Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program
Founded in 1983, the Molecular and Cellular Graduate Program (MCB), is both the oldest and the largest of four interdisciplinary graduate programs in the life sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a nationally ranked research institution. MCB faculty’s annual grant expenditures currently stand at about $7.5 million. MCB’s strengths are the breadth of its faculty’s research interests, the interdisciplinary nature of its training, and the close mentoring and individual attention MCB students receive. Most of MCB’s 80 faculty are in life sciences departments on the UMass campus. Others are in life sciences departments on nearby campuses: Smith College, Mt. Holyoke College, Hampshire College and Amherst College. MCB faculty have close relationships with faculty/MDs at the Baystate Medical Center through the UMass/Baystate Collaborative Biomedical Research Program. There are currently 100 graduate students in MCB, mostly in the Ph.D. program. Approximately half are international students.
The Community
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is the flagship campus of the Commonwealth’s University system with 18,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students. The campus is located in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts near the Connecticut River surrounded by hills, forests, lakes and farmland. Outdoor recreational opportunities abound. The Amherst-Northampton area has a lively arts scene, theaters, music for all tastes, galleries and sports activities. Boston and New York City are just a few hours away. The diversity and cultural richness of the local communities provide almost limitless possibilities for personal growth and professional development. The “Five Colleges Consortium” links UMass Amherst academically with neighboring Amherst College, Smith College, Hampshire College and Mount Holyoke College. An efficient public transportation system links these campuses with surrounding towns and shopping malls.
Program of Study
In first year, Ph.D. candidates do lab rotations and take three core courses designed to build their analytical skills in biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology. At the end of the first year there is a written qualifying exam following which students select a dissertation laboratory. The second part of the qualifying examination, an oral defense of an original research proposal, comes at the end of the second year. After the first year students must take three advanced electives of their choice and attend the weekly seminars. They also sign up for a Journal Club each semester. There is a final oral defense of the written dissertation. Completion of the program requires approximately five years, including almost three years devoted to full-time research.
Facilities and Resources
Principal research labs, facilities and equipment are housed in the Lederle Graduate Research Center (Biochemistry and Chemistry), the nearby Morrill Life Sciences Center (Biology and Microbiology) and Paige Laboratory (Veterinary & Animal Science). Major research capabilities include generation of transgenic organisms (microbe, plant and animal), bioinformatics, radioisotope laboratories, facilities for monoclonal antibody and recombinant DNA work, a DNA sequencing service, a high field NMR facility, an imaging and microscopy facility, and a mass spectrometry facility. A variety of specialized equipment is also available in the adjoining Departments of Physics, Polymer Science and Engineering, and Computer and Information Sciences and in the physical and life science departments at the other four institutions in the Five Colleges, Inc. consortium, which includes Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, and Smith colleges, in addition to the University of Massachusetts. A new integrated science building for the campus is in the design stage. In addition to the labs and central facilities there is a 25-story central library building as well as separate Biological Sciences and Physical Sciences Libraries located in the Morrill Science Center and the Lederle Graduate Research Center respectively.
Financial Aid
Financial aid is available to all Ph.D. candidates. MCB students are principally supported by research assistantships. The program’s teaching requirement means that students are teaching assistants for one or two semesters, usually in the first year. Both TAs and RAs receive a total annual compensation package of $19,000. In addition, they get a tuition and fees waiver, and health and dental insurance is paid by the program or PI. Of the costs of travel to conferences is supported by the MCB program. Our students can compete for Graduate School Fellowships and there is a program in place to provide fellowships for underrepresented minority students. MCB students are eligible to participate in, and receive research assistantships from, the NIH-funded Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program, and students with biomedical interests can apply for a fellowship from the Biomedical Scholars Program through the UMass/Baystate Collaborative Research Program.
The support level of MCB research and teaching assistantships allows a modest, but not affluent, standard of living in the Amherst area. MCB students live off-campus, and housing costs in the immediate area range from about $500/month for a studio apartment to $1,500 for a large house. The availability of a good public transportation system means that even without a car living some distance from campus is feasible in which case rents may be lower.
How to Apply/ Application
Successful applicants to the MCB Program have a strong science background, including Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics through Calculus, and satisfactory scores on the Graduate Record Exam. A semester of Genetics, and courses in Cell Biology, Developmental Biology and Molecular Biology are advantageous. Strong candidates deficient in a core area may be admitted with the understanding that (s)he will make up the deficiency. Research experience is desirable. Three letters of recommendation and original transcripts are required. Students apply to the MCB Graduate Program via the UMass Amherst Graduate School whose website details the application procedure. The applications deadline is January 15 but late applications may be considered. More information and the graduate catalog, MCB brochures and application forms may be obtained via phone, email, or web contact as listed below.
Who to contact:
Doreen Fifield, Program Manager
Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program
435 Morrill Science Center
University of Massachusetts Amherst
639 North Pleasant Street,
Amherst, MA 01003-9298
Telephone: (413) 545-3246
Email: mcb@mcb.umass.edu
MCB Web address: http://www.bio.umass.edu/mcb
UMass Amherst Graduate School Web address: http://www.umass.edu/gradschool
THE FACULTY AND MAJOR RESEARCH INTERESTS
The MCB Program Director is Rod Murphey, Ph.D. His research interests focus on nervous system development, especially synapse formation and plasticity.
Faculty interests in the MCB Program fall broadly into two categories, Biological Chemistry and Cell & Developmental Biology. The Biological Chemistry group brings the synthetic, mechanistic and analytical powers of chemistry to bear on fields of biology like drug design, molecular recognition, structure- function relationships in biomolecules, cell signaling, functional genomics, and gene organization and regulation. Strengths are in: mechanisms of signal transduction, RNA structure, function and metabolism, protein-nucleic acid interaction, organelle assembly, protein folding, gene expression, structural biology, and bioorganic and bioinorganic chemistry. The Cell and Developmental Biology group’s research interests focus on the molecular aspects of cellular and developmental biology. Strengths include neural development, structural cell biology and imaging, cell death and degeneration, and reproductive biology. Faculty have expertise in a variety of model systems including Drosophila, zebrafish, and mouse. Opportunities exist for students to couple basic and biomedical approaches through the Biomedical Scholars Program within the UMass/Bay State Collaborative Program. These are informal research interest groupings and do not represent formal academic divisions within the MCB Program
Within the two broad groupings the interests of MCB Faculty can be further divided. Collaborations are common among group members; many of our faculty’s research interests place them in more than one group.
Biomedicine/Biotechnology
This group investigates the genetic mechanisms of human disease using model systems from microbial to mammalian to investigate mechanisms of susceptibility and mutation, to develop new strategies for treatment and diagnosis of disease; develop environmental and agricultural technology. Faculty in this group include Kathleen Arcaro, Cynthis Baldwin, Sam Black, Joseph Jerry, and Barbara Osborne (Veterinary & Animal Science Department), Susan Cumberledge, Molly Fitzgerald-Hayes, Maurille Fournier, Dan Hebert, Jennifer Normanly (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department), John Nambu and Larry Schwartz (Biology Department), Len Norkin (Microbiology Department), David Ratner (Biology Department, Amherst College), Vincent Rotello (Chemistry Department), and Stan Scordilis (Biology Department, Smith College)
Cell Biology
This group’s interests include genetic control of morphogenesis, organization of the cell nucleus and cell cycle control, organization of organelles, cytoskeletal dynamics, protein trafficking, and cell motility. Members include Alice Cheung, Molly Fitzgerald-Hayes, David Gross, Daniel Hebert, and Danny Schnell (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department), Peter Hepler, Patricia Wadsworth, and Chris Woodcock (Biology Department), Richard Poccia (Biology Department, Amherst college) and Stan Scordilis (Biology Department, Smith College)
Developmental Genetics
This large group’s interests range from oogenesis and embryonic development through cloning and programmed cell death. “Model” organisms used by this group include C. elegans, Drosophila, zebrafish, mouse, and plants including Arabadopsis thaliana. Members include Vivian Budnik, Elizabeth Connor, Rolf Karlstrom, Joe Kunkel, Rod Murphey, John Nambu, Randall Phillis, Larry Schwartz, and Tom Zoeller (Biology Department), Maura Cannon, Alice Cheung, Susan Cumberledge, Jennifer Normanly, and Hen-Ming Wu (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department), Rafael Fissore, Debbie Good, and Barbara Osborne (Veterinary & Animal Science Department), Nancy Forger (Psychology Department), J. Marshall Clark (Entomology Department), Dick Poccia (Biology, Amherst College), Dany Adams and Christine White-Ziegler (Biology, Smith College), Craig Woodard (Biology, Mt. Holyoke College)
Function of Subcellular Assemblies
This group focuses on how proteins interact with one another to generate the complexes that underlie the formation of intracellular structures and serve as “molecular machines” that carry out the metabolic, reproductive and physical work of the cell. Faculty whose interests are included in this group include Maura Cannon, Alice Cheung, Lila Gierasch, David Gross, Dan Hebert, Jennifer Pinkham, and Danny Schnell in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department, Stan Scordilis (Smith College), and Patricia Wadsworth and Chris Woodcock (Department Head) of the Biology Department.
Microbiology, Immunology, Host-Microbe Interactions
This group has strengths in the development and function of the immune system in the context of immunity to pathogens and the development of vaccines and disease-resistant plants and animals. Maura Cannon (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department), Cynthia Baldwin, Sam Black, and Barbara Osborne (Veterinary & Animal Science Department), John Burand (Entomology Department), Susan Leschine (Microbiology Department), Dick Goldsby and Pat Williamson (Biology, Amherst College), Steve Williams (Biology, Smith College)
Neural Development, Brain Differentiation and Function
This group focuses on the development of the CNS in two main groups: the Drosophila group and the mammalian group with zebrafish in between. Interests include neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and neural cell death and degeneration. Members include Eric Bittman, Vivian Budnik, Elizabeth Connor, Rolf Karlstrom, Rod Murphey, John Nambu, Randall Phillis, Larry Schwartz, and Tom Zoeller (Biology Department), Susan Cumberledge (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department), Geert DeVries, Nancy Forger, and Jerry Meyer (Psychology Department) and Debbie Good (Veterinary & Animal Science Department)
Neuroendocrinology
The neuroendocrine group focuses on studies of the control of endocrine secretions by the hypothalamic-pituitary axis and behavioral responses in vertebrates. Members include Eric Bittman, Sandra Petersen, and Tom Zoeller (Biology Department), Jeffrey Blaustein, Geert DeVries, and Nancy Forger (Psychology Department), Debbie Good (Veterinary & Animal Science Department), and Chih-Ming Yin (Entomology Department)
Nucleic Acids and Nucleoprotein Complexes
Interests in this group include relationships between structure and function in DNA, RNA and their complexes with proteins, including chromosome architecture and movement, DNA replication and repair, transcription and processing of RNA, and the assembly and properties of ribosomes. Group members include Molly Fitzgerald-Hayes, Maurille Fournier, and Robert Zimmermann in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department, Craig Martin (Chemistry), Steven Sandler (Microbiology), and Chris Woodcock (Head, Biology Department)
Plant Cell Biology and Development
The common interest of this group is plants including plant development, genetics, signaling, reproduction, cell division and cell death, and plant stress response. Members include Maura Cannon, Alice Cheung, Jennifer Normanly, and Hen-Ming Wu (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department), Peter Hepler and Elsbeth Walker (Biology Department) and Kalidas Shetty (Food Science Department)
Reproductive Biology/Early Embryonic Development
This groups interests span reproductive endocrinology, early embryonic development, activation of sperm nuclei and oocyte changes following fertilization, development of sex differences, the role of maternal hormones in fetal development, and plant reproduction. (Kathleen Arcaro and Rafael Fissore (Veterinary & Animal Science Department), Jeffrey Blaustein (Psychology Department), Maura Cannon, Alice Cheung, and Hen-Ming Wu (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department), Peter Hepler and Sandra Petersen (Biology Department), Rachel Fink (Biology, Mt. Holyoke College), and Dick Poccia (Biology, Amherst College) (1,195 words)
Signal Transduction and Cell-Cell Communication
This group studies pathways that regulate cellular responses and consequences including ligand-mediated signaling pathways that influence cell proliferation and movement, cell-cell interactions in embryonic development and plant reproduction, the contraol of cell mobility by transmembrane messages, cell surface receptors, transcription and migration. The group includes Alice Cheung, Susan Cumberledge, Molly Fitzgerald-Hayes, David Gross, Jennifer Normanly, Hen-Ming Wu, all of the Biochemistry & Molceular Biology Department, Len Norkin (Microbiology Department), Craig Martin, Lynmarie Thompson, Robert Weis (Chemistry Department), Barbara Osborne (Veterinary & Animal Science Department)
Structural Biology and Molecular Design
This group investigates the mechanisms that drive a variety of molecular interactions, including metal ions in enzymes, protein-protein and DNA-protein interaction, RNA catalysis, transmembrane transport and signaling, protein folding and stability and drug design. Faculty with these interests include Lila Gierasch (Department Chair, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology), David Hansen (Amherst College), Igor Kaltashov, Michael Maroney , Craig Martin, Vincent Rotello, Lynmarie Thompson, and Bob Weis (Chemistry Department), and Murugappan Muthukumar (Polymer Science Department)