a great idea to schedule a brief interview
and visit the labs of interest. If you become a student at our school,
because we are part of a medical institution most of the faculty are
interested in the underlying mechanisms of disease and in the development
of new treatment methodologies. Since we have cell biologists, molecular
biologists, etc. in every department, your search should not be limited
to certain departments.
At the
end of the first year, students choose a faculty member with whom they
wish to pursue their dissertation research. You will then become a member
of that faculty's department within the Program of Cell and Molecular
Biology. In the second year, you will begin your dissertation research
while completing advanced level graduate courses required by your major
advisor's department. This is designed to give you the optimal background
in a chosen subspecialty. Many faculty members in the program actively
collaborate with each other and these interactions enrich the program
for the students. Seminars designed specifically for students in the
CMB Program occur throughout the year in addition to a number of departmental
seminars. These are designed to provide students with the opportunity
to participate in discussions on the most recent advances.
Sincerely,
| |
| Vickery
Trinkaus-Randall, Program Director |
