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Keck School of Medicine
Associate Professor of Research: S.Y. Park
Training Grants and Fellowships Incoming domestic students may be supported by a departmental training grant or by a research grant to a specific faculty mentor during their first year; subsequently, students are supported by research grants awarded to individual faculty members. International students are supported by research assistantships.
Assistant Professors of Research: H. Jeong; M. Villacres (Pediatrics) Emeritus Professors: F. Aladjem; M. Lieb; G. Dennert Clinical Assistant Professor: Jie Li Distinguished Professor, Emeritus: Michael M.C. Lai The Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology is located on the Health Sciences Campus in the Elaine Stevely Hoffman Medical Research Center, in the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and at the USC Institute for Genetic Medicine. Faculty guidance and specialized facilities are available for advanced research in animal virology, eucaryotic cell biology and cellular differentiation, molecular and cellular immunology, genetic diseases, microbial and molecular genetics, regulation of gene expression, and chemical and viral carcinogenesis. Graduate Programs
Admissions An applicant to the graduate programs in molecular microbiology and immunology must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a major in science — usually biology, chemistry or physics. The applicant must have demonstrated strength in science or mathematics. Undergraduate course work should have included at least one year of biology, chemistry through organic chemistry, mathematics through calculus, physics and physical chemistry. Deficiencies may be made up early in the predoctoral program. The department encourages applicants to contact its office prior to making formal application. Each applicant must pass satisfactorily the general and advanced (biochemistry, cell and molecular biology or biology, chemistry or physics) portions of the Graduate Record Examinations, and must also arrange for three letters of recommendation to be written. In addition, the applicant must provide a onepage statement of career objectives, including the general area of research interest. This statement is intended to facilitate selection of those students who will most benefit from the department’s graduate program. A personal interview is strongly recommended but not required. Applicants who have attended graduate school at another university may be admitted to advanced standing upon recommendation of the department.
Master of Science The primary objective of the Master of Science program is to prepare students for a career in the broad field of biomedical sciences with focus on, but not limited to, microbiology, virology, immunology and cancer research. This program provides extensive theoretical preparation in combination with hands-on research, where students are trained in research laboratories located on the Health Sciences Campus (HSC), comprising the Keck Medical School, the School of Pharmacy and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, or located at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). Goals of the program are to prepare students for employment opportunities in: academic research or teaching at universities, institutes or not-for-profit research centers; research and development in industry (biotech, pharma, petrol, dairies, breweries); health care (hospitals and health care providers, medical technology, diagnostic laboratories); law firms (patents, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, toxic torts); environmental organizations (advisory, management, planning); government (public health, waste management, EPA, FDA, NIH, etc.); publishing (journalism, journal editor). Admission Requirements Applicants are expected to have a bachelor’s degree in science (usually biology, chemistry or physics) from an accredited college or university. Generally required courses include: at least one year of college-level biology, chemistry through organic chemistry, mathematics through calculus, and one year of college-level physics. Students who do not meet all requirements may still apply, and admission will be decided on a case-by-case basis. In general, a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 is expected. Additionally, a student must take the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), and a minimum score of 1000 is expected. International applicants are expected to provide results from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL; results from Internet-based, computer-based or paperbased tests are acceptable).
Course Requirements A total of 34 units is required. Students may pursue a thesis option which requires completion of MICB 594abz (2-2-0) plus 30 units of approved course work, no more than 8 of which can be MICB 590 Directed Research. Students pursuing a non-thesis option must complete 34 units of approved course work. Students must choose one of these options by the end of the first year of study. Fourteen or more course units must be taken in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology; 8 units may be pursued outside the department and, upon approval, a maximum of 8 units of directed research in molecular microbiology and immunology may be applied to the degree. No more than 4 units of course work taken outside of USC can be applied toward the M.S. degree requirements. Students considering such an action should submit a petition to the department and document a rigorous academic standard for the course (reading materials, tests and other performance criteria, lecture content, etc.). The graduate advisory committee will review the petition and inform the student of its decision. Doctor of Philosophy The Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology offers a Ph.D. degree program geared toward training students for future independent research careers in an academic or industrial setting. The program introduces students to research early in their first year through rotations in laboratories. Subsequent required course work in basic and advanced topics and an intensive research experience are designed to foster independent and critical thinking. Students normally select a faculty research adviser for their dissertation by the end of their first year. Course Requirements A minimum of 60 units of graduate study is required for the Ph.D. degree; at least 30 of these must be taken at USC. Because the background of applicants varies widely, the department’s graduate advisory committee consults with each student to design an individualized schedule of prescribed courses. In the course of their program, all students are expected to become familiar with the principles of m icrobiology and general biochemistry and to study advanced biochemistry, microbial physiology and genetics, immunology, virology, molecular biology, and chemical and viral oncology.