Introduction
Students apply to the master’s degree program through the same portal as for the Ph.D. degree program. While the M.S. is research intensive, master’s students do not do research rotations; they must identify a research advisor prior to the training period. Students are required to participate in laboratory research meetings and departmental seminar series every quarter.
Requirements
Course Requirements
Complete the graduate core course:
| BIOL 200A | Critical Analysis of Scientific Literature | 5 |
And the following courses:
Enroll in the following seminar series each quarter:
| BIOL 291 | Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Seminar | 2 |
| BIOL 292 | MCD Seminar | 0 |
Complete two approved advanced electives (list below). The two electives may be completed in either the first or second year.
Approved Graduate Electives
(M.S. students must complete two electives)
Note: Lecture/lab combinations count as one course. For BME 163 and BME 263, only one of these courses will be counted toward fulfillment of the electives.
| BIOL 200E | Experimental Design | 3 |
| BIOL 200F | Logic and Approaches to Scientific Discovery | 5 |
| BIOL 201 | RNA Processing | 5 |
| BIOL 203 | Ribosomes and Translation | 5 |
| BIOL 204 | Chromatin | 5 |
| BIOL 205 | Epigenetics | 5 |
| BIOL 206 | Introduction to Stem Cell Biology | 5 |
| BIOL 206L | Current Protocols in Stem Cell Biology | 5 |
| BIOL 215 | Applied Statistics for Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | 5 |
| BIOL 208 | Cellular Signaling Mechanisms | 5 |
| BIOL 214 | Advances in Cancer Biology | 5 |
| BIOL 217 | Influence of Environment and Experience on Brain Development | 5 |
| BIOL 218 | CRISPR/Cas Technologies | 5 |
| BIOL 226 | Advanced Molecular Neuroscience | 5 |
| BIOL 228 | Developmental Neurobiology | 5 |
| BIOL 290 | Career Planning | 2 |
| BME 110 | Computational Biology Tools | 5 |
| BME 130 | Genomes | 5 |
| BME 163 | Applied Visualization and Analysis of Scientific Data | 3 |
| BME 160 | Research Programming in the Life Sciences | 6 |
| BME 263 | Applied Visualization and Analysis of Scientific Data | 5 |
| BME 205 | Bioinformatics Models and Algorithms | 5 |
| BME 229 | Protein and Cell Engineering | 5 |
| BME 237 | Applied RNA Bioinformatics | 5 |
| CHEM 200A | Advanced Biochemistry: Biophysical Methods | 5 |
| CHEM 200B | Advanced Biochemistry: Macromolecular Structure and Function | 5 |
| CHEM 200C | Advanced Biochemistry: Enzyme Mechanisms and Kinetics | 5 |
| CHEM 230 | Grant Writing in Biomedical Research | 5 |
| ECE 236 | Optics and Microscopy | 5 |
| ECE 237 | Image Processing and Reconstruction | 5 |
| METX 202 | Cell and Molecular Toxicology | 5 |
| METX 206A | Advanced Microbiology | 5 |
| METX 210 | Molecular and Cellular Basis of Bacterial Pathogenesis | 5 |
| METX 238 | Pathogenesis: Molecular Mechanisms of Disease | 5 |
| | PDP, Training in teaching offered by the Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators (ISEE) | |
| STAT 108 | Linear Regression | 5 |
| STAT 202 | Linear Models in SAS | 5 |
| STAT 205B | Intermediate Classical Inference | 5 |
| STAT 266A
/CSE 266A
| Data Visualization and Statistical Programming in R | 3 |
Students who have had no or very little education in statistics should audit or take STAT 7 (5 credits) and perhaps also STAT 7L (2 credits) to learn basic statistical methodologies, before taking one of the graduate level courses.
Students who take BIOL 290, Career Planning, take CHEM 230, Grant Writing, and/or participate in the Professional Development Program (PDP) may count only one of those as an advanced graduate elective.
Students may count either ECE 236 or ECE 237 but not both toward their advanced graduate electives.
Other Requirements
Write a master’s thesis based on original research (a scholarly dissertation of the literature and progress on research project; a peer-reviewed publication is not required for graduation).
Present a thesis defense in a departmental seminar. The student will present their research project in a public venue such as a departmental seminar or one of the research clubs (RNA club, chromatin club, neuro club, etc.).