Biomolecular Chemistry
Cellular and Molecular Biology
History of Medicine and Program in Medical Ethics
Medical Genetics
Medical Physics
Microbiology Doctoral Training Program
Neuroscience Training Program
Oncology
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology
Physiology
Population Health (Preventive Medicine)


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Biomolecular Chemistry

The Department of Biomolecular Chemistry has long been recognized as one of the premiere Medical School-associated departments of biochemical sciences in the U.S. and throughout the world. A large number of seminal discoveries and advances have been achieved over the last century. These developments have occurred in diverse areas and include key observations in the role of steroid hormones in growth and development, the discovery of the involvement of phospholipid metabolism in hormone and neurotransmitter signal transduction, structure/function analyses of proteins such as the proton-translocating ATPases, the establishment of the properties of heat shock proteins and signaling molecules such as calmodulin and various protein kinases, and the determination of critical features associated with fungal genetics, RNA processing and the mechanisms of transcriptional and translational control. Our Ph.D. program is oriented toward training highly qualified scientists in the study of fundamental biochemical processes, especially in the areas of structure, function and chemistry of biological molecules. As a result, graduates of our department are recruited and hired by leaders in the biochemical industry and top-ranked biochemistry and molecular biology departments in the U.S. and abroad. The strength of our Ph.D. program, in large part, rests with our high faculty-to-graduate student ratio which allows students the benefits of daily dialogue and personalized training from internationally respected professors. Programs of study are tailored to the individual student, considering the student's interests and chosen field. In addition to lecture and lab courses, our Ph. D. program includes tutorials on special topics and journal clubs.

In addition to having one of the largest and best biology facilities in the world, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is noted for its cooperation and collaboration across departmental boundaries. The Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology is an important part of that interdepartmental strength, providing students the opportunity to work with more than 120 faculty in 28 different departments. Its large size has not made the Program impersonal, however, primarily because graduate students are represented on all standing committees of the Program, and play an active role in academic affairs and program development. The result is a flexible set of degree requirements that provide students and their research committees the liberty to design the most appropriate curriculum.

The Program also provides a focus for a number of research areas that are particularly strong at Madison. The interactions of many research groups within these areas offer further coherence to the Program.

We encourage you to examine the research opportunities described on this site and consider joining this unique graduate program.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison developed one of the earliest programs in medical history in the United States, beginning with a seminar in 1909. In 1947, Dr. Erwin H. Ackerknecht became the first professor of the history of medicine at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, which soon thereafter established a department. Since that time, the department has maintained a tradition of academic excellence in the history of medicine and is recognized today as one of the leading research and educational programs in the country.

In recent years, the Department of the History of Medicine has been expanding both its scope of interest and its faculty. In cooperation with the Department of the History of Science, it offers a course for graduate students leading to M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in the history of European and American medicine and public health. A joint program with the Department of History at the Ph.D. level has also been established. Students are encouraged to work in related fields such as history, history of science and technology, history of pharmacy, medical sociology, and medical ethics. During the academic year 1997-98, the Department will have 33 students studying at the graduate level, making the University of Wisconsin-Madison one of the largest programs in the United States.

Many students conduct their thesis research in the Genetics Building, which is a relatively new structure housing well-designed laboratories provided with all the equipment necessary for state-of-the-art genetic research. Students choosing professors with laboratories outside the Genetics Building find comparable facilities. Ancillary facilities such as greenhouses, constant-environment laboratories, a high-voltage electron microscope, and animal quarters are also available. In 1996 a new Genetics/Biotechnology Building was completed, approximately doubling the research space available to Genetics and making it one of the most modern facilities in the nation.

One of the basic science departments of the UW-Madison Medical School, the Department of Medical Physics offers comprehensive training in diagnostic and therapeutic medical physics and in health physics. Achievement of the M.S. or Ph.D. in this department reflects strong scholarship in one of the top medical physics programs in the United States. Graduates are prepared for teaching, research, and clinical physics positions in medical centers, national laboratories, and universities, and in the medical and nuclear technology industries.

The Department of Medical Physics seeks to create new applications of physics and apply them to the treatment and diagnosis of human disease. These efforts focus on the areas of (1) basic science, (2) anatomy, and (3) physiology where the analogies include the subspecialties of (a) basic science, (b) image science, and (c) therapy. We have faculty with extensive research efforts in ultrasonic imaging; conventional, digital, and transaxial radiography; magnetic resonance imaging, spectroscopy and functional determination; positron emission tomography and radio-tracer development; multidimensional radiation treatment and treatment planning; radiation dosimetry and biology; and magnetic field determinations for human functionality. We seek to provide excellence in medical physics training to our graduate students and to other health care professionals.

Medical Physics faculty maintain close collaborative ties with faculty in other departments, including Human Oncology, Radiology, Cardiology and Pharmacology, broadening the scope of the research opportunities open to medical physics students and providing access to sophisticated clinical facilities.

The Microbiology Doctoral Training Program offer Ph.D. degrees for studies dealing with the genetics, biochemistry, physiology, cell biology, and pathogenesis of prokaryotic and lower eukaryotic microorganisms. Areas of current research emphasize fundamental aspects of gene expression and regulation, microbial physiology, and structural analysis of proteins and nucleic acids. Work in these areas may be purely fundamental, with the goal of understanding one of these areas in greater detail, or may be directed basic research to provide both insight and practical use of new information. Research programs include aspects of metabolic diversity and regulation, protein and nucleic acid biosynthesis, immunology, bioremediation, environmental microbiology, biotechnology and industrial microbiology, and food microbiology.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison offers the Ph.D. degree in neuroscience through the Neuroscience Training Program. The Program is directed by an interdepartmental Training Committee, comprising approximately 25 faculty members and two student representatives. The Program offers only the Ph.D. degree, and progress toward this degree follows regular Graduate School procedures. Applications will be considered for the M.D.-Ph.D. degree program, which is sponsored in cooperation with the Medical School. Members of the Program come from various departments on campus, including Anatomy, Anesthesiology, Biochemistry, Biomolecular Chemistry, Comparative Biosciences, Entomology, Genetics, Kinesiology, Medical Sciences, Molecular Biology, Neurology, Neurophysiology, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Pathobiological Sciences, Pathology, Pediatrics, Pharmacology, Pharmacy, Physiology, Primate Center, Psychiatry, Psychology, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Zoology.

Faculty in the Program offer graduate research training of remarkable diversity spanning the entire breadth of modern neuroscience, from molecular through systems and cognitive, and involving applications that range from single-celled organisms to primates. This broad research scope is coupled with a commensurate level of freedom in reaching educational goals. There are, for example, few specific course requirements for the Ph.D. degree; instead, each student's training is tailored to meet individual needs. Students who are independent, who want to play a role in determining their graduate education, and who wish to combine concepts and techniques from different areas of neuroscience in their research will find the Program to be compatible.

The central mission of the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research is twofold: 1. To pursue outstanding research programs directed toward understanding the causes and biology of cancer and the factors that regulate normal and neoplastic growth and differentiation. 2. To provide training of the highest quality in basic cancer research at the graduate and postdoctoral levels.

The McArdle Laboratory offers a course of study and research leading to the Ph.D. degree and also provides advanced training for recent Ph.D. or M.D. graduates. The graduate curriculum provides the opportunity for advanced study in cellular, developmental, and molecular biology, as well as in the basic medical sciences. Since cancer research as a discipline is unusually broad, the curriculum requirements are designed to be flexible and to provide the students with a maximal opportunity for specialization within this multidisciplinary field.

The goal of our graduate program is to train scientists who will be able to establish themselves as independent researchers. Currently 52 students are enrolled in our predoctoral program in which they obtain degrees in Experimental Oncology, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Genetics, Bacteriology, Environmental Toxicology, or Pathology. All students accepted into our Laboratory receive financial support, either through a research assistantship or a predoctoral fellowship.

Pharmacology is the classic discipline for studying cellular signaling. Biochemistry, on the other hand, emphasizes traditionally the molecular characterization of cell components and their metabolism. No other biomedical discipline but Pharmacology comprises a comparable variety of conceptual and technical approaches toward an understanding of molecular and physiological processes. Modern molecular biology, protein biochemistry, immunology, cell biology, genetics, electrophysiology, and microscopy are well represented in the Program in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology. Students will be instructed thoroughly in these fields as well as in the unique principles of Pharmacology.

One major objective of the Program is to teach the students a fundamental understanding of the molecular basis of signal transducing systems and their regulation. The Program brings together an outstanding group of dedicated trainers with a focus on cellular signal transduction. Graduates of the Program will be well prepared for a career in basic biomedical sciences. The Program provides a unique training experience for young scientists who want to elucidate basic principles of cellular signal pathways. Detailed knowledge of these pathways is the most important prerequisite for the discovery of new drugs and the treatment of diseases.

To prepare graduate students for careers in teaching and research, the Department provides doctoral training in mechanistic studies of the functions of molecules, cells, tissues, and organ systems. Students gain knowledge and expertise through courses, from their research mentors, and by organized experiences in public speaking and teaching. The program is interdisciplinary in approach to scientific research, reflecting the interests of its faculty and the breadth of a discipline that spans molecular-, cellular-, and systems-level sciences.

After completing core courses, graduate students choose a concentration in some aspect of physiology, e.g., membrane biophysics, cardiovascular science, or cellular or systems neuroscience, which is achieved by selecting elective courses taught within the department or in other departments or programs in the university. Besides providing a background for specific areas of research, core and concentration courses are designed to familiarize students with material they will eventually teach as part of their career, as well as to train students in developing and delivering lectures, both in research and in classroom settings.

Training is grounded in epidemiology and biostatistics methodology and a synthesis of concepts and tools from the social sciences and econometrics important to the study of health and disease in populations. The program fosters skills and insights to address problems of disease causation and prevention, the multiple determinants of population health, optimal health care delivery and allocation of health-related resources. While the program is based on a sequence of core courses, students have the flexibility in consultation with the major professor to design a program of study and research tailored to their own area of interest.

Departmental faculty pursue a broad range of research including chronic, infectious, and environmental disease epidemiology, studies of medical outcomes, health economics, the determinants and measurement of population health status, and health administration and policy. Students have access to a library of large health databases and the faculty has a history of collaboration with the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, U.S. Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control.

Although the graduate program is housed in and administered by the Department of Preventive Medicine, the Program Faculty includes members from a number of other departments and centers in the Medical School, Sociology/Demography, Industrial Engineering, and the Schools of Nursing and Business. The multi-disciplinary character of the faculty, coupled with the diverse backgrounds of the students, provides a rich and stimulating training environment.