Curriculum and Schedule
The Graduate Program in Development, Stem Cells, and Regenerative Medicine (DSRM) is an interdisciplinary, research-oriented, doctoral degree-focused graduate education program within the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati (UC). The curriculum for obtaining a PhD in the DSRM program spans several areas, including coursework, lab rotations and selecting a Research Advisor, successfully passing The Doctoral Candidacy Examination, presentations at the yearly DSRM Graduate Student Symposium, and completion and successful defense of a doctoral dissertation.
Coursework
In the first and second years, students will take courses in Developmental Biology, Molecular & Cellular Biology, Grant Writing, Regulation of Gene Expression and Ethics in Research as outlined below. In addition to these courses, Development and Disease is required in either the 1st or 2nd year.
In the second and third years, students complete their course requirements by taking a Statistics Course by the end of the third year of study. During this time, students can also choose further elective coursework in consultation with their Research Advisor.
In Years 3-5 the central focus is the research project, as well as attendance at weekly Seminars, DSRM Thesis Defenses and the annual Graduate Student Symposium.
Here is an example of the courses chosen by a typical first year DSRM student:
| Fall Semester | Spring Semester |
|
Developmental Biology Seminar (1 hr) |
Developmental Biology Seminar (1 hr) |
| Journal Club (1 hr) | Grant Writing (1 hr) |
| Developmental Biology Lab Research (3 hrs) | Developmental Biology Lab Research (4-6 hrs) |
| Intro to Developmental Biology (3 hrs) | Development and Disease (2 hrs Even Years) |
| Principles of Molecular and Cellular Biology (4 hrs) | Regulation of Gene Expression (3 hrs) |
| Ethics in Research (1 hr) |
Lab Rotations & Research Advisor
Students are required to complete a minimum of two laboratory rotations during the first year of study. In general, rotations should be no less than 6 weeks in length, with the suggested schedule listed below.
Students will be provided with a list of funded program faculty that are accepting rotation students from which to choose their rotation labs. Declaring a lab for thesis work is a mutual decision between student and advisor and can occur at any time during the first year, provided that at least two rotations have been completed.
Students must declare a thesis lab by June 30, following their matriculation in the program. The Research Advisor will serve as Chair of the Thesis Committee and assumes fiscal responsibility for students beginning with Year 2.
Suggested Rotation Schedule:
Rotation I: July-August (no required course work)
Rotation II: September-December
Rotation III: January-April
Rotation IV: as needed, under consultation with the Associate Director for Graduate Studies
The Doctoral Candidacy Examination
Each student in the DSRM Graduate Program must complete the Doctoral Candidacy Examination during Year 2. The process is typically completed in the Fall Semester for all students in the cohort.
The Doctoral Candidacy Examination is a requirement of the University of Cincinnati and represents one of the most careful evaluations of students' intellectual development and capability by the University and the Program.
To fulfill the basic requirement of the Candidacy Examination a student must formulate a research proposal in some aspect of Development, Stem Cells or Regenerative Medicine, using the format of an NIH grant application. The subject of the research proposal can be related to or completely different from the topic of the student’s dissertation research, but the central hypothesis and specific aims of the research proposal must be generated by the student, using either their own data or data gleaned from a selected paper.
The Doctoral Candidacy Committee will administer the candidacy examination and additional details are shared with students and their advisors during the spring prior to the examination.
Graduate Student Symposium
All students in their third year or beyond are required to present their work at the annual DSRM Graduate Student Symposium. Presentations take the form of oral presentations or posters.
First- and second-year students have the option to present a poster of their preliminary studies. Students who are defending their thesis in the fall semester are not required to present at the Symposium but should plan to attend.
Thesis Defense
Students must have at least one first author paper published, in press, or accepted in a peer-reviewed journal to be eligible to begin writing the dissertation. The paper(s) must represent, in the view of the student's Dissertation Committee, a significant contribution to the scientific literature.
The student's final defense of the dissertation will be open to the public and all members of the academic community. Following an oral presentation of the dissertation, the general audience is free to ask questions and make comments.
After the audience leaves the room, members of the Dissertation Committee will ask pertinent questions of the candidate. At the conclusion of the defense, the Dissertation Committee will make a decision with regard to the acceptability of the dissertation and its defense and report the outcome to the candidate.
