With the guidance of the major advisor and the advisory committee, the student develops an individualized schedule of courses toward the degree. It must be approved by the Graduate School prior to taking the General Examination.

The plan consists of a list and sequence of courses that the student needs to complete as part of his/her Ph.D. program. Detailed information regarding the Ph.D. Plan of Study is outlined in the UConn Graduate Catalog. In general, the student will take formal course work during only the first two years.

Systems Biology courses strongly recommended:

• MEDS 6455 Introduction to Systems Biology (Fall; 3 credits)
  Faculty: Blinov/Moraru
  Lecture/Seminars.
  The course will guide students into a biology world as seen by engineers, physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists. We will discuss topics such as: What is a predictive mathematical model? Which kinds of models describe biological reality? What are the dynamical behavior, stability, switching and stochasticity of a biological system? What resources do you need to start building a model? How models are stored, simulated and visualized? What are public databases and software tools available for a modeler?  The ultimate goal of the course is to provide students with necessary background to read modeling papers, choose Systems Biology resources that will help them in biological projects, and be able to select an appropriate modeling technique to be used with a biological project.
• MEDS 5420. Molecular Genomics Practicum (Spring; 3 credits)
  Faculty: Michael Guertin
  Lecture/Seminars
  The course will teach students to comfortably navigate the command line; use scripting to automate processing and analysis of genomics data; align sequencing reads to reference genome; retrieve and analyze publicly available genomic data sets; visualize genomics data on a browser; perform alignment, peak calling, and motif analysis starting of raw ChIP-seq data; perform alignment, differential expression, and gene set enrichment analysis of raw RNA-seq data.
• MEDS 6450. Optical Microscopy and Bioimaging (Fall; 2 credits)
  Faculty: Yu
  Lecture/Laboratory.
  The course presents the current state of the art of optical imaging techniques and their applications in biomedical research. The course materials cover both traditional microscopies (DIC, fluorescence etc.) that have been an integrated part of biologists’ tool-box, as well as more advance topics, such as single-molecule imaging and laser tweezers. Four lab sessions are incorporated in the classes to help students to gain some hand-on experiences. Strong emphasis will be given on current research and experimental design.
• MEDS 5382. Practical Microscopy and Modeling for Cell Biologists (Spring; 2 credits)
  Faculty: Rodionov
  Modern cell biology builds upon sophisticated methods of high resolution microscopy. The objective of this course is to get students familiar with modern microscopy techniques and computational approaches that help to interpret results of microscopical observations.  The participating faculty members will give lectures, supervise the microscopy laboratory, and advise students on modeling exercises in the key areas of cell biology. Labs will include hands-on experience in the following microscopy techniques: fluorescence microscopy of living cells; fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP); foster resonance energy transfer (FRET); fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS); 4D imaging; time-lapse microscopy; microinjection. The following topics will be covered: dynamics of the cytoskeleton; growth control; organelle biogenesis; intracellular trafficking; nuclear transport; regulation of ion channels; cell locomotion; signal transduction. Co- or prerequisite: none.

In addition to the 15 credit hours of Doctoral Dissertation research, students are required to take the Cell Analysis and Modeling journal club associated with CCAM.

• MEDS 6497. Journal Club in Cell Analysis and Modeling (Fall and Spring; 1 credit)
  Reading and discussion of research at the interface of physical and cell biological research with emphasis on molecular aspects. Students and postdoctoral fellows present and discuss with faculty a recent paper from the literature.

Trainees in the Cell Analysis and Modeling AoC will also participate in CCAM Group meeting. The weekly CCAM Group Meeting features research updates from all CCAM-associated laboratories. Because this meeting is attended by all scientific personnel associated with the Center, it provides not only scientific continuity but also the social continuity that helps to maintain the unique interdisciplinary focus of the AoC as a whole. Talks at this meeting encompass all research areas, including cell and molecular biology, mathematical modeling, optical engineering, organic chemistry and computational techniques. The diversity of topics makes this a unique learning environment for both trainees and faculty.

 

Courses Required of all Biomedical Science Students

These courses are required for graduation and must be listed on the Plan of Study:

MEDS 6448. Foundations of Biomedical Science I, 4 credits

MEDS 5310. Responsible Conduct in Research – spring of the first year, 1 credit

MEDS 6501. Communications for Biomedical Scientists – fall of the second year, 1 credit (Required starting with the incoming class of Fall 2020)

MEDS 6502. Experimental Design, Rigor and Biostatistics -fall of the second year, 1 credit (Required starting with the incoming class of Fall 2020)

Electives may be taken from any of the UConn course offerings. The following is a list of some of the available elective courses.

The major focus of the third and later years of graduate study will be on the completion of the thesis.