The Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) is home to an interdisciplinary group of world-class scientists and laboratories. Its mission to advance biological research beyond traditional boundaries is supported by innovative research centers and state-of-the-art resources located on an academic campus enriched by museums, libraries, symposia, and events. It is this interdisciplinary and collaborative culture—motivated by a passion for scientific discovery —that makes MCB an exciting place to study the unsolved questions in biology. We train our graduate students to be the next generation of life scientists: creative, independent, and productive researchers working in academe, medicine, industry, law, business, or nonprofit sector.

Please go to www.mcb.harvard.edu for more information on our faculty and labs; research facilities and resources; admissions and financial aid; training programs and degree requirements; current graduate students and graduate student life. If you plan to visit Boston, we will be glad to arrange informational interviews with MCB faculty and students. Questions? Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 617-495-4107.

Training Programs

The Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology offers three interdisciplinary training programs in the life sciences leading to a PhD in Biology or Biochemistry. The AM degree is conferred as a non-terminal degree to mark the completion of the candidacy (pre-qualifying) requirements.

Engineering and Physical Biology Training Program (EPB). Nancy Kleckner, Program Director. Offered in partnership with the Department of Physics and the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, EPB trains a new generation of scientists to view living systems through the lens of physics and engineering.

Genetics and Genomics Training Program (GGTP). William Gelbart and Daniel Hartl, Program Directors. Offered in partnership with the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, GGTP prepares young scientists for a new generation of genetic research from subcellular signaling mechanisms to organisms in populations.

Molecular, Cellular, and Chemical Biology Training Program (MCCB). Gregory Verdine and Tom Maniatis, Program Directors. Offered in partnership with the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, MCCB prepares students to solve scientific problems through both chemical and biological approaches.

Admission and Financial Aid

Admission. Students considering graduate work should request an application from:
Office of Admissions and Financial Aid

        Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
        Holyoke Center, 3rd floor
        1350 Massachusetts Avenue
        Cambridge, MA 02138

We encourage prospective students to submit their applications online at
https://apply.embark.com/grad/Harvard/GSAS .

Applications for admission are accepted from students who have received a bachelor’s degree or equivalent training. First-year -graduate studies normally begin in September. Completed applications and all supporting materials, including letters of recommendation, are due at the above address on December 8 for assured consideration for the following fall. Late applications will not be considered.

Recruiting visits for well-qualified candidates are arranged by our admissions committee for February. These visits bring potential candidates to our Cambridge campus to meet with faculty and students.

Financial Support. All students admitted to the program are fully supported throughout their graduate careers, provided they maintain satisfactory progress. Students are expected to complete graduate work to obtain the degree within five years. Ordinarily, financial support will not be provided beyond the sixth year.

Scholarship support may be supplemented by teaching fellowships after a period of required teaching has been completed. Applicants may also seek fellowship support from sources outside the University such as the National Science Foundation. By the end of September, applicants should request fellowship applications from their undergraduate institution.

Undergraduate Preparation

Entering students should have a record of introductory courses in chemistry, biology, physics, and mathematics. The courses listed below are not to be regarded as prerequisites for admission to graduate study, but most admitted students have completed these courses during their undergraduate years.
        Biology —
                A general course in biology and two terms of biology at a more advanced level
        Biochemistry
        Organic chemistry
        Physical chemistry
        Laboratory in biology, biochemistry, or instrumental analysis
        Physics — A general elementary course in physics
        Mathematics — A basic knowledge of differential and integral calculus.
               Competence in elementary programming is also desirable.

Graduate Record Examinations. Applicants are required to take the General Graduate Record Examinations (GREs), and to present the scores with their application. Applications without GRE scores are considered incomplete. Students are strongly encouraged to take a subject exam. Prospective students who take both exams in the fall (September or October) can be sure that their scores will be available by the December 8 deadline.

Program of Study

The First Year
Coursework. Each term students enroll in three courses with laboratory rotations counting as a fourth course (see below). Students are generally expected to choose from a select list of courses recommended by their particular training program. The training program committees meet with students individually before the start of each term to review and recommend a host of interdisciplinary course offerings in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. Students may also cross-register in courses offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A shuttle bus serves Harvard and MIT.

Laboratory Rotations. In the first year, students spend their first term carrying out experimental research in the laboratories of faculty members. During the laboratory rotations, students are able to interact with individual faculty members and explore possible subjects for future dissertation research. The fall term is divided into three rotation periods. Students may choose to carry out an additional rotation during the summer preceding their first year.

Dissertation Research. Each student arranges for a permanent faculty dissertation advisor and begins dissertation research by the end of the first term.

Foreign Languages. There is no foreign language requirement for the PhD degree.

After the First Year

Acceptance for Candidacy. MCB students are evaluated in the spring of their second yearby a faculty committee that meets with students to discuss their dissertation proposal. Students accepted for candidacy arrange to meet annually with their dissertation committee. In the fourth year, students make a formal presentation in preparation for their upcoming dissertation defense.

Dissertation Defense. Four to five years of full-time research is required for completion of the PhD degree. Completed research is presented for approval as a written dissertation. Granting of the degree requires the approval of a faculty advisor committee that reviews the dissertation on its contents. The candidate will also be called upon to demonstrate the ability to formulate and defend original ideas on -scientific topics not directly related to the subject of the dissertation.

Teaching. Students are required to serve as teaching fellows for two terms. Generally students teach for one term each in their second and third years. In one of these terms, students must teach in one of the major undergraduate courses required by their particular training program. Once required teaching has been completed, students teach for an additional term with approval from the director of graduate studies.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Academic Residence. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences requires a minimum of two years of full-time study in residence. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Handbook describes the regulations and rules that apply to students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Dissertation. Candidates will submit copies of their dissertation to all members of their advisory committee at least three weeks before the date of their dissertation defense. The dissertation should include an abstract of not more than 350 words, stating the purpose, main results, and conclusions of the dissertation research. Procedures and requirements for the final dissertation manuscript are described in The Form of the PhD Dissertation at www.gsas.harvard.edu .

2006-07 Dissertations

William Jude Anderson. MCCB. “Global Endoderm Targeting in the Early Embryo” (Melton Lab).
Chester Chamberlain. MCCB. “Tracking sonic hedgehog with green fluorescent protein during patterning of the mouse neural tube” (McMahon Lab).
Xie Chen. MCCB. “Cytoskeletal remodeling during human Natural Killer cell cytotoxicity” (Strominger Lab).
Philip Choi. MCCB. “Characterization of MicroRNAs Mediating Olfactory Neurogenesis” (Dulac Lab).
Frances Chu. MCCB. “Regulatory pathways governing biofilm formation in Bacillus subtilis” (Losick Lab).
Caitlin Ferguson. GTTP. “Functional analysis of the sigma-K regulon in Bacillus subtilis” (Losick Lab).
Jae Jo Hur. GGTP. “Duplication and Divergence of regions containing hsp82 before the separation of two bdelloid families, Adinetidae and Philodinidae” (Meselson Lab).
Gregory Lang. GGTP. “The Mutation rate variation in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae” (Murray Lab).
JJ Miranda. MCCB. “Structure of the yeast DASH complex, a kinetechore-microtubule interface” (Harrison Lab).
Jamila Newton. GGTP. “Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptic Vesicle Trafficking” (Murthy Lab).
William John Palframan. GGTP. “Spindle Checkpoint Regulation in Budding Yeast” (Murray Lab).
Ross Vincent Perak. MCCB. “Functional Characterization of the Role of Fez-like in the Specification of Vomeronasal Sensory Neurons” (Dulac Lab).
Ayellet Segre. GGTP. “Genetic mapping of experimental evolution in yeast” (Murray Lab).
Martin Willensdorfer. GGTP. “The Evolution of Multicellularity and Phenotypic Rates” (Nowak Lab).

Faculty

Howard C. Berg, Herchel Smith Professor of Physics; Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Motile behavior of bacteria.

John E. Dowling, Harvard College Professor; Llura and Gordon Gund Professor of Neurosciences. Structure, function, development and genetics of the vertebrate retina.

Victoria M. D’ Souza, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Structural biology of retrovirus replication.

Catherine Dulac, Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Chair of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Molecular and developmental biology of olfactory and pheromone sensing.

Kevin Eggan, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology; Assistant Investigator of the Stowers Medical Institute; Principal Investigator of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Cloning by nuclear transplantation, epigenetic reprogramming and human ES cell based models of disease.

Florian Engert, Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Processing of visual information in tadpoles and zebrafish.

Raymond L. Erikson, John F. Drum American Cancer Society Professor of Cellular and Developmental Biology. Reversible phosphorylation in cell proliferation.

Nicole Francis, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Biochemistry of epigenetic inheritance by polycomb group proteins.

Rachelle Gaudet, Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Structural studies of ion channels and transporters; X-ray crystallography.

William M. Gelbart, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Developmental genetics; genomics; bioinformatics.

Guido Guidotti, Higgins Professor of Biochemistry. Structure and function of membrane proteins.

J. Woodland Hastings, Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor of Natural Sciences. Biochemistry of bioluminescence; mechanism of the circadian cellular biological clock.

Takao Hensch, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Experience-dependent brain development; critical periods.

Craig P. Hunter, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. C. elegans genetics and genomics and intercellular RNA transport.

David Jeruzalmi, Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Structure and function of the nucleo-protein complexes that are utilized to replicate chromosomal DNA.

Nancy Kleckner, Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Biology. Chromosomes; motion, mechanics, DNA dynamics and spatial patterning.

Samuel Kunes, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Neural development, function. and behavior.

Jeff Lichtman, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Synaptic structure and competition.

Richard Losick, Harvard College Professor; Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. Gene regulation and development in microorganisms.

Tom Maniatis, Thomas H. Lee Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Mechanisms of gene regulation.

Andrew P. McMahon, Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science. Unraveling the developmental logic underlying function, repair and evolution of the mammalian kidney.

Markus Meister, Jeff C. Tarr, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Function of neuronal circuits.

Douglas A. Melton, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor in the Natural Sciences; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Developmental biology of the pancreas with the longterm aim of making insulin- producing beta cells for the treatment of diabetes.

Matthew S. Meselson, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences. Molecular genetics and evolution.

Matthew Michael, Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Genomic instability.

Andrew W. Murray, Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Genetics, Director of Bauer Fellows Program. Mitosis, meiosis, experimental evolution, and signal transduction.

Venkatesh N. Murthy, Morris Kahn Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Neuronal cell biology, synaptic transmission and plasticity.

David R. Nelson, Arthur K. Solomon Professor of Biophysics; Professor of Physics and Applied Sciences. Force-induced denaturation of DNA, sequence heterogeneity and the dynamics of motor proteins, population growth and mutation in disordered media.

Axel Nohturfft, Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Membrane biology.

Erin O’Shea, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Director of FAS Center for Systems Biology; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Systems levels and molecular analysis of signaling pathways; transcriptional regulatory networks.

Joshua Sanes, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology; Paul J. Finnegan Family Director, Center for Brain Science. Synapse formation.

Alexander Schier, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Developmental genetics and neurobiology.

Stuart L. Schreiber, Morris Loeb Professor of Chemical Biology; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Chemical genetics and chemical genomics.

Jack L. Strominger, Higgins Professor of Biochemistry. Molecular basis of immune recognition.

Naoshige Uchida, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Neural basis of olfactory coding and decision making.

Gregory Verdine, Harvard College Professor and Erving Professor of Chemistry. Structural biology, chemical biology. Structure and function of DNA-and RNA-processing enzymes, small-molecule RNA interference.