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Degrees Offered, Research Opportunities,
and Program Goals
The Animal Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences graduate
program is offered through the Department of Veterinary and
Animal Sciences and may lead to:
- Master of Science with thesis
- Master of Science without thesis
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Our program emphasizes learning and research in four main areas: (i)
immunology and infectious diseases, (ii) developmental and reproductive
physiology, (iii) gene expression and its role in health and disease,
and (iv) toxicology.
The departmental program currently offers opportunities for research
in:
- Cellular immunology
- Resistance to protozoan infections
- Resistance to bacterial infections
- Immunogenetics of antibody diversity
- Cell death in lymphocytes
- Gene regulation in developmental immunology
- Oogenesis and signaling in oocytes
- Developmental biology, including follicular development,
embryo culture, stem cells
- Control of fertility
- Signaling pathways in sperm capacitation
- Regulation of gene expression
- Genetic modification of domestic animals
- Genetic control of obesity
- Genetic models made by gene knock-out
- Genetic control of cell transformation (cancer)
- Toxicology and reproduction
- Neurotoxicology and pharmacology of pesticides
- Drug resistance mechanisms to pesticides
The Program's goals are to:
- Prepare scientists to work productively in the
emerging fields of animal biotechnology and biomedicine by providing
them with experience in hypothesis formulation, problem solving and
research technique development.
- To produce research that results in increased
understanding of disease processes, control of disease, reproduction
and development, development of new animal models or animals with
new genetic capabilities, and effect of toxins on animal and human
health and on control of disease caused by ectoparasites.
- To instill in students an understanding of research
and the exploration of the unknown.
The strength of the research graduate program is the active core of
faculty who are strongly committed
to quality graduate education. The close and active collaborations among
the faculty broaden and strengthen the learning environment for graduate
students. The involvement of the faculty with interdisciplinary programs
on campus brings a wide variety of students to our laboratories and
seminars that enhance the discussion and promotes close interactions
amongst a wide variety of students. The faculty attract post-doctoral
fellows from around the world and their presence invigorates the research
enterprise. Thus students do not work in isolation and are part of both
the wider departmental program as well as interdepartmental program
communities on campus including the Molecular
and Cellular Biology Program (see below) as well as Neuroscience
and Behavior Program and the Collaborative
Biomedical Research Program at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield,
MA (about 14 miles from Amherst).
Research in the Animal Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences graduate
program is supported by a variety of sources. Faculty hold grants from
the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes
of Health, the National Science Foundation, the United States Agency
for International Development as well as from private industry, foundations
and the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. These funds provide
the basis of graduate student financial support.
Our graduate students continue to
be placed advantageously in excellent career situations and post-doctoral
positions around the nation. Biotechnology and biomedical institutes
and companies realize the value of incorporating into their organizations
biotechnologists who have expertise in the physiology, management
and manipulation of domestic animals as well as a thorough knowledge
of cellular and molecular biology.
Program Requirements
See the Graduate
Handbook for details on program requirements, courses, rules
and milestones.
The main emphasis of the graduate program is to gain a grasp of research
by learning to formulate hypotheses and design experiments to address
them as well as to prepare the results for publication. However, students
supplement this with a variety of formal graded course work as well
as by attending research seminars by renowned speakers and journal clubs
that review current research literature. All graduate students attend
the research seminars each semester during their tenure in the department
as well as a journal club that reviews current published papers.
For the Masters and Ph.D.,
15 credits of course work are required and include seminar (1 credit
each semester) and journal club (1 credit each semester) as well
as one course in biostatistics (3 credits). Key courses essential
to training in the general discipline of biology with an emphasis
on biochemistry and molecular and cellular biology are encouraged
to meet the credit requirements. The departmental faculty offer
advanced courses as well as fundamental courses that carry graduate
credit in immunology and infectious diseases, as well as cells,
genes and developmental biology. Thesis research credits make up
the requirement of 30 credits for the masters degree while 18 dissertation
credits are required for the Ph.D. Non-thesis masters degree students
register for independent studies to cover the research/laboratory
work to obtain a total of 30 credits. Ph.D. students also must pass
a written and oral qualifying exam that normally takes the form
of a mock grant proposal and oral defense of it. Both Ph.D. and
M.S. students must pass a final exam focused on their research work.
All graduate students form an advisory committee of at least 3 faculty
members who meet regularly with the student to assess progress and
offer advice.
The fifth year Masters
is for students who are undergraduates in the department and begin
research in a laboratory usually by the second semester of their
junior year. During their senior year they develop their research
skills and take 6 credits of coursework at or above the 500 level
and beyond that required for the B.S. degree. To complete the Masters
requires 12-15 months after the B.S. degree and includes a combination
of research work for independent study credit and 6-8 additional
coursework credits, as well as attending Department seminars and
journal club.
Financial Aid
Students (U.S. citizen
and foreign) are eligible for research or teaching assistantships.
Except for non-thesis masters students, graduate students accepted
into the program are provided with financial support from individual
faculty members (that is, the research supervisor). Research assistantships
and teaching assistantships that are on full-time renumeration receive
approximately $17,000/year as a salary stipend in addition to tuition,
curriculum fees and medical insurance for a total combined value
of on average ~$25,000/year. Students must pay their own program
fees which range from $100-$500/year. Students admitted to the program
are responsible for finding their own transport to and from Amherst,
Massachusetts. Foreign students must remain registered as full-time
students during their stay to maintain visa status. There are also
competitive fellowships available from the Graduate School and other
bodies in addition to the R.A. and T.A. positions.
Application and Admission to the Program
Applications deadlines set by the Graduate School are February 1 for
admission in September and October 1 for admission in January. However
the department operates under a rolling admissions system
which means that students may apply and the applications may be reviewed
at any time. Students may also opt to begin their studies in the summer
semester. Masters with thesis and Ph.D. students are accepted by individual
faculty members directly into their laboratories, that is, students
generally do not undertake laboratory rotations. Thus students are encouraged
to contact individual faculty members about their research programs
and the availability of space and financial support in their laboratory.
Applications must include a completed application form, two letters
of recommendation and completion of the Graduate Record Examination
(GRE). Foreign students not from an English-speaking country (i.e.,
one whose national language is English) must also take the Test of English
as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and score at least 550. This includes
students from non-English speaking countries even though their degrees
may have been awarded in English.
Applications are available online at or can be obtained from the
address below. For general information, visit the UMass
Graduate School web site. Students interested in particular research
labs should contact the individual faculty
member.
To check on status of your application, please contact Program Coordinator:
Graduate Program Coordinator
Mary Schneider
309 Stockbridge Hall
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
email: mschneider@vasci.umass.edu
For inquiries
about the program itself:
Graduate Program
Director
Dr. Pablo Visconti
Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences
208 Paige Laboratory
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
email: pvisconti@vasci.umass.edu
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