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Master's Curriculum

MS Curriculum

The Cancer Chemical Biology master’s degree is a one-year program consisting of at least 24 credits over the course of two semesters. All students will complete a core curriculum in Chemical Biology, ethics training, and foundational scientific skills and critical analysis. The remaining credits are composed of elective courses selected in consultation with the program advisors and tailored to each student’s ultimate career goals.

Tracks

The MS curriculum has two tracks:

  • Course Track: The course track focuses on strengthening students' foundational science across multiple disciplines. Students’ education in this track focuses on increased electives related to their ultimate career goals.

  • Research Track: The research track emphasizes experience in hands-on research within a lab of the student’s choosing. Students interested in this track are encouraged to identify faculty mentors prior to admission. Faculty may include but are not limited to PCB affiliated faculty members.

Students may switch tracks at the beginning of each semester if they wish.

Required Courses

All students in the Chemical Biology M.S. degree program are required to take the following courses:

One on one mentoring meetings occur throughout the two semesters to ensure that milestones are being met as well as assist in transition to post-graduate employment or continuing education.

CHEMBIO 601 - Critical Analysis I (Fall Semester)

Critical Analysis I is a foundational course focused on building student’s soft scientific skills in writing and analysis of the literature. In this course, students will be introduced to scientific writing including; abstracts, introductions, results, discussions and methods. Additionally students will learn how to provide constructive feedback to their peers. Students will learn the importance of critical analysis of scientific literature, important takeaways from research papers and presenting research findings to scientific peers. At the end of this course, students will use their knowledge to present a selected scientific literature to the class & receive peer feedback.

CHEMBIO 602 - Critical Analysis II (Winter Semester)

Critical Analysis II is an expansion of Critical analysis I. In this course students will learn further foundational soft scientific skills including; continued analysis of scientific literature and building upon presentation skills. Additionally, students will learn troubleshooting techniques, scientific communication to all audiences, and elevator pitches. Students will participate in in-class exercises to solidify their understanding of these skills.

PIBS 503 - Responsible Conduct of Research (Fall Semester)

Responsible Conduct of Research consists of 50-minute small group discussions that meet NIH and NSF federally mandated topics. The topics include subjects such as; Conflict of Interest, Animal Use, Data Management, Human Subjects in Research, etc. All researchers new to the university must take this course.

PIBS 504 - Rigor and Responsibility (Winter Semester)

Rigor & Reproducibility was developed from the NIH’s suggestion to incorporate rigor and responsibility training into all graduate and post-doctoral education. This course consists of two 2-hour courses taken in winter semester that cover the following topics; Transparency in Research, Blinding & Randomization, Biological and Technical Replicates, Sample Size/Outliers/Exclusion Criteria, etc.

Conditional Requirements

Students may be required to take additional requirements. These conditional requirements are for incoming students who meet a select criteria based on their previous education. These courses may be any of the following areas; Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Physiology, etc. Conditional requirements are at the discretion of the Program, and will be discussed during the admissions process with an advisor.

Chemical Biology Cancer Subplan

The Chemical Biology Cancer Subplan builds upon the existing master’s degree requirements by adding foundational science & core cancer courses with a selection of electives that provide a strong foundation in the scientific principles essential for understanding cancer. For students with prior cancer education, additional advanced courses are available to deepen their knowledge in the field. The subplan recommends one cancer based elective and a specialization cancer course elective. The remaining credits are composed of scientific electives based on the students interests and post-graduate plans, totalling 24 credits.

Cancer Based Electives

  • CANCBIO 554 - The Science of Cancer (4 cr)
  • CANCBIO 800 - Seminar in Cancer (1 cr)

Specialization Cancer Course Electives

  • BIOSTAT 501 - Introduction to Biostatistics (3 - 4 cr)
  • BIOSTAT 521 - Applied Biostatistics (3 cr)
  • MCDB 436 - Human Immunology (3 cr)
  • PHRMACOL 601 - Principles of Pharmacology (3 cr)
  • PHRMACOL 565 - Molecular Pharmacology & Experimental (3 cr)
  • STAT 412 - Introduction to Probability & Statistics (3 cr)

Upon matriculation, a full list of updated electives is provided to students each term. Please note elective availability is at the discretion of each department, every year.