The Cell and Molecular Biology Predoctoral Training Program at the University of Pennsylvania is a University-wide, interdepartmental and interschool program for careers in modern biology. The group of trainers consists of approximately 300 senior and younger faculty from many parts of the University. These faculty are members of the Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Group. Graduate Groups, which are interdepartmental and interschool in membership and fully responsible for graduate education, are not the same as or coextensive with Departments. Individual Graduate Groups set requirements for degrees, admit and monitor the progress of students and eventually certify their degrees. This somewhat unusual arrangement, whereby graduate education is handled by Graduate Groups rather than Departments, promotes interaction among the many faculty having common interests in cell and molecular biology, and contributes strongly to the interdisciplinary spirit of graduate training and collaborative research in these areas at the University of Pennsylvania. The mission of the training grant is to support students with broadly defined interests in cell and/or molecular biology during the first two years of graduate training while they explore and refine their research interests. In general, incoming students are appointed for two years, and second year students are appointed for one year. Trainees are selected annually by an open and democratic process. Trainees are required to take a rigorous course in Cell Biology and Molecular Biology, attend the annual retreat of the Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Group, and participate in a weekly meeting in which each trainee presents a seminar once a year on either their rotation or thesis research. In addition, junior trainers present research seminars to the trainees. Trainees also choose a topic for and organize an annual symposium. The training program has formal mechanisms to monitor trainees both during and after their support from the training grant. In addition, the training program has formal mechanisms to monitor trainers, as well as to resolve any conflicts between trainees and trainers.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 278 publications
