MCGD: First Year Curriculum

Course Requirements

MCDB/CBIO/GEN 900 (Fall) / MCDB/CBIO/GEN 901 (Spring): Research Skills and Ethics I and II. 

  • This course consists of seminars that covers ethics, grant writing, and training for scientific speaking (“rotation talks”).
  • There is a strict attendance policy for the two-term course. The expectation is that students will NOT miss any session of the entire two-term course.
  • Excuses may only be made for attendance at academic conferences or medical emergencies and prior approval must be requested.  Please provide evidence for the relevant excuse when requesting special permission from the primary course instructor.

If for some unforeseeable reason ONE session is missed, the student will be asked to write a 5-page essay on a topic of the instructor’s choice. This essay should be given to the primary course instructor for review with an electronic copy to the Track registrar. Two or more misses over the course of the year requires the student to retake the entire course the following year.

Fall Term:

  • CBIO/MBB/MCDB 602: Molecular Cell Biology (Patrick Lusk or Thomas Melia)
  • GEN/MBB/MCDB 625: Basic Concepts of Genetic Analysis (Jun Lu)
  • CBIO/GEN/MCDB 900: Research Skills and Ethics I
  • CBIO/GEN/MCDB 911: First Lab Rotation
  • CBIO/GEN/MCDB 912: Second Lab Rotation

Spring Term:

  • MCDB/MBB 630: Biochemical & Biophysical Approaches in Molecular and Cellular Biology (Thomas Pollard or Karin Reinisch)
  • CBIO/GEN/MCDB 901: Research Skills and Ethics II
  • CBIO/GEN/MCDB 913: Third Lab Rotation