Biology, M.S. (Biomedical Sciences Concentration)

Biomedical Sciences Concentration

Graduate School Contact:

Gail Powers; powersg@etsu.edu; 423-439-4703

Dhirendra Kumar, Ph.D., Graduate Coordinator

423 Brown Hall
Box 70703
(423) 439-6928
e-mail: kumard@etsu.edu

Faculty:

Fred Alsop; Ranjan Chakraborty; Allan Forsman; T. J. Jones; Karl Joplin; Istvan Karsai; Dhirendra Kumar; Tom Laughlin; Foster Levy; Yusheng (Chris) Liu; Timothy McDowell; Cecilia McIntosh; Hugh Miller; Darrell Moore; Rebecca Pyles; Leonard Robertson; Blaine Schubert; James Stewart; Lev Yampolsky.

General Program Information

The Master of Science in Biology, with a concentration in Biomedical Sciences, is to prepare students to do research in industry, academia or a clinical environment. Students can work with any of the faculty in Biological Sciences or may be accepted into the laboratories of College of Medicine faculty. It also prepares students that may want to enroll in an MD/PhD program. It may be of interest to students who have performed well enough for graduate school admissions but are not fully prepared for medical school admissions and wish to take additional graduate level course work and improve their critical thinking skills through an intense research experience in  pure or applied biomedical sciences. The program has financial support through graduate assistantships and tuition scholarships. Decisions to offer support are generally made by March or April of each year and students are encouraged to submit all their materials by February 1.

Program Admission Requirements

Students applying for admission to graduate study:

1. Must submit a general GRE score.
2. Must have a 3.0 overall grade point average (4.0 system) in mathematics and science courses.
3. Must have an undergraduate major in the life or physical sciences, with supporting courses in general chemistry, one year of organic chemistry (microbiology concentration will accept one semester of organic and one semester of biochemistry), and one year of physics.
4. A course in calculus and/or a course in probability and statistics is recommended.
5. Must have 2-3 letters of recommendation submitted on their behalf.

Major Field Core: 12 credit hours

• BIOL 5500 - Biometry (3 credits)
• BIOL 5600 - Bibliographic Research (1 credit)

• Choose two of the following courses, at least one of which must be in BIOL:  

• BIOL 5100 - Topics in Cell and Molecular Biology (3 credits)
• BIOL 5200 - Topics in Organismal Biology (3 credits)
• BIOL 5300 - Topics in Ecology and Evolution (3 credits)
• BIOL 5400 - Topics in Systematic Biology (3 credits)
• BIOM 6010 - Biomedical Science I—Molecular Organization of Cells (3 credits)
• BIOM 6020 - Biomedical Science II - Gene Expression and Regulation (3 credits)
• Two semesters of BIOL 5700 Seminar  (1 credit each.)

Electives: 15 credit hours

Additional 15 credits of graduate courses at the discretion of the student’s graduate committee.

Other Credits: 3 credit hours

• BIOL 5960 - Thesis (1-3 credits) or
• HSCI 5960 - Thesis (1-3 credits)

Total Credits: 30