Proposal for the Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences Program

Proposal for the Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences Graduate Program

at the University of Wyoming

Summary: To strengthen the molecular life sciences and to make this university more attractive to prospective graduate students, we advocate the creation of an integrated Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences program (MCLS) at the University of Wyoming. The envisioned entity would span departmental boundaries and would include faculty with active research programs employing molecular and cellular biology as one of their principal research tools. We believe that this type of program would appeal to many potential graduate students who seek programs with broad expertise and diversity as well as a composite faculty of sufficient critical mass. Our foremost goal is to increase the overall quality of entering graduate students in the molecular life sciences, thereby increasing productivity and the stature of life sciences at this university. In addition, the program would encourage improved communication and collaboration among faculty members of different departments and would benefit current graduate students by providing a greater network of interacting labs. The creation of this program would not interfere with existing graduate programs that are currently in place with the single exception that the current Molecular Biology graduate program would be folded into the MCLS Program. Our proposal is wholly consistent with Academic Plan (1999-2004) action item 59 calling for interdisciplinary graduate programs in focus areas including “molecular, cellular and developmental biology” and with the Interdisciplinary Core Model outlined in the 2002 Life Sciences Report. The plan would not require a large investment of new funds but would need a three-year investment of six additional graduate assistant (GA) positions. At the end of three years, the program would undergo a formal evaluation to determine whether it should continue.

Justification or Creating the MCLS Program: Precedents for cross-departmental graduate programs in the molecular life sciences are numerous. Regional examples include the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology program at UC Boulder, and the Cell and Molecular Biology graduate program at Colorado State. Many examples of such integrated programs exist throughout the United States and include not only small or mid-size universities, where the imperative for joint programs is fairly obvious, but also many larger universities where the size of individual life science departments may significantly exceed some colleges at this university. That such a diversity of departments would choose to form larger graduate programs within their respective universities is highly telling. To compete for the best graduate students, universities must overcome departmental boundaries or face losing strong applicants. Lacking such a program makes us significantly less competitive. The talented faculty members that we have at this university provide a good recruiting base, but effective organization is lacking.

General Plan: The MCLS program is modeled after those at other universities. The graduate program would include appropriate faculty from all life science departments. The specific process by which faculty would be given the opportunity to join this program will need to be determined. As a general guideline, we would unify faculty that seek qualified students who have had substantial backgrounds in molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, microbiology, cell biology, and genetics and who wish to apply these disciplines to their graduate work. As a rough estimate, we would expect the MCLS program to contain approximately twice the number of faculty currently participating in the MOLB graduate program, resulting in a total of 25 to 30 members.

Historically, Molecular Biology has used its GA slots to support 5-6 graduate students in their first year. Following the first year, students are expected to receive support from extramural grants provided by the lab they join. From the inception of the MCLS program, MOLB would put all of its current graduate student slots into the recruitment of new MCLS students. In addition, we ask that the university match our input to provide six additional slots at current NIH standards of 18K/ 12 months. In this way, other departments need not invest resources in students they may not immediately obtain, while MOLB would avoid seeing a significant reduction in graduate students entering departmental labs. We ask that these extra slots be funded for a trial period of three years, at which point the success of the MCLS program would be evaluated.

While the intent of the plan is to incur as little cost as possible for the university and the graduate school, it should be emphasized that good graduate students make money for the institution. The ability to publish and acquire or retain grants in the sciences requires the presence of a capable and motivated graduate student body. An improvement in the overall quality of graduate students will translate directly into greater productivity for the research faculty and increased granting activity. A failure to improve the graduate life science programs at this university will, in the long term, prove to be more costly than the implementation of new programs that are integrated with existing infrastructure and costs.

Some Suggested Program Guidelines: The specific guidelines for graduate studies in the MCLS program would be developed by all participating faculty. We envision that this would include features such as four 8-week research rotations in participating labs that would include at least two departments, prelim exams late in the second year of graduate school, and a requirement to take “core” courses in areas such as development and molecular cell biology, membrane molecular biology, replication, transcription and translation, and protein structure and function. In addition, first-year students will be required to give verbal summaries of each rotation and will be formally evaluated by the program faculty at the end of their second rotation to ensure that standards are being upheld. Students in their second and subsequent years will give an annual seminar report to the MCLS program faculty and students. We note that faculty without grants or other means of support would be unable to serve as thesis advisors for MCLS students.

Many aspects of the program can be modified as it evolves to reflect the composition of the faculty. Additional course offerings, exams, standards, recruiting, etc. will be developed as a committee of the whole. We do however believe that it will be critical to maintain an identity that is grounded in the fundamentals of molecular biology and biochemistry. As a litmus test, all graduate students in the program should, based on their backgrounds and the education they receive, be capable of contributing to the research of any lab within the program. We recognize that a number of excellent life sciences researchers exist at this university who do not routinely utilize molecular biology as a part of their research. The program, as envisioned, discussed, and supported by the faculty of Molecular Biology at a recent retreat, will also serve these faculty by providing a reservoir of expertise and collegial cooperation if they have need of molecular and cellular technologies. Moreover, the MCLS program could serve as a model for environmental and population biologists who may wish to form an umbrella graduate program of their own.

MCLS Interested Faculty

Molecular Biology

Animal Science

Botany

USDA

College of Health

Zoo/Phys

Vet Sciences