Master’s Program

You will learn about modern research techniques and gain insight into unsolved problems, preparing you to identify and pursue your own research interests.

The master’s degree in genetics, genomics and bioinformatics positions you to:

• become more competitive for laboratory professions in academia, government and private pharmaceutical or biotechnology firms
  
• develop expertise in high-demand research and laboratory techniques
  
• support and advance drug discovery and the burgeoning fields of personalized and regenerative medicine

Through both coursework and laboratory experience, you will have opportunities to collaborate with researchers, clinicians and other students. In your first year, you will choose a lab where you will carry out research for a thesis or project, mentored by the lab’s principal investigator.

You will work with faculty-scientists exploring the gamut of human and microbial genetics. Examples of ongoing research activity includes:

• stem cell research seeking potential new treatments for various conditions
• the genetics of DNA replication, recombination and repair in microbes and viruses
• “next-generation” DNA sequencing
• exploring genetic mutations that result in a variety of human diseases and conditions
• discovery of fundamental mechanisms regulating animal development

Our master’s candidates have opportunities to connect with researchers and clinicians throughout the university as well as in prominent research hospitals and institutes.

You will be encouraged to participate in the program’s discussion forum and seminar series on genetics. You also will publicly present your own research through seminars and events.