Cell and Molecular Biology Curriculum

Students are required to complete a minimum of 60 credit hours of course work. All of the graded course work required to advance to Candidacy is completed in the first two academic years. It is expected that students will maintain a B average. One grade below B will require remedial action, while more than one grade below B will constitute grounds for dismissal from the Ph.D. degree program. Students may not drop courses in which they are enrolled without the approval of their Research Advisor and/or Program Director. Up to a maximum of 6 semester credit hours of completed course work may be transferred from other graduate programs if the courses are equivalent to those offered in the UMMC School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences. Credit will not be given for both the course taken in another department or at another institution and a Department of Cell and Molecular Biology course. Acceptance of transfer credits requires the approval of the departmental Cell and Molecular Biology Program Director and the Dean of the Graduate School. 

Both the Cell and Molecular Biology Department and the School of Graduate Studies requires all first year graduate students to enroll in ID (Interdepartmental) 709, Responsible Conduct of Research (2 credit hours) and ID 714, Professional Skills for Graduate Students (3 credit hours). In addition, the Cell and Molecular Biology Department requires all first year students to take CMB 704, Fundamental Biochemistry (6 credits); CMB 720, Journal Club (1 credit hour per term); CMB 740, Cell and Molecular Biology Methods (2 credit hours) and CMB 741, Advanced Cell and Molecular Biology Methods (1 credit hour). Prior to admission to Candidacy all students must also complete CMB 711, Molecular Enzymology (2 credit hours); CMB 715, Molecular Biophysics (2 credit hours); CMB 742 Research Tools in Molecular Biology (3 credit hours); and CMB 744, Cell and Molecular Biology (6 credit hours). At the completion of CMB 704, 711, 715, 740, 741, 742, 743, 744 and ID 709 each student must have an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better. Failure to achieve this requires remediation or it may lead to dismissal from the program. These decisions are made by the student, the student’s Research Advisor, the Cell and Molecular Biology Program Director and the Department Chair. Note: Students in the Cell and Molecular Biology Ph.D. program are required to achieve an 80% or above in CMB 704 (see below).

Please click here to access the current UMMC Bulletin with a typical plan of student for students in the CMB Ph.D. program (on page 82 and 83).