The graduate program in neuroscience includes faculty members from several departments representing neuroscience, cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, psychology, psychiatry, genetics, neurology, and animal sciences. Areas of specialization include production and analysis of mutant mouse activity; regulation of neural and glial gene expression; developmental neurobiology; autism; gliogenesis; neurogenesis; spinal cord injury; stem call biology; synaptic plasticity; and mechanisms and regulatory controls of learning and memory.

The program selects students on the basis of their academic records, Graduate Record Examination scores, references and research experience. A student must have an undergraduate cumulative grade-point average of at least B to be considered for admission. Prerequisite courses normally include biology, general and organic chemistry, calculus, and physics. Applications are accepted throughout the year, but normally are selected by January 1 for admission to study for the fall semester. Financial aid is provided to highly qualified students, and typically includes a stipend to cover living expenses and remission of tuition fees. The classes of direct support include: fellowships, graduate assistantships provided through research grants held by individual professors, NIH training grant, and teaching assistantships associated with individual teaching units of the program.

To be awarded a Ph.D. in neuroscience, the candidate must complete:

required coursework;
a qualifying examination and a dissertation proposal defense; and
an original research project under the supervision of a faculty adviser.

While course requirements vary with the area of specialization, all students must complete Advanced Neurobiology and at least one biochemistry-cell biology course for a total of 72 combined credits required for the Ph.D. degree. Of the 72 credits, at least 28 course credits (at a minimum B grade average) are required, of which 24 must be at the 500 level or above, including 8 seminar credits of Advanced Studies in Neuroscience and 1 credit of Ethical Scientific Conduct. Up to 44 research credits are also required to bring the required total to 72.

The neuroscience qualifying examination is administered in two parts that typically are taken in the second and third years of graduate study. The first part examines the ability to think critically about several topics after a period of reading primary publications on different topics with several faculty members. The second part is the oral defense of a thesis proposal that will serve as the foundation for completing dissertation research. When both written and oral parts of the qualifying examination have been judged by the student's committee to have been completed successfully, the student will be considered to have passed the qualifying examination and will then be advanced to candidacy and proceed to complete his or her dissertation research project.

For more information about joint Ph.D. degrees available in this program, see the Joint Programs section of the catalog.