STUDENT INFORMATION
Enrolled
Prospective
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PhD degree
The Health Sciences Center houses research laboratories where faculty members collaborate with researchers from the 13 other schools and colleges at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Projects of mutual interest may involve areas such as molecular biology, nutrition, agriculture and veterinary medicine. Faculty also conduct research in conjunction with the Molecular Biology Program, the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center and numerous other collaborative research programs.
Medical students and graduate students in the biomedical sciences compete in the annual Student Research Day by presenting research reports to faculty and students and defending their findings. Students who win represent the School of Medicine at research forums. Several MU students have won national awards and recognition for their research.
About graduate programs
- Biochemistry
In the department of biochemistry, student and faculty work side by side exploring challenging problems using modern scientific approaches and techniques. The department also is affiliated with the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. It provides a unique interdisciplinary environment in which to study the biochemistry of humans, plants, animals, fungi and bacteria.
- Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
The disciplines of microbiology and immunology encompass the study of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, yeasts, fungi, protozoa and some higher eukaryotes. The department focuses on the use of cellular, immunologic, biochemical and molecular biological techniques to study microorganisms that cause disease and the mechanisms that hosts use to respond to those microorganisms.
Research is conducted in the major subdisciplines of microbiology: pathogenesis, immunology, virology, molecular biology and molecular genetics. Faculty serve as national and international consultants and have made the department a major component of MU's Molecular Biology Program. Microbiology labs at MU contain state-of-the-art computer hardware and research equipment.
Specialized graduate-level courses are offered to cover the molecular aspects of bacteriology, genetics, immunology, virology, mycology and parasitology. A National Institutes of Health training grant supports predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows studying the molecular aspects of microbial pathogenesis.
Concepts important to understanding microbiology and immunology as components of human disease are covered in a problem-based education approach. Some students earn combined MD./Ph.D. degrees.
- Pathology and Anatomical Sciences
Pathology and the anatomical sciences bridge the basic sciences and clinical medicine. Pathology deals with all aspects of human disease while anatomical sciences are concerned with understanding the structural and functional relationships of the body's organ systems.
Faculty study a wide range of research topics. In clinical pathology, these topics include the immunopathology of infectious disease, identification of tumor suppressor genes and their inactivation, etiologic factors in transfusion-transmitted diseases and the roles of platelet membrane glycoprotein in platelet function. Applied research in the field of immunology and transfusion medicine include vaccine development and production of universally transfusable blood products.
In anatomical sciences, areas of study include fetal alcohol exposure as it influences development of the brain, studies of the opossum as an animal model for research and collaborative studies on urogualylin, a natriuretic peptide.
The staff in the Anatomic-Pathology Laboratory processes 15,000 surgical specimens each year, performs 680 postmortem exams and reviews 19,300 cytology specimens.
- Pharmacology
Current research projects in the Department of Pharmacology focus on the function and regulation of drug receptors; transmembrane signaling through the G proteins, the adenylate cyclase system, the phosphoinositide cycle and receptor-mediated regulation of membrane transport processes and energetics; and the pharmacokinetic properties of combinations of drugs.
Department laboratories are fully equipped to apply the techniques of pharmacology, physiology, biochemistry, chemistry and molecular biology to research projects.
- Physiology
Well-developed research programs within the Department of Physiology include the physiology and pathophysiology of cardiovascular, renal, endocrine, membrane, neural and cellular systems. The department has an outstanding national reputation that is reflected in the excellent federal grant support awarded to its faculty.
The department offers a doctorate in physiology, and graduate students are supported financially by federal training and research grants as well as assistantships. Students may consider a six-year program to obtain a joint MD./Ph.D. degree.
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