Student Community
The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School provides a collaborative environment that supports advancing health and biomedical discovery. As a master’s or doctoral student, you will receive a transformative academic experience that equips you with the knowledge and technical skills to create meaningful change in biomedicine.
UMass Chan offers three pathways to a PhD in biomedical sciences:
- Basic Biomedical Sciences Umbrella Pathway
- Biophysical, Chemical and Computational Biology Pathway
- Population Health Sciences Pathway
The Basic Biomedical Sciences Umbrella Pathway includes seven programs. Students in various pathways and programs are highlighted below.
Profiles
Lauren Intravaia, PhD candidate, Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology Program
Lauren Intravaia uses machine learning techniques to understand how drugs bind to their targets.
Qiu Yu (Judy) Huang, PhD candidate, Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology Program
Qiu Yu (Judy) Huang's thesis project uses cryo-electron tomography to study influenza viruses.
Jessica Peura, PhD candidate, Cancer Biology Program
Jessica Peura, MS, studies pancreatic cancer in the lab of Jason Pitarresi, PhD, assistant professor of medicine. She aims to create an animal model that could be a game changer.
Emmet Karner, PhD candidate, Cancer Biology Program
Emmet Karner studies an iron-dependent form of cell death called ferroptosis. Understanding the cell biological mechanisms that contribute to ferroptosis resistance in carcinomas could lead to new cancer therapy options and improve the prognosis for patients.
Sarah Cleveland, PhD candidate, Immunology and Microbiology Program
Sarah Cleveland studies T cells in the lab of Eric S. Huseby, PhD, professor of pathology. The lab studies how defects in T cell development can lead to autoimmune disease.
Megan Fowler-Magaw, PhD candidate, Neuroscience Program
Megan Fowler-Magaw studies a gene that is found in 97 percent of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. The TDP-43 gene is a transactive response DNA-binding protein.
Explore your research interests
PhD programs of study
Each pathway of study gives students the opportunity to foster intellectual curiosity
Basic Biomedical Sciences Umbrella Pathway
Participate in up to three research rotations during the first year of your PhD program. Later, you will select one of the following seven programs of study.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology Program: Focus on molecular, cellular and regulatory biochemistry, molecular biophysics, chemical biology and structural biology.
Cancer Biology Program: Study biochemistry, genetics, molecular and cell biology, and the clinical aspects of cancer to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human cancers.
Immunology and Microbiology Program: Examine the molecular and cellular basis of immune responsiveness; molecular mechanisms of viral replication; host-pathogen interactions and the control of viral, bacterial and parasitic infections.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Program: Utilize a combination of approaches to biomedical research that may include classical genetics, molecular genetics, genomics/proteomics, biochemistry, and light and electron microscopy.
Neuroscience Program: Explore areas such as the neural, molecular and genetic mechanisms that underlie nervous system development, learning and memory, addiction, glial responses to neuron injury, and circadian rhythmicity.
Systems, Computational and Quantitative Biology Program: Learn bioinformatic techniques, used for analyzing large-scale data, and how to analyze gene-regulatory networks, spatial architecture of genomes, metabolic networks, and epigenomics.
Translational Science Program: Discover solutions to clinical problems by applying the power of cutting-edge biological tools.
Biophysical, Chemical and Computational Biology Pathway
Apply quantitative skills at the interface of physical and biological sciences to solve pressing problems in biomedical sciences that require new and innovative approaches.
Population Health Sciences Pathway
Focuses on epidemiology, biostatistics and health services research.
Student Spotlight
-
Family dinner discussions spur UMass Chan MD/PhD student to research antibiotic effectiveness
-
Louisianian music teacher-turned PhD student researches how mindfulness impacts opioid users
-
PhD candidate engineers new RNA sequences to enable mRNA-based therapeutics
-
Inspired by his father, a Boston Municipal Court judge, MD/PhD student studies addiction