Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology (GRAD)
The Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology is an interdepartmental predoctoral training program leading to a Ph.D. degree in genetics and molecular biology. The goal of this program is to train students to be creative, sophisticated research scientists within the disciplines of genetics and molecular biology. To this end, we emphasize acquisition of a foundation of knowledge, accumulation of the laboratory skills required for implementing research objectives, development of the ability to formulate experimental approaches to solving contemporary problems in the biological sciences, and completion of an original research project. During their first year, students enroll in graduate-level courses and participate in laboratory rotations. Subsequently, students select a faculty research advisor and establish an advisory committee. Research work is done in the laboratory facilities of the individual faculty member and is supported primarily by faculty research grants.
The curriculum faculty have appointments in 14 departments in the School of Medicine, the School of Dentistry, the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and the College of Arts and Sciences. The faculty represent diverse research interests that use the tools of genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry to address fundamental questions in the areas of cell cycle regulation, chromosome structure, development and disease models, DNA repair and recombination, genome stability, evolutionary genetics, genomics, human genetics, neurobiology, pathogens and immunity, signal transduction, transcription, gene regulation, and virology. Students are able to choose from a variety of biological systems and questions for their thesis research.
Genetics and Molecular Biology, Ph.D.
The Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB) is an interdepartmental PhD program whose mission is (1) to train students from diverse backgrounds to earn a PhD in the fields of genetics, genomics, and molecular biology by guiding them through the acquisition of essential elements of the PhD, including responsible achievement of significant original research; and (2) to provide opportunities for learning about the breadth of careers in research and research-related fields and acquiring the skills and experiences that will facilitate the transition into such careers.
Course Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Courses | ||
| GNET 621 | Principles of Genetic Analysis I | 3 |
| GNET 632 | Advanced Molecular Biology II | 3 |
| or GNET 631 | Advanced Molecular Biology | |
| Seminars | ||
| GNET 701 | Genetic Lecture Series (Fall of Year 2 and 3) | 2 |
| GNET 702 | Student Seminars (Spring of Year 2 and 3) | 2 |
| GNET 703 | Student Seminars (Fall and Spring of Year 2 and 3) | 4 |
| Journal Club | ||
| Select a course from the Journal Club electives below for a minimum credit of 1 or more. 1 | 1 | |
| Electives | ||
| Students must complete a minimum of 6 credit hours of elective courses. Elective courses can be fulfilled by combining multiple module courses for a total of 3 credit hours. One of the elective courses must have a quantitative, computational, or statistical focus. Select from the elective course options below or any 600+ level STEM course. 1 | 6 | |
| Thesis/Substitute or Dissertation | ||
| GNET 994 | Doctoral Research and Dissertation 2 | 3 |
| Minimum Hours 3 | 41 | |
- 1
These lists are not exclusive and additional courses approved by the DGS may fulfill these requirements.
- 2
Students must take GNET 994 twice for a minimum of 6 credit hours.
- 3
Please note that this does not include the hours you must complete during the first-year Biological & Biomedical Sciences Program.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Journal Club Electives | ||
| Seminar in Genetics | ||
| Cell Cycle Regulation and Cancer | ||
| Advanced Topics in Chromatin and Epigenetics | ||
| Seminar in Plant Molecular and Cell Biology | ||
| Seminar in Cell Biology | ||
| Human Physiology I | ||
| Cancer Pathobiology | ||
| Current Topics in Cardiovascular Biology | ||
| Molecular and Cellular Biology of Cardiovascular Diseases | ||
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Module Electives | ||
| Quantitative Genetics of Complex Traits | ||
| Mouse Models of Human Disease | ||
| Human Genetics and Genomics | ||
| Fundamentals of Quantitative Image Analysis for Light Microscopy | ||
| Introduction to UNIX and Perl Programming for biomedical data analysis | ||
| Development of New Applications for Next Generation Sequencing | ||
| Practical RNA-Seq | ||
Milestones
The following list of milestones (non-course degree requirements) must be completed; view this list of standard milestone definitions for more information.
- Doctoral Committee
- Doctoral Oral Comprehensive Exam
- Doctoral Written Exam
- Prospectus Oral Exam
- Dissertation Defense
- Doctoral Dissertation Approved/Format Accepted
- Residence Credit
- Doctoral Exit Survey
- Doctoral Teaching Experience
- Doctoral Manuscript Submission
Professors
Shawn Ahmed, Telomere Replication and Germline Immortality in C. elegans
Albert S. Baldwin, Regulation of Gene Expression, Control of Oncogenesis and Apoptosis
Victoria Bautch, Molecular Genetics of Blood Vessel Formation in Mouse Models
Jonathan Berg, Clinical Adult and Cancer Genetics
Kerry Bloom, Chromosome Dynamics, Centromere Structure and Function, Polymer Models of Chromosomes, Aneuploidy
Patrick Brennwald, Cell Biology and Physiology
Kathleen Caron, Genetically Engineered Animal Models in the Study of Human Disease
Frank L. Conlon, Mesodermal Patterning and Heart Development, T-Box Genes
Jeanette Gowen Cook, Integrating DNA Replication Control with Checkpoint Signaling
Gregory P. Copenhaver, Regulation of Meiotic Recombination in Higher Eukaryotes
Blossom Damania, Viral Oncogenes, Signal Transduction, Transcription and Immune Evasion of KSHV/RRV
Jeffery L. Dangl, Plant Disease Resistance and Cell-Death Control, Plant Genomics
Ian Davis, Mechanisms of Transcription Factor Deregulation in Cancer Development
Channing J. Der, Oncogenes, Ras Superfamily Protein, Signal Transduction
Dirk P. Dittmer, Anti-Lymphoma Therapies
Bob Duronio, Genetics of Cell-Cycle Control during Drosophila Development
Michael Emanuele, Cell Cycle Regulation by the Ubiquitin System
Bob Goldstein, Generation of Cell Diversity in Early Development of C. elegans
Mark Heise, Genetics of Arbovirus Virulence and Immune Evasion
Corbin D. Jones, Population Genetics and Evolution in Drosophila
Jonathan Juliano, Malaria Drug Resistance, Diversity and Population Evolution
Joseph Kieber, Molecular Genetic Analysis of Hormone Signaling in Arabidopsis
William Kim, Exploration of the Role of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor in Tumorigenesis
Amy Shaub Maddox, Mechanisms of Cell Shape Change
Terry Magnuson, Mammalian Genetics, Epigenetics, Genomics
William F. Marzluff, Regulation of RNA Metabolism in Animal Cells
A. Gregory Matera, Biogenesis of Small Ribonucleoproteins in Health and Disease
Daniel Matute
Karen L. Mohlke, Human Genetics and Genomics, Diabetes, Complex Diseases
Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena, Meiotic Drive, Chromosome Segregation, Non-Mendelian Genetics
Chad Pecot, Solid Tumor Malignancies
Mark Peifer, Cell Adhesion, Signal Transduction and Cancer
Charles Perou, Genomic and Molecular Classification of Human Tumors to Guide Therapy
Jeremy Purvis, Signal Transduction in Cancer and Stem Cells
Dale Ramsden, V(D)J Recombination, DNA Double Strand Break Repair
Jason W. Reed, Plant Development, Auxin Signaling, Light Responses
Aziz Sancar, Structure and Function of DNA Repair Enzymes, Biological Clock
Jeff Sekelsky, Genetics of Genome Instability in Drosophila
Shehzad Sheikh, Immune Responses to the Microbiome in Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis
Brian Strahl, Histone Modifications and Gene Regulation
Lisa Tarantino, Genetic Mapping of Complex Behavioral Traits
Nancy Thomas, Molecular Epidemiological and Translational Studies of Melanoma
Cyrus Vaziri, Integration of DNA Replication and Repair
Jason Whitmire, Genetic Regulation of T Cell Responses to Virus Infection
Associate Professors
J. Mauro Calabrese, Epigenetic Control by Long Noncoding RNAs, Genomics, Stem Cells, Cancer, Human Genetic Disorders
Jill Dowen, Three-Dimensional Genome Architecture and Gene Regulation in Development and Disease
Jimena Giudice, Alternative Splicing, Epigenetic and Intracellular Trafficking in Heart and Skeletal Muscle Development and Diseases
Gaorav Gupta, Genome Integrity in Breast Cancer
Nate Hathaway, Mechanisms of Mammalian Genome Regulation, Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery
Erin Heinzen, Identification and Functional Characterization of Highly Penetrant Risk Factors in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Kathryn Hoadley, Integrative Genomic Characterization of Cancer and Precancer
Folami Ideraabdullah, Genetics, Toxicants, and Nutrition: Gene-Environment Interactions in Epigenetic Gene Regulation
Jonathan Juliano, Malaria Drug Resistance, Diversity and Population Evolution
Samir Kelada, Genetics and Genomics of Environmentally Induced Asthma
Sarah Linnsteadt, Genetic and Transcriptional Mechanisms of Increased Chronic Pain and PTSD
Pengda Liu, Biochemistry and Biophysics
Daniel McKay, Developmental Genomics, Regulation of Gene Expression
Zachary Nimchuk, Plant Developmental Genetics and Stem Cell Regulation
Chad Pecot, Biology of Metastatic Cancer, Sirna Regulation of Gene Expression in Tumors
Douglas Phanstiel, Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Acquisition of Disease States in Cells
Yuliya Pylayeva-Gupta, Immunomodulatory Mechanisms in Pancreatic Cancer and Metastasis
Gregory Scherrer, Genetic and Molecular Mechanisms of Pain Perception and Opioid Receptor Function
Celia Shiau, Function and Development of Macrophages and Brain Microglia; Inflammation and Innate Immune Activation
Karl Shpargel, Roles of Chromatin-Modifying Enzymes in Developmental Epigenetics and Disease
Keriayn Smith, Context Specific Functions of Long Noncoding RNAs
Jason Stein, Genome Variation that Affects the Structure and Development of the Brain and Risk for Neuropsychiatric Illness
Scott Williams, Asymmetric Cell Division in Development and Disease, Epithelial Differentiation
Hyejung Won, Genetics of Psychiatric Illnesses and Neurobiological Mechanisms
Melinda Yates, Cancers that Form in the Lining of the Uterus (Endometrium)
Assistant Professors
Katie Baldwin, Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Astrocyte Development in the Mammalian Brain
Jiakun Chen, Fundamental Mechanisms of how Astrocytes Contribute to Nervous System Formation and Function
Rob Dowen, Regulation of Fat Metabolism During Development, Aging, and Disease
Whitney Edwards, The Cellular Processes Essential for Cardiac Development and Determine how these Processes Are Altered in CHDs
Kacy Gordon, Development and Evolution of the Germ Line Stem Cell Niche
Qingyun Liu, Bacterial Evolution; Population Genomics; Natural Selection; Infectious Disease; Mycobacterium Tuberculosis; Nontuberculosis Mycobacteria (NTM); Antibiotic Resistance; Transmissibility; Virulence; Pathogenicity
Robert Mealer, Schizophrenia Genetics; Protein Glycosylation; Molecular Neuroscience
Brian C Miller, Developing Personalized Cancer Immunotherapies by Targeting Myeloid Cells
Justin Milner, Transcriptional and Epigenetic Regulation of T Cell Differentiation During Infection and Cancer
John Morris IV, Modeling Mechanisms of Epigenetic and Genomic Heterogeneity that Connect Cancer Driver Mutations with Malignant Identity
Jonathan Parr, Molecular Epidemiology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases
Jesse Raab, Regulation and Function of Altered Chromatin Remodeling Complex Activity
Laura Raffield, Environmental Risk Factors for Cardiometabolic Diseases, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias, and Related Quantitative Traits
Christoph Rau, The Transcriptomic and Epigenomic Landscape Underlying Cardiovascular Disorders
Ageliki Tsagaratou, Epigenetic and Transcriptional Regulation in T Cell Differentiation, Function and Disease
Anthony Zannas, Biomolecular Mechanisms Linking Psychosocial Stress with Disease Risk
GNET
Advanced Undergraduate and Graduate-level Courses
This class is designed to 1) enhance students' ability to present scientific material to their peers in a comprehensive, cohesive manner, 2) familiarize students with scientific concepts and technologies used in multiple disciplines, 3) expose students to cutting edge research, 4) prepare students to gain substantial meaning from seminars and to ask questions, and 5) enhance students' ability to evaluate scientific papers and seminars.
Genetic principles of genetic analysis in prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes.
Principles of genetic analysis in higher eukaryotes; genomics.
Permission of the instructor. Presentations of current research or relevant papers from the literature on development by students will be followed by open forum discussion of relevant points, and critique of presentation skills. Two hours per week.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates. Genetic and molecular control of plant and animal development. Extensive reading from primary literature.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates. Current and significant problems in genetics. May be repeated for credit.
This course explores cutting edge research in molecular biology -- the investigation at molecule-scale of the mechanisms behind life. We briefly review core-principles in molecular biology, then investigate more recent research that extends or overturns these core principles.
Required preparation for undergraduates, at least one undergraduate course in both biochemistry and genetics. The purpose of this course is to provide historical, basic, and current information about the flow and regulation of genetic information from DNA to RNA in a variety of biological systems. Three lecture hours a week.
Topics in clinical genetics including pedigree analysis, counseling/ethical issues, genetic testing, screening, and issues in human research. Taught in a small group format. Active student participation is expected.
Students will learn about various topics that form the basis for understanding quantitative genetics of complex traits with biomedical and agricultural relevance. The ultimate goal of quantitative genetics in this postgenomic era is prediction of phenotype from genotype, namely deducing the molecular basis for genetic trait variation.
This course will focus on the laboratory mouse as a model organism to learn fundamental genetic concepts and understand how state-of-the-art experimental approaches are being used to elucidate gene function and the genetic architecture of biological traits.
The course covers principles and modern approaches of human genetics and genomics, including human genetic variation, linkage, genome-wide association analysis, sequencing for variant discovery in monogenic and complex diseases, regulatory variation, the molecular basis of human disease, and functional validation of disease variants.
This course will provide an overview of methods in human genetics during the critical reading of selected literature and work of speakers that will present in the Friday Seminar Series.
A course on systems genetics focused on student participation and the development of targeted multidisciplinary responses to genetic questions.
Permission of the instructor. This course will provide an overview of the use of the mouse as an experimental model for determining factors, both genetic and environmental, that contribute to human diseases. One seminar hour a week.
Diverse but current topics in all aspects of genetics. Relates new techniques and current research of notables in the field of genetics.
Required of all candidates for the degree in genetics. A course to provide public lecture experience to advanced genetics students. Students present personal research seminars based on their individual dissertation projects. Lectures are privately critiqued by fellow students and genetics faculty.
Required of all candidates for the degree in genetics. A course to provide public lecture experience to advanced genetics students. Students present personal research seminars based on their individual dissertation projects. Lectures are privately critiqued by fellow students and genetics faculty.
This short course will cover methods of inferring/estimating natural selection, including the Dn/Ds ratio, the McDonald-Kreitman test, and the Poisson Random Field model. The course will feature discussions of high-profile publications that describe the application of these methods to yield insights into the forces that have shaped organismal evolution.
This course is a practical introduction to quantitative analysis of light microscopy images. During the class students will follow tutorials that will guide them through common tasks in analysis of biological images. They will be introduced to basic concepts of image processing like image registration, filtering, object detection etc.
This module will introduce UNIX and Python programming. It is mainly targeted towards biomedical scientists who would be able to use Python to analyze, transform, and manage large datasets.
This module will introduce the data analysis environment R and use it to illustrate basic concepts in data manipulation, plotting of complex data, and basic statistical modeling. Class examples will be general and will aim to build familiarity and confidence with R and data analysis.
This module provides an introduction to basic protein structure/function analyses combining sequence informatics and macromolecular structure. In the second half the focus will switch to analysis of genome-wide datasets and methods used for the analysis of such "big data."
This class is designed to shed new light on wide variety of tools available for developing new ideas for NGS applications.
This course is designed to familiarize students with everything needed to run an RNA-Seq experiment. There will be minimal emphasis on theory and heavy focus on practical aspects. There are no formal prerequisites required for this course and no prior experience with UNIX or the command line interface is expected.
Human complex diseases are major focus in human genomics. They have important genetic components, but inheritance is probabilistic and not deterministic. This graduate seminar will cover the main approaches (genome-wide association, next-generation sequencing, and structural variation in case-control and pedigree studies) and current knowledge in the main disease areas.
This graduate-level course is designed to teach students about the origins of CRISPR-Cas genome engineering technology, its applications to research and human health, and the ethical/societal considerations surrounding this powerful technology. Emphasis will be made on recent literature, new applications, discoveries and bioethics. Students interested in taking this class must have taken an advanced Genetics or Molecular Biology course.
This journal club-style discussion course explores the molecular mechanisms regulating normal cell cycle progression and how their deregulation leads to cancer. We will trace the historical development of the cell cycle field, illustrating how scientific inquiry has shaped current paradigms. This course is ideal for students interested in cell proliferation and cancer biology, regardless of prior knowledge.
Required preparation, two courses in genetics. Permission of the instructor. Principles of genetic pedagogy. Students are responsible for assistance in teaching genetics and work under the supervision of the faculty, with whom they have regular discussion of methods, content, and evaluation of performance. (Throughout the year.) Staff.
Permission of the instructor. Course focuses on nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics with an emphasis on the genetic and dietary interactions predisposing one to increased risk of disease.
Provides practical experience to predoctoral students in writing fellowship proposals, using the NIH F31 as a template. Students will have weekly writing assignments, with feedback given by students and faculty. Open to 2nd and 3rd year students in the Curriculum or by permission of the instructor.
Provides advanced predoctoral students with an understanding of issues relevant to conducting biomedical research as responsible citizens. It fulfills the NIH requirement for continued RCR training. Open to 4th and 5th year students in the Biology, Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry PhD programs or by permission of the instructor.
Advance topics in current research in statistics and operations research.
May be repeated for credit.
Permission of the department. Students are not accepted directly into the M.S. program.
Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology
