Overview of Graduate Program

The Ph.D. Program in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology is designed to prepare students to become successful research scientists. Most of our students go on to careers in research, although a number of students have found that the training they receive has prepared them well for other careers in teaching, public health, and medicine. See alumni.

Graduate students carry out their dissertation research with program faculty whose labs are actively involved in applying state-of-the-art basic research methods in molecular genetics, cell biology, and biochemistry to biomedically important problems in areas including cancer, infectious diseases, signal transduction, and cell cycle regulation. The program of study is structured to foster a highly interactive research environment. Students take standard lecture courses, which help to introduce the program faculty, and also participate in a wide range of other activities including seminars by visiting scholars, student research presentations, journal clubs, special topic research clubs, and an annual program retreat.

Some Molecular Genetics and Microbiology training faculty members are also members of the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology at Stony Brook University. Students with specific interests in computational biology and genome sciences are encouraged to visit the Laufer Center web site to learn more about research at the Center. Similarly, students whose research interests are at the interface between chemistry and biology and who desire more intensive training in chemistry are eligible to participate in the Chemical Biology Training Program. More information about the CBTP and a list of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology faculty members who are part of this training program may be found here.

Please contact us if you would like to know more about the Graduate Program in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.