Ph.D. Program

Overview

Graduate students in the Pharmacology graduate program are trained rigorously in cellular, molecular, and integrative pharmacology to provide a foundation for their dissertation research. During their first two years they work in the laboratories of at least three faculty and choose a mentor from among the 27 Pharmacology Graduate Program Faculty members. Students are given an unusually wide range of opportunities for research, including cardiovascular pharmacology, cellular communication and signal transduction, studies in regulation of gene expression, membrane biophysics, muscle excitability and contractility, synapse formation, and neuronal growth and repair. These and other topics are discussed in pages describing the research interests of the molecular and cellular pharmacology graduate program faculty.

 Seminar Speaker Series

In addition to formal courses, the department has an active visiting speaker seminar program. Scientists of international repute are invited to present their research findings to the department. These visitors usually spend a day participating in informal discussions, including a meeting with the students in the pharmacology graduate program. Visiting speaker programs open to students are also available through other departments, and the Medical School sponsors numerous special colloquia for scientists of exceptional eminence. Click here to view the current schedule.

	We have a well-funded faculty with diverse research interests including: Regulation of cardiac growth, differentiation and apoptosis; cellular and genetic mechanisms of heart failure and cardiomyopathies Regulation of cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction Cancer and cell growth control; morphogenesis and cytoskeletal dynamics Mechanisms of steroid receptor and G protein-mediated signal transduction; structure/function analysis of membrane receptors Molecular biology of neuronal differentiation, axon growth and synapse formation Genomics, bioinformatics and genetic models of signal transduction Discovery and target identification of natural therapeutics; stem cell therapy for cardiac disease Click here to learn more about research being conducted by the graduate faculty >>>