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Detailed Information

Program of Study

The Program in Experimental and Molecular Medicine (PEMM) at Dartmouth College is a degree-granting program that encompasses five broad disciplines (tracks): Biomedical Physiology; Cancer Biology and Molecular Therapeutics; Cardiovascular Diseases; Molecular Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Experimental Therapeutics; and Neuroscience. PEMM seeks to train the next generation of scientists and physician-scientists to engage in genomic, proteomic, cellular, and systems biology research for the purpose of translating this knowledge into disease treatment and prevention.

The curriculum for PEMM offers broad training in fundamental concepts of human biology at the molecular cell and organism levels, while also offering specific instruction in the diverse areas encompassed by the umbrella program. A core course is taken by all PEMM students for the first two terms, which covers the fundamentals of cell biology, molecular biology, physiology, pharmacology, toxicology, immunology, and human genetics. Instruction in this course focuses on human pathophysiology, using specific examples to illustrate how molecular mechanisms translate into distinct diseases. All students take an ethics course in their first year and also participate in a journal club each term. Electives can be selected from a comprehensive group of advanced graduate courses. Three one-term rotations in the laboratory of individual faculty members train students in research techniques and allow them to select a thesis adviser from among their rotation sponsors.

Research Facilities

The laboratories at Dartmouth are state of the art and well equipped. In addition to the College and Medical School laboratories located on the main campus, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has recently constructed a campus on 225 acres in Lebanon, New Hampshire, about 2 miles from the main campus. The facility has fully integrated patient care, medical education, and research activities and is one of the few entirely new medical centers in the country. In addition to standard modern instrumentation available in individual laboratories, core facilities are maintained that include specialized equipment, such as electron microscopes, automatic protein and DNA sequencers, tissue culture and hybridoma facilities, a fluorescence-activated cell sorter, confocal image analysis, a deoxyoligonucleotide synthesizer, a peptide synthesizer, a DNA microarrayer and scanner, a DNA chip reader, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, and equipment for state-of-the-art genomic and proteomic analyses.

The Dana Biomedical Library houses a complete collection of journals in the biomedical sciences. Dartmouth is known for its outstanding Computation Center, which develops and licenses cutting-edge software and offers both regular and short courses and terminals that are readily accessible throughout the Medical School and the College, including all laboratories. The facility provides e-mail service, literature and database searching, extensive electronic journal access, and other network facilities.

Financial Aid

All PEMM students (regardless of country of origin) receive a Dartmouth Fellowship that provides a full-tuition scholarship, a prepaid 1-person health-insurance plan, and a student stipend. The PEMM graduate student stipend for the 2009–10 academic year is $25,500. Stipends for future years are adjusted for inflation and are contingent upon satisfactory performance in studies.

Cost of Study

Tuition for 2008–09 is $51,260. All students in the program receive a scholarship for the full cost of tuition.

Living and Housing Costs

Dartmouth College assists graduate students in arranging for appropriate housing in College facilities or provides a list of privately owned accommodations in the Hanover area. College apartments range in costs from approximately $610 to $900 per month. All apartments are furnished; rent includes heat, electricity, local phone service, Internet access, and College cable TV. Rents for off-campus housing vary widely, but accommodations can often be found at rates similar to those for College housing.

Student Group

The graduate and professional school enrollment is about 1,700; approximately 600 of these students are enrolled in the graduate programs of arts and sciences. The program is small enough to permit close faculty-student interaction, yet large enough to allow for a variety of educational experiences.

Location

Dartmouth College is located in Hanover, New Hampshire, a pleasant town of about 10,850. It is located on the Connecticut River, which forms the border between Vermont and New Hampshire, and is surrounded by picturesque countryside. Hanover has sophisticated dining, excellent bookstores, varied movies and theater, and a vibrant cultural life. Located near Interstates 89 and 91, Hanover is 2 hours from Boston, less than 3 hours from Albany, 3 hours from Montreal, and 5 hours from New York City. The Hanover area provides excellent opportunities for hiking, water sports, climbing, and skiing and is near many of the northern New England lake and skiing resorts. A growing number of technology-based companies, as well as the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, provide many employment opportunities.

The College

The nation’s ninth-oldest college and a member of the Ivy League, Dartmouth is a private, four-year, liberal arts, coeducational college with schools of business, engineering, and medicine as well as eighteen graduate programs in the arts and sciences. Its 200-acre main campus features state-of-the-art academic facilities, including the Berry Library, the Hood Museum of Art, the Hopkins Center for the Arts, and the Rauner Special Collections Library. The undergraduate student body numbers approximately 4,100.

Applying

Application forms and more detailed information about PEMM may be obtained from the program’s Web site. Application review begins on January 15; all supporting documentation, including transcripts, references, and GRE scores (General Test required), must be received by this date.

It is the long-standing policy of Dartmouth College to actively support equality of opportunity for all, regardless of race or ethnic background. No student is denied admission or be otherwise discriminated against because of race, color, sex, religion, handicap, or national or ethnic origin.

The Faculty and Their Research

• Angeline S. Andrew, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, Community and Family Medicine. Molecular diagnostics for bladder and lung cancers; toxic-metal carcinogenesis; genetic susceptibility; gene-environment interactions.
• Donald Bartlett Jr., M.D., Andrew C. Vail Professor of Physiology. Mechanisms of control and integration of breathing movements by muscles of the respiratory pump and those of the upper airway; possible role of heat stress in SIDS.
• Paul J. Beisswenger, M.D., Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology). Control of nonenzymatic glycation and oxidative stress and their role in susceptibility to diabetic complications; combining studies of human populations with analytic laboratory techniques to address diabetic complications.
• David J. Bucci, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Behavioral and neurobiological factors that modulate learning and memory, particularly neural mechanisms at the interface between attention and learning.
• Michael Cole, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Genetics and Norris Cotton Cancer Center Member. Molecular basis of cancer, with emphasis on role of transcription factors and chromatin modification on tumor-cell growth and on the myc oncogene family and its role in growth of both cancer and normal cells.
• Ruth W. Craig, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Understanding how a key regulator of cell viability discovered in the laboratory, MCL1, contributes to tumorigenesis and can be targeted for cancer therapy.
• Robert A. Darnall, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Physiology. Role of medullary serotonergic neurons in SIDS; inhibition of serotonergic neurons in the nucleus paragigantocellularis lateralis.
• J. Andrew Daubenspeck, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology and Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering. Cardiorespiratory control using heart rate variability and baroreflex characteristics to evaluate neonatal development and risk factors for sudden infant death.
• Joyce A. DeLeo, Ph.D., Professor of Anesthesiology; Irene Heinz Given Professor and Chair of Pharmacology and Toxicology; and Director, Neuroscience Center. Neuropharmacology; neuroimmunology: mechanisms that lead to chronic pain, with a focus on spinal neuroimmune responses.
• James DiRenzo, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Regulation of proliferation; self-renewal and cellular differentiation in mammary epithelial stem cells; mammary gland carcinogenesis; tumor-stem-cell theory; genetic control over stem-cell renewal.
• Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., Andrew G. Wallace Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor. Translational research (bench to bedside) and studies of vitamin A derivatives known as retinoids and their roles in tumor-cell-differentiation therapy and chemoprevention.
• Ann-Christine Duhaime, M.D., Professor of Surgery (Pediatrics); Program Director, Pediatric Neurosurgery. Brain injury in immaturity and epilepsy mechanisms.
• Alan R. Eastman, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Associate Director, Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Molecular therapeutics of cancer: mechanisms of drug action, novel drug combinations, and clinical trials.
• Richard I. Enelow, M.D., Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology; Vice Chair for Research; and Chief, Pulmonary/Critical Care. T-cell responses to influenza and other virus infections; mechanisms of immunopathology in respiratory virus infection.
• Géza Fejes-Tóth, D.M.D., Professor of Physiology. Molecular biology of membrane transporters; cell biology and development of specific renal cell types; mechanism of action of steroid hormones.
• Valerie Anne Galton, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology. Roles of iodothyronine deiodinases in regulation of intracellular thyroid hormone levels and thyroid hormone action during development and in adult mammals.
• Richard Granger, Ph.D., Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Director, Neukom Institute for Computational Science. Computational and cognitive neuroscience: analyses of how brains operate to perceive, comprehend, and manipulate their environments and how they fail in certain conditions; understanding and analyzing brain circuits and constructing equivalent circuits.
• Alan I. Green, M.D., Raymond Sobel Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Chair, Department of Psychiatry. Animal and human biological studies of the actions of antipsychotic drugs, as related to their use in patients with schizophrenia and substance use disorders.
• William R. Green, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Dean, Dartmouth Medical School. T-cell immune responses to viral diseases; cell-mediated immunity to mouse retroviruses that cause leukemia or immunodeficiency; immunity to mouse acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (MAIDS) retroviral isolate and mechanism of retroviral pathogenesis; novel vaccine approaches.
• Allan Gulledge, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physiology. Cellular neurophysiology of cerebral cortex, with emphasis on understanding signal integration and transmission within individual neurons.
• Paul M. Guyre, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology and of Microbiology and Immunology. Mechanisms of hormone-cytokine interactions in control of immunity, Inflammation, sepsis, and autoimmunity.
• Brent T. Harris, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology. Neurodegenerative diseases: ALS, Parkinson’s, prion diseases; CNS development and glial-neuronal cell biology; molecular neuro-oncology.
• Leslie P. Henderson, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology and of Biochemistry. Understanding how steroids alter the expression and function of ion channels involved in synaptic signaling, with specific emphasis on the actions of anabolic androgenic steroids.
• William F. Hickey, M.D., John LaPorte Given Professor, Professor of Pathology, and Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. Neuropathology, neuroimmunology, autoimmunity, and inflammatory diseases of CNS, focusing on problems related to mechanisms of inflammation, using techniques from molecular cloning to animal models.
• Gregory L. Holmes, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Chief, Section of Neurology. Effects of seizures on the developing brain, focusing on the cognitive and electrophysiological consequences of recurrent seizures and status epilepticus.
• Alexandra L. Howell, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology. Cellular mechanisms that control HIV-1 infection and replication in the female reproductive tract, the role of steroid sex hormones in this process, and the potential of RNA interference to inhibit mucosal HIV-1 transmission.
• John Hwa, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Toxicology and of Medicine (Cardiology). Structure-function of G-protein–coupled receptors (molecular pharmacology): analysis of the ligand-binding pocket, receptor activation, constitutive activity, and naturally occurring mutations (pharmacogenetics).
• Risto Kauppinen, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Radiology and Director, Bio-NMR Facility. Development of MRI and MRS techniques for neuroscience applications, including brain activation studies and imaging of acute brain injury and tumor pathology.
• William Kelley, Ph.D., Associate Professor. Using fMRI to gain a better understanding of human memory formation.
• John A. Kelly, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology. Using transgenic model of lymphoma to examine role of Stat5 in T-cell development and factors mediating Stat5-mediated lymphoma; elucidating pathogenesis of lymphoma; identifying targets for novel molecular therapies.
• William B. Kinlaw, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology and Metabolism). Molecular mechanisms that control aberrant glucose and lipid metabolism and enhance survival and growth of tumors; development and validation of novel therapeutic targets.
• Alexei F. Kisselev, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Mechanisms of selective killing of malignant cells by proteasome inhibitors; development and therapeutic application of specific inhibitors of proteasome different active sites; potential new targets in the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.
• Murray Korc, M.D., Joseph M. Huber Professor of Medicine; Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology; and Chairman, Department of Medicine. Mechanisms of action of growth factors; role of growth factors and their receptors in carcinogenesis, especially as it relates to enhanced mitogenic signaling, enhanced angiogenesis, and attenuated growth-suppressive effects in pancreatic cancer.
• Timothy Lahey, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology. Means of modulating T-cell immune responses during HIV infection, and also the immunology of mucosal transmission of HIV, analysis of immune responses to TB in HIV-infected adults in Tanzania, and their relation to protection from TB.
• Stephen Lee, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine (Neurology). Molecular pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease.
• James C. Leiter, M.D., Professor of Physiology and Medicine. Respiratory neurobiology, especially in the areas of pH regulation in neurons and astrocytes, central chemosensitivity, and comparative aspects of rhythm generation.
• Lionel D. Lewis, M.D., Professor of Medicine and of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Study of novel antineoplastic agents and their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics when first given to cancer patients; mechanisms of toxicity of nucleoside analogues and antineoplastic agents to the mitochondrion and ways of ameliorating this toxicity.
• Christopher H. Lowrey, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) and of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Role of epigenetics, including DNA methylation and covalent histone modifications, in normal and disease-related blood-cell differentiation; gene expression; pathogenesis of blood diseases; development of pharmacologic and gene therapies of sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and leukemia.
• Kathleen Martin, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Surgery and Pharmacology and Toxicology. Understanding the molecular mechanisms, especially signal transduction to cell-type-specific transcription factors, that regulate vascular and uterine smooth-muscle cell phenotype, proliferation, and differentiation.
• Robert A. Maue, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology and of Biochemistry. Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal development in the CNS, particularly as related to neurodegenerative diseases; neurotrophin and growth-factor actions; regulation of neuronal ion channels and genes; molecular biology; electrophysiology.
• Thomas A. McAllister, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry. Traumatic brain injury; neuropsychiatric disorders; neuropharmacology; fMRI.
• Mary Jo Mulligan-Kehoe, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor of Surgery (Vascular). In vitro studies used to examine anti-angiogenic mechanisms of recombinant plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (rPAI-1) protein and antiangiogenic mechanisms that contribute to pathogenesis of scleroderma; in vivo research used to examine ability of rPAI-1 protein to inhibit tumor angiogenesis and atherosclerotic plaque progression.
• Anikó Náray-Fejes-Tóth, M.D., Professor of Physiology. Cellular and molecular biology of steroid hormone action in epithelial cells; in vivo studies using knockout and transgenic mice.
• Eugene E. Nattie, M.D., Professor of Physiology. Central chemoreceptors that sense changes in brain pH and stimulate breathing; role of central chemoreception in medullary raphe in SIDS.
• William G. North, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology. Neuropeptides in breast cancer, small-cell carcinoma, and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Justin D. Pearlman, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and Radiology; Adjunct Professor, NCCC, Thayer Bioengineering, and Computer Science; and Director, Dartmouth Advanced Imaging Center.
• Raymond P. Perez, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Associate Director for Clinical Research, Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Clinical pharmacology and early trials of anticancer agents; mechanism of action and proof-of-principle for novel drugs and combinations; modulation of signal transduction and cell death.
• Richard J. Powell, M.D., Professor of Surgery and Radiology. Defining endothelial-cell-regulated pathways that control smooth-muscle cell phenotype.
• William F. C. Rigby, M.D., Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology. Posttranscriptional regulation of cytokine and CD40 ligand gene expression; RNA-protein infections; Von Hippel–Lindau regulation of mRNA stability.
• David J. Robbins, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Elucidating mechanism of action of hedgehog family of secreted proteins as they pertain to cancer.
• R. Brooks Robey, M.D., FASN, Associate Professor of Medicine and Physiology and Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development (VA). Regulation and function of mammalian hexokinases, with emphasis on interface between metabolism and cell survival in adaptive (ischemic preconditioning) and maladaptive (cancer) contexts.
• Bill D. Roebuck, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Modulation of acute and chronic toxicity and carcinogenic processes by cancer chemopreventive agents; evaluation of the effects of dietary dithiolethiones on prevention of liver cancer; chemoprevention of cancer.
• Eva Rzucidlo, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery. Importance of plasticity of VSMC phenotype in clinical conditions such as intimal hyperplasia; restenosis, in which dedifferentiated VSMC migrate, proliferate, and secrete extracellular matrix protein in response to vessel injury; mTOR pathway’s importance in controlling the phenotypic modulation of VSMC.
• Yolanda Sanchez, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Checkpoint signaling events triggered during the response to DNA damage or replication interference, how they regulate cell-cycle progression; DNA repair, and cell death; the role of checkpoints in the etiology of cancer and as drug targets for therapeutic enhancers of genotoxic cancer drugs.
• Nicholas William Shworak, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine. Roles of heparan sulfate biosynthetic enzymes in cardiovascular diseases.
• Mark R. Spaller, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Adjunct Professor of Chemistry. Discovery and development of cellular probes and therapeutic agents targeting protein-protein interactions; chemical biology; peptide and organic small-molecule synthesis; combinatorial chemistry; chemical libraries for in vitro and cell-based screening; biophysical analysis of protein-ligand interactions.
• Michael J. Spinella, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Identifying downstream genes and pathways-signaling-induced differentiation and growth suppression of human solid tumor cells; relationship between differentiation and cell-cycle control and the role deregulation of differentiation plays in tumorigenesis and acquired resistance to chemotherapeutic agents.
• Michael B. Sporn, M.D., Oscar M. Cohn '34 Professor in Residence of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Chemoprevention of cancer; peptide growth factors; development of new natural products for prevention of cancer.
• Radu V. Stan, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and of Microbiology and Immunology. Endothelial structures involved in vascular permeability in normal and disease states, such as inflammation and cancer (angiogenesis); regulation and function of components of endothelial microdomains, such as lipid rafts, caveolae, transendothelial channels, fenestrae, and vesiculovacuolar organelles.
• Bruce A. Stanton, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology; Director, Lung Biology Program, Cystic Fibrosis Research Development Program, and Epithelial Biology Training Program; and Associate Director, Superfund Basic Research Program. Ion-channel regulation in kidney and lung; cystic fibrosis; molecular pathogenesis of Pseudomonas infection; gene environment interactions.
• Harold M. Swartz, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Radiology, Physiology, and Community and Family Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Chemistry and Engineering. Development and application of EPR to viable systems, including human subjects, especially oximetry for cancer and peripheral vascular disease and techniques for dosimetry.
• Jeffrey S. Taube, Ph.D., Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Neurobiology of spatial orientation and navigation, learning, and memory; understanding neurobiological basis of spatial cognition and navigation and neurobiological mechanisms underlying learning and memory.
• Craig Tomlinson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine and of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Basis of adult diseases from in utero exposures to environmental toxicants; interaction of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and transforming growth factor–beta signaling pathways; use of high-throughput genomics as a tool to predict the outcome of gene-environment interactions.
• Matthew P. Vincenti, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor of Medicine. Regulation of matrix metalloproteinase gene expression in arthritis and cancer to understand how inflammatory signal transduction activates metalloproteinase transcription.
• Paul J. Whalen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the role of prefrontal and limbic circuits in the evaluation of events that predict biologically relevant outcomes.
• Charles R. Wira, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology. Physiology of reproduction; cellular and molecular actions of sex hormones and cytokines in the regulation of the mucosal immune system in the rodent and human male and female reproductive tract.
• Heather A. Wishart, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry. Functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging: neurobiological basis of heterogeneity in multiple sclerosis.
• Hermes H. Yeh, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Physiology. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuroreceptor interactions and plasticity in the adult and developing CNS.

Correspondence and Information

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, HB 7962
Gail L. Paige, M.B.A., Program Coordinator
Program in Experimental and Molecular Medicine
One Medical Center Drive
Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756
Telephone: 603-650-4933
Fax: 603-650-4932
Email: Molecular.Medicine@dartmouth.edu