Admission Requirements:
Applicants are expected to have an accredited undergraduate degree in biology from an accredited institution. Candidates with other appropriate backgrounds will be considered. The following cognate undergraduate courses are required: general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and calculus.

In addition to the application form, a personal statement, three letters of recommendation, undergraduate and graduate transcripts and GRE general test scores are required for admission. The subject test in biology is recommended. If applicable, TOEFL scores are also required.

Bridge Program: To ensure academic success in their graduate studies, students may be required to take additional undergraduate or graduate courses before beginning graduate curricula. Such courses are not counted toward degree requirements.

Facilities:
Departmental equipment, housed at Rutgers-Newark, includes a microscope facility second-to-none in the state of New Jersey. This facility comprises scanning and transmission-electron microscopes, a confocal microscope, and five image-processing stations. In addition, the department boasts an oligo synthesizer, automated DNA sequencer, ultracentrifuges, phosphor-imager, scintillation and gamma counters, FPLC, and AAALAC-approved animal facility, and a greenhouse. Individual research laboratories house tissue culture facilities, electrophysiological equipment, fluorescence microscopes, and thermal cyclers. Additional facilities are available at neighboring institutions. Affiliations are maintained with UMDNJ and industrial research laboratories.

Degree Requirements:
A minimum of 30 credits is required. These must include at least one 3-credit course in each of four of the following five areas: cell biology and biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology, ecology, and plant biology. After taking one course from each of four of the five areas, students may choose to concentrate their remaining credits in any of these five areas. A research component may be satisfied by either writing a thesis or submitting a research paper. Students electing to write a thesis must complete a minimum of 24 credits of course work and 6 credits of research and must pass an oral defense of the submitted thesis. Students who choose the research paper option are required to take 30 credits of course work, pass a written comprehensive exam and complete a research paper.

Required:
30 credits selected in consultation with graduate advisor.

Thesis or Research Paper (required):
6 credits: master's thesis research, topic selected in consultation with graduate advisor or non-credit bearing research paper written on completion of 30 credits of course work.

The Ph.D. in Biology is designed to provide students with advanced knowledge of research in the areas of cell/mollecular/biochemistry, ecology/evolution, or computational biology.

Degree Requirements:

The doctoral curriculum in biology is divided into three tracks. Students may select the cell/molecular/biochemical, the ecology/evolution or computational biology track. Each track has a set of required courses that provide a formal foundation in research fields covered in each track. Students must earn at least a grade of B in order to receive credit for these courses. The remainder of the course work is chosen in consultation between the student and the advisor and the Standards Committee with permission of the graduate program director. During the first year all doctoral students undertake rotations through at least two departmental research laboratories.

Required:
36 credits of course work, including:
    Core courses.
    Advanced Problems in Biology (R120:509/510) Laboratory Rotations.
    Biology Colloquium (R120:651/652).
    Electives

36 credits minimum of doctoral dissertation research

CORE (required):
Computational Biology Track:
15 credits:

Formation of Dissertation Committee - After successful completion of the qualifying examination, the student chooses an advisor, begins research for the dissertation, and forms a dissertation committee. The dissertation committee for all students is composed of the student�s thesis advisor, and at least three other members of the graduate faculty. One member must be from outside the program. The dissertation committee administers at least one dissertation prospectus meeting and the final defense of the dissertation. In addition, the dissertation committee may meet with the student once every six months to assess the student's progress.