Ph.D. Degree Program

A degree program is a list of coursework that you submit to the Graduate School as the basis for your degree. The Degree Program Form is available online. List only graduate level courses (one 4000 level course is permitted). When you file your degree program, the Graduate School appoints your examining committee. Once the degree program is approved, any changes must be petitioned to the Graduate School by submitting a Petition Form.

Core Areas & Electives

The minimum course credit requirements for a Ph.D. are 24 course credits and 24 thesis credits (BICB 8888). Students may choose a Minor and the choice of courses must satisfy the Minor requirements.

Ph.D. students are required to gain competency in Core Area 1 and at least two of the Core Areas 2-5 (total of at least 12 credits including Core courses with the BICB designator). The Core Areas are:

1. Biochemistry, molecular and cell biology
2. Database, data mining, and computing
3. Informatics, analysis, and machine learning
4. Mathematics, biostatistics and statistics
5. Computational and systems biology

Ph.D. students are required to take Elective courses from the following areas (at least twelve credits, including Elective courses with the BICB designator). Courses from the designated Core courses may count as Elective courses in addition to courses designated as Elective courses from the following eight areas:

1. Biochemistry, molecular and cell biology
2. Informatics, database, data mining, and computing
3. Mathematics, biostatistics and statistics
4. Chemistry, chemical engineering, and physics
5. Biophysics and structural biology
6. Imaging, information theory, and signal processing
7. Computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry and drug design
8. Clinical and translational sciences

There is a limit of one 4xxx level course counted in the total course credits. Courses that are used to satisfy course requirements in the Core Areas of the interdisciplinary program cannot simultaneously be used to satisfy credit requirements for a Minor. A maximum of 6 course credits in the Elective courses may be applied towards a Minor and thus count toward satisfying both the Elective and the Minor requirements.

Ph.D. students are required to complete a total of 120 hours of industrial or clinical internships or lab rotation(s) (collectively called internships). This is expected to be completed within the first two years and no later than by the end of the third year. If a student participates in an internship experience during the semester, he or she may sign up for BICB 8960 Internship Course (1 credit is equivalent to about 40 hours of participation per semester). Students are not required to register for internships but their participation will be tracked by the program (see Internships). Internships can be at any of the participating institutions or institutions/organization that are approved by the graduate program. Approved organizations are the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic, and IBM. Organizations will be added as appropriate. The internship requirement can be petitioned in cases of significant relevant prior experience. Details on the internship requirement are provided in Internships.

Ph.D. students are required to take two semesters of BICB 8920 (BICB Seminar) and four semesters of BICB 8930 (Journal Club). These credits do not count as Core or Elective Courses.

Ph.D. students are required to take one semester of BICB 8932 Proposal Writing. This seminar is taken in preparation for their preliminary written exam. This seminar does not count toward Core or Elective courses.

Ph.D. students will take at least 1 credit in Ethics and at least 1 credit of Leadership and Management courses (see the Course List) that cover the areas legal and intellectual property issues; academic leadership; science and technology leadership; and Clinical and translational research and entrepreneurship. These seminars or courses may count toward Elective courses.

Courses that are used to satisfy course requirements in the Core Areas of the interdisciplinary program cannot simultaneously be used to satisfy credit requirements for a Minor. A maximum of 9 course credits in the Elective courses may be applied towards a Minor and thus count toward satisfying both the Elective and the Minor requirements. This program adopts the Graduate School rule that at least two-thirds of the total number of course credits included in any degree program of a Ph.D. graduate student must be taken A-F. Rules for transferring courses from other programs follow Graduate School guidelines.