Graduate College

Courses

Biosciences

Graduate Program

Biosciences students enjoy the flexibility of investigating several disciplines through research rotations in the laboratories of Biosciences Program faculty members. Following completion of their first year in the program, students select a research laboratory and program affiliation and decide on a thesis project that will lead to a Ph.D.

Semester hour requirements for the doctorate vary by program, but all Ph.D. degrees at Iowa require at least 72 s.h. of graduate credit. For detailed information on Graduate College policies, see the Manual of Rules and Regulations of the Graduate College.

Curriculum

Biosciences students are advised on course selection, research rotations, and registration by a faculty member closely related to the student's research and academic interests. As research rotations are assigned, the faculty advisor works in consultation with the student's rotation advisors until the end of the first year.

Biosciences students provide a short oral presentation following each research rotation to an audience of their primary advisor, research advisor(s), and other biosciences students. Rotation advisors provide rotation reports, and rotations are evaluated by the student's primary advisor. The student's primary advisor also confers with the student on course grades, subsequent rotations, and the student's selection of a department or program and lab for thesis research.

In addition to laboratory rotations, all biosciences students take 156:201 Principles in Molecular and Cell Biology, which provides a foundation for understanding basic principles of molecular and cell biology relevant to all bioscience disciplines and teaches students how to evaluate literature critically.

The Biosciences Seminar (156:265) dovetails with current seminar series offered by the Biosciences Program's departments and programs. At the beginning of each semester, biosciences students meet to choose approximately 12 seminars that they all will attend. Students choose seminars under advisement from the course instructor, who ensures that all students contribute to the selection process. During the first semester, student groups are formed and each group selects a paper from a chosen speaker to present. During the second semester, individual students select and present a paper.

Overall student progress is monitored by the student's primary advisor, rotation advisor(s), and program director, who meet at the end of each semester to review the student's progress. At the end of the second semester, the primary advisor, in cooperation with the rotation advisor(s), makes a recommendation to the Biosciences Program director whether the student should continue in the Ph.D. program. University guidelines, such as maintaining a cumulative g.p.a. of 3.00 or higher, are considered, along with performance in rotations.

During the second semester, Biosciences Program students meet with prospective mentors regarding thesis proposals and openings available in the mentors' laboratories. Students identify which program and laboratory they would like to join. Two weeks before the spring semester ends, students submit their choice of graduate programs and faculty mentors to the Biosciences Program office, which coordinates each student's transfer to his or her chosen program. From that point on, the department or program advises the student and evaluates his or her performance.

Most participating departments and programs require that students take a comprehensive exam at the end of the second year and no later than the third year. Following successful completion of the exam, students advance to Ph.D. candidacy.

REQUIRED COURSES

Fall Semester

Spring Semester

Admission

Applicants must submit their scores on the Graduate Record Examination; a combined verbal and quantitative score of 1200 and an analytical writing score of 4.5 or higher are preferred. Applicants whose first language is not English must score above 600 (paper-based), 250 (computer-based), or 100 (Internet-based) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

Other indicators of academic accomplishments, such as research experience and letters of recommendation, are considered.

Information about graduate training and application materials are available from the Biosciences Program office.

Financial Support

Facilities

The Departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and Pharmacology are housed in the Bowen Science Building. Laboratories of clinical departments are located primarily in the Medical Laboratories and the Medical Research Center. The Eckstein Medical Research Building houses major core facilities for microscopy, image analysis, flow cytometry, protein structure, and monoclonal antibody production, as well as research laboratories for basic investigators with interdisciplinary approaches to cancer, molecular biology, genetics, and immunology. The geographic proximity of these facilities promotes interchange among clinical and basic science faculty members and students and maximizes use of the University's extensive core facilities for biomedical research.

Integral to the University's research environment are the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, Iowa Cardiovascular Center, Clinical Research Center, Cooperative Human Linkage Center, Craniofacial Anomalies Research Center, Diabetes-Endocrinology Research Center, Digestive Diseases Core Center, Iowa Child Health Research Center, University of Iowa Cystic Fibrosis Center, Iowa Specialized Center for Pulmonary Research, Lipid Research Clinic, Iowa Mental Health Clinical Research Center, Schizophrenia Research Center, Iowa Center for Gene Therapy, and Specialized Centers for Congenital Heart Disease and Hypertension and for Occupational and Immunological Lung Disease.

In addition to the University's extensive facilities for research support, the Carver College of Medicine and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences operate a variety of research support facilities. Tissue culture, autoclaving, purified water, darkrooms, counters, and a variety of general-use equipment and services are available on a shared basis.

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