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Department of Biological Sciences


Division of Natural Sciences
Columbia University, New York, New York



Detailed Information

Program of Study


The Department offers training leading to a Ph.D. in cellular, molecular, developmental, computational, and structural biology; genetics; molecular biophysics; and neurobiology. The graduate program provides each student with a solid background in contemporary biology and an in-depth knowledge of one or more of the above areas. The specific nature and scheduling of courses taken during the first two graduate years are determined by the student’s consultation with the graduate student adviser, taking into account the background and specific research interests of the student. During the first year, all students take an intensive core course that provides a solid background in structural biology, cell biology, genetics, molecular biology, and bioinformatics.

Beginning in the first year, graduate students attend advanced seminar courses, including the preresearch seminar, which is a forum for faculty-student research discussion. Important components of graduate education include the ability to analyze critically the contemporary research literature and to present such analyses effectively through oral and written presentations. Students acquire training in these skills through participation in advanced-level seminars and journal clubs, as well as through presentation and defense of original research proposals during the second year of graduate study.

Beginning in the first year of graduate work, students also engage in research training. Students may choose laboratories in the Department of Biological Sciences on Columbia’s main Morningside Heights Campus or in about twenty-five other laboratories, including many at Columbia’s Health Sciences Campus. To inform incoming students of research opportunities, faculty members discuss ongoing research projects with them in the preresearch seminar held in the autumn term of the first year. All students are required to participate in ongoing research in up to three different laboratories during the first year. The choice of a dissertation sponsor is made after consultation between the student and potential faculty advisers, and intensive research begins following the spring term of the student’s first year. Each student is assigned a Ph.D. Advisory Committee made up of the student’s sponsor and 2 other faculty members.

Research Facilities


The Department of Biological Sciences is located in the Sherman Fairchild Center for the Life Sciences. The building provides nearly 60,000 square feet of laboratory space for the Department’s laboratories, as well as extensive shared instrument facilities, including extensive sophisticated microscopy, X-ray diffraction, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), real-time PCR analysis, mass spectrometry, infrared scanning, phosphorimaging, and microinjection, as well as housing and care of research animals, including transgenic mice.

Financial Aid


All accepted students receive generous stipends, complete tuition exemption, and medical insurance. Special fellowships with larger stipends are also available (e.g., to members of minority groups).

Cost of Study


Tuition and fees are paid for all graduate students accepted into the Department.

Living and Housing Costs


Most students live in University-owned, subsidized apartments or dormitories within easy walking distance of the laboratories. In addition, both the Morningside and Health Sciences Campuses are easily reached by public transportation from all areas of the city.

Student Group


There are about 110 graduate students and 60 postdoctoral fellows in the Department.

Location


New York is the cultural center of the country and offers unrivaled opportunities for attending concerts, operas, plays, and sporting events, for visiting outstanding museums, and for varied, affordable dining. Many excellent beaches, ski slopes, and state and national parks are within reasonable driving distance.

The University and The Department


Columbia was established as King’s College in 1754 and has grown into one of the major universities of the world. The Department is located on the beautiful main campus in Morningside Heights, which combines the advantages of an urban setting and a peaceful college-town atmosphere.

Applying


Undergraduate training in one of the natural or physical sciences is recommended, although successful students have come from computer science or engineering backgrounds, as well. It is desirable for students to have had at least one year of calculus, as well as courses in organic and physical chemistry, physics, genetics, biochemistry, and cell biology. Any deficiencies may be made up while in graduate school. The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is required, as is the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) for international applicants whose native language is not English and who do not hold an undergraduate degree from a U.S. college. The GRE Subject Test in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, or physics is highly recommended. Completed applications should be returned by December 1 for admission to the fall semester. Application forms and additional information can be obtained from the Department’s Web site.

Columbia University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action institution.

The Faculty and Their Research


  • Walter J. Bock, Professor; Ph.D., Harvard, 1959. General evolutionary theory; evolutionary and functional morphology; morphology and classification of birds; history and philosophy of evolutionary biology.
  • J. Chloë Bulinski, Professor; Ph.D., Wisconsin, 1980. Dynamics and functions of microtubules during myogenic differentiation and cell-cycle progression.
  • Harmen Bussemaker, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Utrecht (Netherlands), 1995. Data-driven modeling of transcriptional and posttranscriptional networks based on biophysical principles.
  • Martin Chalfie, Professor; Ph.D., Harvard, 1977; Member, National Academy of Sciences and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2008. Developmental genetics of identified nerve cells in Caenorhabditis elegans; genetic analysis of cell differentiation, mechanosensory transduction, synapse specification, and aging.
  • Lawrence A. Chasin, Professor; Ph.D., MIT, 1967. Pre-mRNA splicing in cultured mammalian cells.
  • Julio Fernandez, Professor; Ph.D., Berkeley, 1982. Study of the cellular events that lead to the release of histamine or catecholamine-containing secretory granules from single, isolated mast cells or chromaffin cells; analysis of single-protein elasticity by atomic force microscopy (AFM).
  • Stuart Firestein, Professor; Ph.D., Berkeley, 1988. Cellular and molecular physiology of transduction; coding and neuronal regeneration in the vertebrate olfactory system.
  • Joachim Frank, Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Ph.D., Munich Technical, 1970; Member, National Academy of Sciences. Cryoelectron microscopy and three-dimensional reconstruction for the study of the mechanism of protein biosynthesis.
  • John F. Hunt, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Yale, 1993. Structural genomics and biophysical studies of the molecular mechanism of transmembrane transport.
  • Songtao Jia, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., UCLA, 2003. Epigenetic regulation of the genome.
  • Daniel D. Kalderon, Professor; Ph.D., London, 1984. Molecular mechanisms of cellular interactions mediated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) in Drosophila; roles of PKA in hedgehog signaling and in generating anterior/posterior polarity in oocytes.
  • Darcy B. Kelley, Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor; Ph.D., Rockefeller, 1975. Sexual differentiation of the nervous system; molecular analyses of androgen-regulated development in neurons and muscle; neuroethology of vocal communication; evolution of the nuclear receptor family.
  • James L. Manley, Professor; Ph.D., SUNY at Stony Brook, 1976. Regulation of mRNA synthesis in animal cells; biochemical and genetic analysis of mechanisms and control of mRNA transcription, splicing, and polyadenylation; developmental control of gene expression.
  • Elizabeth Miller, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., La Trobe (Australia), 1999. Protein folding, assembly, and the regulation of intracellular protein transport.
  • Dana Pe’er, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Hebrew (Israel), 2003. Function and organization of molecular networks.
  • Robert E. Pollack, Professor; Ph.D., Brandeis, 1966. Critical analysis of issues involving molecular biology and religion.
  • Carol L. Prives, Professor; Ph.D., McGill, 1968; Member, National Academy of Sciences and National Institute of Medicine. Structure and function of the p53 tumor suppressor protein and p53 family members; studies on cell cycle and apoptosis; stress-activated signaling and control of proteolysis.
  • Ron Prywes, Professor; Ph.D., MIT, 1984. Normal and cancerous mechanisms of regulation of cellular proliferation and gene expression; signal transduction and activation of transcription factors; activation of transcription by the ER stress/unfolded protein response.
  • Michael P. Sheetz, Professor; Ph.D., Caltech, 1972. Motility studies of cells and microtubule motor proteins, with an emphasis on the force-dependent interactions relevant to transformed cells and neuron pathfinding, using laser tweezers.
  • Brent Stockwell, Associate Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Ph.D., Harvard, 1997. Diagramming disease networks with chemical and biological tools.
  • Liang Tong, Professor; Ph.D., Berkeley, 1989. Structural biology of proteins involved in human diseases (obesity, diabetes, cancer); structural biology of proteins involved in pre-mRNA 3'-end processing.
  • Alexander A. Tzagoloff, Professor of Biological Sciences; Ph.D., Columbia, 1962. Energy-coupling mechanisms; structure of membrane enzymes; biogenesis of mitochondria; genetics of mitochondria in yeast.
  • Jian Yang, Professor; Ph.D., Washington (Seattle), 1991. Structure and function of ion channels; molecular mechanisms of ion channel regulation and localization.
  • Rafael Yuste, Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; M.D., Madrid, 1987; Ph.D., Rockefeller, 1992. Development and function of the cortical microcircuitry.
  • Additional Faculty Sponsors for Ph.D. Research
  • Richard Axel, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics/Pathology and Cell Biology; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2004; Member, National Academy of Sciences. Central and peripheral organization of the olfactory system.
  • Andrea Califano, Biomedical Informatics. Study of gene regulatory and signaling networks in mammalian cellular contexts using computational methods.
  • Virginia Cornish, Chemistry. Development of in vivo selection strategies for evolving proteins with novel catalytic properties.
  • Jean Gautier, Genetics and Development/Institute for Cancer Genetics. Cell cycle and cell death during early development.
  • Eric C. Greene, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Molecular mechanisms of DNA recombination and repair; single-molecule fluorescence microscopy and other biochemical approaches.
  • Lloyd Greene, Pathology and Cell Biology. Mechanisms of neuronal differentiation and degeneration and their regulation by external growth factors.
  • Iva Greenwald, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Member, National Academy of Sciences, Development and cell-cell interactions.
  • Tulle Hazelrigg, Biological Sciences. mRNA localization in Drosophila oocytes.
  • René Hen, Pharmacology. Serotonin receptors and behavior.
  • Wayne Hendrickson, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Member, National Academy of Sciences. Macromolecular structure; X-ray crystallography.
  • Oliver Hobert, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Nervous system development and function.
  • Thomas Jessell, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Member, National Academy of Sciences. Molecular mechanisms of neural differentiation.
  • Laura Johnston, Genetics and Development. Control of growth and cell division during development.
  • Eric Kandel, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics/Psychiatry/Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2000; Member, National Academy of Sciences. Cell and molecular mechanisms of associative and nonassociative learning.
  • Arthur Karlin, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics/Physiology and Cellular Biophysics/Center for Molecular Recognition; Member, National Academy of Sciences. Molecular mechanisms of receptor function.
  • Richard Mann, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. Transcriptional control.
  • Ann McDermott, Chemistry/Biological Sciences/Chemical Engineering; Member, National Academy of Sciences. Solid-state NMR of enzyme active sites and model systems.
  • Arthur G. Palmer, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. Biomolecular dynamics, structure, and function; NMR spectroscopy.
  • Virginia Papaioannou, Genetics and Development. Genetic control of mammalian development in the peri-implantation period.
  • Rodney Rothstein, Genetics and Development. Yeast genetics; mechanisms of genetic recombination; control of genome stability; functional genomics.
  • Christian Schindler, Microbiology/Medicine. JAK-STAT signaling and immune response.
  • Steve Siegelbaum, Pharmacology; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Molecular studies of ion channel structure and function; synaptic transmission and plasticity in the mammalian brain.
  • Gary Struhl, Genetics and Development; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Member, National Academy of Sciences. Developmental genetics in Drosophila.
  • Lorraine Symington, Microbiology. Homologous recombination in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
  • Richard Vallee, Pathology and Cell Biology. Motor proteins in axonal transport, brain developmental disease, and synaptic function.

Correspondence and Information


Columbia University
Graduate Student Adviser
Department of Biological Sciences
Sherman Fairchild Center, Room 600
1212 Amsterdam Avenue, Mail Code 2402
New York, New York 10027
Telephone: 212-854-2313
Fax: 212-865-8246
Email: biology@columbia.edu