Structural Biology Doctoral Program

Our structural biology doctoral program includes the first-year required course work for the PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences.

In the second year, you will study core courses in the methods of structural biology, and throughout your program of study you will take part in departmental seminars. By the beginning of their second year, you will choose a thesis or dissertation research topic and faculty adviser, and commence your degree research.

You are required to present and defend orally a written proposal for your research project for admission to degree candidacy.

The doctoral dissertation research must represent an original investigation designed to contribute to new knowledge and understanding of biomolecular form and function or new methodology for research in structural biology. It is expected that the research will normally lead to publication in prominent refereed journals of one or more research papers of which you are the principal author.

The doctoral degree requires a minimum of 72 credit hours earned from a combination of coursework taken in the first year of the PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences (PPBS) program and subsequent years in the department, along with four to five years of laboratory research in a faculty member’s research laboratory.

• BMS 515LEC Fundamentals of Biomedical Research I, 4 credits
• BMS 516LEC Fundamentals of Biomedical Research II, 3 credits
• BMS 514LEC Introduction to Scientific Investigation and Responsible Conduct, 2 credits
• BMS 509 PhD Program Laboratory Rotation, 4 credits
• BMS 510 PhD Program Laboratory Rotation, 4 credits

• BMS 509 PhD Program Laboratory Rotation, 4 credits
• BMS 510 PhD Program Laboratory Rotation, 4 credits
• BMS 511 Fundamentals in Biomedical Sciences - Critiquing Scientific Literature, 1 credit
• 2 electives from the PPBS curriculum

We recommend you take electives from the list below:

• BCH 507 Protein Structure and Function, 2-3 credits
• STB 531 Principles of Protein Production and Analysis, 3 credits
• STB 535 Structural Pharmacology, 3 credits

• STB 533 Crystallographic Methods of Structural Biology, 3 credits
• STB 612 Structural Biology Seminar, 1 credit
• STB 700 Dissertation Research, 13 credits

• BCH 507 Protein Structure and Function, 2 credits*
• STB 531 Principles of Protein Production and Analysis, 3 credits*
• STB 534 Dissertation Proposal Preparation, 1 credit
• STB 535 Structural Pharmacology, 3 credits*
• STB 612 Structural Biology Seminar, 1 credit
• STB 700 Dissertation Research, 11 credits

* If not taken in the second semester of the first year.

You will defend your preliminary research proposal at the end of the departmental second semester. Upon successful completion, you are reclassified as a doctoral candidate in the department.

• STB 612 Structural Biology Seminar, 1 credit
• STB 700 Dissertation Research, 1 credit