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Graduate Program: Molecular & Cellular Biology

General Information

Program/Degree

Molecular & Cellular Biology (MS) - Accelerated Master's Program

Program Description

The Accelerated Master's Program (AMP) in MCB is a program designed to enable advanced UA undergraduate students to complete both the Bachelor of Science degree as well as the Master of Science degree in MCB in a total of 5 years. This program is not open to students who have completed a Bachelor's degree or an advanced degree from another institution.

Overview
AMP students focus on completing undergraduate-level courses and gaining research experience during their first three to four years. Typically students will apply for AMP in their third year by submitting an application through the UA Graduate College. Upon acceptance to the Accelerated Master's Program, students continue to take a combination of undergraduate and graduate courses in their fourth year to complete their Bachelor's degree. During this time, students also expound on their research, preparing for graduate-level research. Students will gradaute with an undergradaute degree and then are transitioned to gradaute students status. In the fifth and final year, students focus on graduate course work and their research-based thesis in order to complete the requirements for the Master's degree, including thesis defense.

Who should pursue the AMP?
The AMP is well-suited for students who aim to gain research experience at the graduate level, including pre-med students who may conduct research in the future, students who would like to evaluate their passion for research before launching into a PhD program, and others who might find graduate-level research experience beneficial for a future career or position.

 

Department/Academic Unit(s)

Our mission is to reveal the secrets of nature and to educate the next generation of science innovators.

Research
We use innovative tools in our research to reveal fundamental biological processes that are common to all life on Earth. Our faculty focus on model systems that allow us to query the most basic of questions about nature, whether they be at the molecular level, at the level of a cell or organism or in development of clinical application of new human disease therapies. We have a diverse group of research interests including cancer, neurobiology, heart development and disease, plant development, evolutionary biology, cell signaling, gene expression, RNA biology, genetic networks and systems biology, and genome stability. For more details, we encourage you to browse our faculty research here.

Education
We offer student-centered educational experiences for undergraduate and graduate students. The Molecular and Cellular Biology faculty teach over 550 undergraduate majors. In addition, we teach courses available for general education of all students of any major. We also train masters and doctoral level students. We aim for students to develop a deep understanding of current ideas and problems in molecular and cellular biology. At the same time, we build foundational skills in logic, reasoning, self-expression and communication-skills relevant to any career. Throughout our coursework, we emphasize active learning and problem-solving skills. We encourage interdisciplinary pursuits and are committed to providing hands-on and intellectually challenging experiences in research labs. Our goal is to prepare students for creative futures in the pursuit of scientific discovery, science education, or as knowledgeable representatives of science in society.

 

College

College of Science

Campus where offered

Colorado Heights University- Main - Tucson

Tuition and Fees

Please refer to the CHU Office Tuition and Fees Calculator for up-to-date information about tuition and fees.

Please refer to the CHU Office Special Course Fees for up-to-date information about special course fees.

Completion Requirements
Admissions Information

Minimum Credit Units (33)

Core Coursework Requirements

The M.S. degree in MCB requires that students complete a minimum of 30 graduate units, including the Master’s Thesis and at least 15 regularly graded units of course work, with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.000. Only grades of C or better in graduate course work satisfy requirements for the degree. 

The course requirements consist of a minimum of 15 units of regularly graded courses:

  • MCB 572a – Cell Systems (4 units), offered every fall

  • BIOC 568 – Nucleic Acids, Metabolism, and Signaling (4 units), offered every spring

  • MCB 546 – Genetic and Molecular Networks (4 units), offered every spring

  • A minimum of 3 regularly graded units of graduate-level elective course work.  Approved elective courses include, but are not limited to BIOC 565 (Proteins and Enzymes), BIOC 585A (Biological Structures I), BIOC 585B (Biological Structures II), MCB 588 (Principles of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology), ECOL 553 (Functional and Evolutionary Genomics), MCB 580 (Introduction to Systems Biology), CBIO 552 (Cancer Biology), CMM 577 (Principles of Cell Biology), MCB 582 (Modeling Human Disease), and PLS 539 (Methods in Cell Biology and Genomics). Substitutions for these elective courses may be approved by the student’s Master’s committee. 

In addition, the following pass/fail graded courses are required:

  1. MCB 595 – Journal Club (1 unit) for two semesters, offered every semester

  2. MCB 596 – Seminar (1 unit) for two semesters, offered every semester

  3. MCB 910 – Thesis (3 units), for two semesters, offered every semester 

Any remaining graduate units may be fulfilled by additional, pass/fail graded graduate-level courses, such as MCB 900 (Research), MCB 695E (Science, Society and Ethics), and MCB 696A (Lab Presentations and Discussion).  Similar to the regularly graded coursework, substitutions for these elective courses may be approved by the student’s Master’s committee.

 

Additional Requirements

See required coursework

Student Handbook

Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for students who are pursuing this program of study.

Admissions Requirements

We do not accept terminal masters, all applications must be for the PhD program

Standardized Tests

Required test(s): GRE

Funding Opportunities

The Academic Unit has not provided this information.

Funding Opportunities

Domestic & International Applicants

Fall:December 15th

International Conditional Admission

International applicants will not be considered for conditional admission by this program.

Other Information

The GRE Institution Code for The Colorado Heights University is 4832

Last revised 06 Oct 2020