The Reporter: June 1995, Vol.6, No.3
Degree Program In Neurobiology

The New York State Education Department's Board of Regents in February approved the establishment of an interdepartmental doctor of philosophy program in neurobiology at Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The program consolidates current education and research activities in Columbia's graduate school-including the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at CPMC and the Department of Biological Sciences on the Morningside Heights campus.

"It's naturally evolved that we should pool our resources and make the curriculum more coherent," says Dr. John Koester, acting director of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior and professor of clinical neurobiology and behavior at P&S.

The program requires completion of five courses for admission to Ph.D. candidacy: biochemistry, three neuroscience courses, and one course in the natural sciences selected in consultation with the student's advisory committee. Students are able to rotate through up to three laboratories before choosing one for dissertation research. They are required to pass a qualifying examination and prepare and defend a thesis proposal before receiving the M. Phil. degree and embarking on formal Ph.D. research.

"The main strength of the training and the research program as it stands is neurodevelopment and behavior, particularly the study of learning and memory," Dr. Koester says. "We've made recent initiatives to increase our strength in systems neurobiology, the study of the interactions between complex systems of neurons."

For admission, applicants need a baccalaureate degree with one full year each of biology, calculus, general and organic chemistry, and physics; an excellent undergraduate academic record; high Graduate Record Examination scores; and first-rate letters of recommendation from academic and research advisers.

The 37-member faculty come from the P&S departments of anatomy and cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biophysics, genetics, neurology, pathology, pharmacology, physiology and cellular biophysics, and psychiatry. Participating faculty from the Department of Biological Sciences at the Morningside campus are Dr. Martin Chalfie, professor; Dr. Stuart Firestein, associate professor; Dr. Darcy Kelley, professor; Dr. Eduardo Macagno, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and professor; and Dr. Mu-Ming Poo, professor.

Members of the program's steering committee are Dr. Jane Dodd, P&S associate professor of physiology and cellular biophysics; Dr. Thomas Jessell, P&S professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics and an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Dr. Kelley; Dr. Koester; Dr. Lorna Role, P&S associate professor of anatomy and cell biology; Dr. Stephen Siegelbaum, P&S professor of pharmacology and an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and Dr. Claudio Stern, P&S professor and chairman of genetics and development.