Overview
Baylor College of Medicine, an independent, private, and fully accredited biomedical institution, is located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center, one of the largest medical centers in the world. The Medical Center, adjacent to residential areas, covers more than 500 acres and has forty-one institutes, 10,000 students, and 50,000 employees. Baylor is recognized as a leader in biomedical and basic sciences research and ranks among the nation’s top twelve institutions in federally funded research. There is a high degree of interdisciplinary cooperation, not only among the faculty members in basic science areas but also with clinical investigators in the college and associated institutes in the Texas Medical Center. Ongoing research programs being carried out by productive and widely recognized investigators in both the basic sciences and the clinical faculty, coupled with the favorable faculty-student ratio, permits students to be directly involved in and contribute to significant research projects.

The Community
As the nation’s fourth-largest city with nearly 4 million inhabitants, Houston is a vibrant scientific and industrial center. Extensive and affordable cultural and recreational facilities are available: theaters, a symphony orchestra, opera, art museums, a natural history museum, a planetarium, and a wide range of professional and amateur sports. The Texas Medical Center adjoins Hermann Park, which includes a zoo, a garden center, the Miller Outdoor Theater, the Museum of Natural Science, the Burke-Baker Planetarium, a golf course, tennis courts, jogging tracks, and picnic areas. The metropolitan area includes several large university campuses, the Lyndon B. Johnson NASA Manned Spacecraft Center installation, pubic parks, beaches for fishing and swimming alone the coast.

Programs of study and degree requirements
The Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine offers a research-oriented program of graduate studies that leads to the Ph.D. degree. This program applies the most current methods of molecular and cell biology, electrophysiology, biophysics, immunology, protein biochemistry, and pharmacology to the study of problems of physiological importance. The department participates in Baylor College of Medicine’s M.D. /Ph.D. Program, whose candidates may earn both the degrees of M.D. and Ph.D.

The departmental faculty members are very interactive with ongoing research in the areas of structure and function of ion channels and transport proteins, signal transduction, synaptic plasticity, cell-cycle control, reactive oxygen species, neuronal morphology, drug and gene delivery, and the development of biosensors for genetic diagnosis. In addition, knockout and transgenic nice are used for a number of different types of whole animal studies, including the study of muscle and cardiovascular function, learning and memory, and cancer.

Facilities & Resources
The department occupies 18,000 square feet of contiguous space with recently constructed laboratories and offices. It contains an array of modem facilities and instrumentation. There are laboratories for electrophysiology (voltage clamping, patch clamping, and planar lipid bilayer), protein biochemistry, immunology, cell culture, recombinant DNA, production of transgenic and genetic knockout mice, automated peptide synthesis and microsequencing, microscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Shared facilities include cold rooms, scintillation and gamma counters, molecular modeling workstations, ultracentrifuges, a P2/P3 facility, radioisotope preparation rooms, machine and electronics shops, and darkrooms. Central computational facilities are housed within the department, and all laboratories are connected to this facility via a local area network that also provides access to the central Baylor Computing Resources and to the Internet. The high level of collaboration among the various departments at Baylor College of Medicine and the other institutions in the Houston scientific community provides access to exceptional facilities. The library of the Texas Medical Center, across the street from Baylor college of Medicine, houses more than 175,000 books, subscribes to more than 3,000 journals, and offers access to more than 400 computer databases. A Learning Resource Center, open to students 24 hours a day, provides additional computer access and a quiet area for study.

Expenses and Aid
Costs for Ph.D. students are normally covered by scholarships awarded by the College. Tuition scholarships are available to all students. Stipends for entering Ph.D. students are $24,000 for the academic year. Health insurance is provided for students; additional financial aid is also available. Requests for information regarding financial aid should be addressed to the Financial Aid Office, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030. Tuition for the academic year is $9,700. Students pay a one-time matriculation fee of $25, a one-time graduation fee of $140 during the fourth year, and a student fee of $150 for first-year students and $20 for subsequent years. Students on temporary visas also pay an annual international services fee of $75 for an F-1 visa or $100 for a J-1 visa.

How to Apply
Applicants should hold a bachelor’s degree with sound preparation in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, and mathematics. They must submit GRE scores (the General Test and an Advanced Subject Test) that are not more than two years old at the time of application. If applying by mail, applicants should submit a $30 nonrefundable filing fee. There is no fee for application sent to the Graduated School directly over the Internet. The application should be accompanied by a statement of research interest and career goals and be supported by three letters of recommendation and official transcripts from all colleges attended. Applications must be submitted by February 1 for consideration for August admission; early application is greatly encouraged. The school year begins in August and ends in July; it consists of five terms, each eight weeks long.

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