Molecular & Cellular Biology (MOCB)

Molecular & Cell Biology
Participating Faculty
Virology Program
Host-Pathogen Interactions (HPI) Program
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The Molecular & Cellular Biology concentration area is a highly mentored program within a large and diverse University. Graduate training is individualized to meet the needs of our students with the goal of providing the most rigorous training and preparation for a career in biosciences. Our faculty members have a broad spectrum of expertise and represent some of the most outstanding investigators on campus.

Example Research Areas:

Students that choose the Molecular and Cellular Biology Concentration Area pursue research that reaches across a multitude of fields, some of which are listed here:

  • Biochemistry and Biophysics
  • Bioinformatics
  • Cell and Developmental Biology
  • Genetics and Genomics
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Microbiology, Microbial Pathogenesis, and Immunology
  • Plant Biology
  • Virology

Admissions, Financial Aid, FAQs

Please see the BISI Program main site for information on how to apply to the program and other related questions.

Courses and Degree Requirements

The First Year:
The Concentration Area Director, with the assistance of the Graduate Program Committee, serves as the initial advisor for all entering MOCB students for their first year. For most students, the core requirements plus several advanced courses serve as the primary academic load during the first year of study. The core courses are:
  • Cell Biology I: Structure/Function (2 credits, 7 weeks) - Fall Semester
  • Nucleic Acids (2 credits, 7 weeks) - Fall Semester
  • Genetics I: Transcription/Translation (2 credits, 7 weeks) - Spring Semester
  • Bioethics (2 credits) - Fall or Spring
  • Research Experiences (2 credits) - both Fall and Spring
  • Teaching Science (1 credit) - Fall Semester (required for all teaching assistants
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The Research Experiences course consists of credits for laboratory rotations (see below), and attendance of the departmental seminar series. In addition to the core courses, students must choose 3 electives offered by the MOCB Concentration Area or 2 from MOCB and 1 from one of the other Concentration Areas in BISI. Additional courses within BISI or from other programs may be taken at the discretion of the student’s adviser and dissertation committee. Current elective offerings include: Virology, Microbial Pathogenesis, Microbial Genetics, Immunology and Host Defense, Genetics II (Genomics/Genetics), Bioinformatics, Cell Biology II (Signal Transduction), Plant Biology: Plant Development and Physiology, Developmental Biology, and Microscopy. Students must attain a grade of "B" or better in the lecture courses, and a grade of "S" in Research Experiences, Bioethics, and Teaching Science. These grades are mandatory for continued enrollment in the graduate program.

In addition to course offerings, students are expected to attend department seminars on a regular basis and one journal club a year. There are currently several journal club options available in areas including: virology, pathogenesis, genetics and bioinformatics, and plant biology among others.

Laboratory Rotations
The MOCB Concentration Area requires two laboratory rotations in the first semester that last 7 weeks each. Additional rotations can be performed in the winter break or spring if the student does not declare a lab after the fall rotations. Rotations are set up by each student after meeting with faculty performing research that interests the particular student.

The Second Year:
Students will generally complete elective courses and any other course work by the end of the second year. The University has no formal course credit requirements for Ph. D. students other than the completion of at least 12 credits of Ph. D. Dissertation Research (898 and 899 credits). Before the end of the fourth semester, the adviser and the student should also submit to the Graduate Director the names of other faculty members who will serve as the student's Research Committee. The student's research advisor serves as the chairman of this committee, and it becomes the responsibility of the committee to guide the student through the remainder of the graduate program.

Ph.D. Program Candidacy Exam Procedure:
The Ph. D. student has two important meetings with the student's research committee in the third year. For the Ph. D. proposal meeting, the student submits a research proposal summarizing the relevant literature, objectives, experimental methods, and significance of a research project that the student and the advisor believe is appropriate for a Ph. D. dissertation. This meeting, which is held by the end of the student's fifth semester, is chaired by the student's advisor and is attended by all members of the research committee.

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The Admission to Candidacy Examination is held by the end of the student's sixth semester. As its starting point, this meeting uses the revised dissertation proposal submitted to the committee a minimum of two weeks before the meeting. In particular, the student is expected: 1) to exhibit a sophisticated understanding of the advanced knowledge necessary to conceptualize and to perform the critical experiments in the research proposal; 2) to defend the project outlined in the research proposal as having the potential to become appropriate and worthy of a high-quality Ph. D. dissertation; and 3) to demonstrate considerable ability for independent and creative thinking as it relates to the identification of important questions, the design of experimental hypotheses, and the testing of those hypotheses in other relevant research areas not addressed in the proposal. The student is expected to pass the Admission to Candidacy Examination before the end of the third year in order to maintain reasonable progress toward the Ph. D. degree.

It is expected that the student should be able to complete the research necessary for writing the Ph. D. dissertation within two to three years following the candidacy examination. The student is required to meet with the Research Committee on a yearly annual basis. The research for the Ph. D. degree must establish the student's ability to perform independent and creative scholarly research that makes a substantial contribution to our knowledge about an important question in biology. The ability to do high-quality research must be demonstrated by the submission and the defense of a Ph. D. dissertation.

Affiliated Institutions and Research Partnerships

Institutions and Centers

  • College of Chemical & Life Sciences (CLFS)
  • College of Agriculture & Natural Resources (CANR)
  • Food and Drug Administration Laboratories (FDA)
  • Institute for Genomic Research (IGR)
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History (NMNH)
  • USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center
  • Maryland Pathogen Research Institute (MPRI)
  • Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB)

Associated Research Clusters

Students may join a research cluster once on campus, and are encouraged to explore the examples listed below to better understand potential opportunities

Funding Opportunities

Please see the BISI Program’s main site for general funding information. In addition, the MOCB Concentration area runs 2 training grants funded by the National Institutes of Health. One is associated with the Virology Program and the second is the Molecular and Cellular Biology general training grant. Several students are supported by these grants. Students can apply for funding from these grants after entering the program. In some cases exceptional students are offered training grant position upon entering the program. In addition, there are several awards and fellowships offered through the College of Chemical and Life Sciences and various affiliated departments that students can apply for.

Degree Requirements for Students Enrolled Before July 2009