Research Training

The heart of the Ph.D Program is of course, preparation for independent research. Research training begins immediately upon entry into the Program in the form of the laboratory rotation course. During the first year the student participates actively in the ongoing research work during rotations in three in different faculty laboratories, usually for two months a half-semester in each. Individuals with extensive previous research experience may, after consultation with the graduate advisor, devise an alternate program. In this way the student learns a variety of experimental techniques and also becomes acquainted first hand with various areas of molecular biology research.

At the end of the first year the student is expected to select a laboratory in which to undertake a more extensive research project. This selection (and acceptance by the faculty member) involves the possibility of future Ph.D thesis research, but ordinarily no binding commitment is made at that point. In the second year the student registers for a uniquely numbered course depending on this advisor to cover this activity.

D. Reinberg and R. Sims. Potential Model for SMYD3-mediated histone H3-K4 methylation (Nat. Cell. Bio. 618)