School of Medicine

Departmental E-mail:  mkaplan2@iu.edu

Departmental URL:  https://medicine.iu.edu/microbiology-immunology

(Please note that when conferring University Graduate School degrees, minors, certificates, and sub-plans, The University Graduate School’s staff use those requirements contained only in The University Graduate School Bulletin.)

Curriculum

Curriculum
Courses
Faculty

Degrees Offered

Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy

Special Departmental Requirements

(See also general University Graduate School requirements.)

Admission Requirements

The Graduate Record Examination General Test is required. For the Ph.D.: see IBMG requirements. For the Master of Science degree: undergraduate courses in basic biology, including cell biology and genetics; general and organic chemistry; physics; mathematics, including calculus. Biochemistry is recommend­ed. Deficiencies should be removed during the first year of enrollment. Overall grade point average of at least 3.0 (B).

Master of Science Degree

Course Requirements:  At least 30 credit hours, including at least 16 credits of thesis research (J810) and at least 10 credits of non-thesis course work.  Non-thesis credits will include one rotation (J810, 1 cr.), G505 (1 cr.), G700 (1 cr.), and  G855 (1 cr.); plus one of the following:  G715, G716, or G717 (2 cr. each); plus at least 4 credits from among the following:  G720 (2 cr.), G728 (1 cr.), G729 (1 cr.), G852 (2 cr.), J807 (2 cr.), J815 (2 cr.), and J829 (2 cr.)  With the approval of the student’s Advisory Committee and the Graduate Advisor, other courses may be substituted for those listed above.  Depending on the student’s interests and career goals, additional graduate courses within or outside the Department may be taken.  Students will also attend the weekly departmental seminar series and attend and, starting in the second year, annually present research at the weekly departmental Research in Progress (RIP) student seminar series.  MS students are encouraged to participate in a journal club in their area of study.

Grades

An overall average of at least a B (3.0).  Only 3 credits of C (2.0) can be counted toward the required credits of didactic coursework.

Thesis

Required (a minimum of 16 cr of J810).

Final Examination

Oral Defense of thesis.

Doctor of Philosophy Degree

Focus Areas

The major focus areas are cellular and molecular immunology and hematology and molecular microbial pathogenesis. Students entering the program may design a course of study from one of these areas through a combination of selected course work and research activities.

Course Requirements

A total of 90 credit hours, of which a minimum of 26 credit hours must be in courses other than dissertation research. Of these, at least 12 credits will be taken in a minor of the student’s choosing, and at least 14 credits of course work is required to complete the Microbiology and Immunology major.  In addition to 3 rotations (GRDM-G718, MICR-J802, or GRDM-G803), each student will take G728 (1 cr.), G729 (1 cr.), and one of the following:  J807 (2 cr.), J815 (2 cr.) or J829 (2 cr.).  A student may elect to apply one or more of these courses to their minor plan of study.  In that case, with the approval of the student’s Advisory Committee and the department’s Graduate Advisor, other courses may be substituted to fulfill the major course work.  MD-PhD combined degree students may substitute other course work (see below) for G728 and G729, which overlap substantially with the medical school curriculum.  MD-PhD students are required to take J807, J815, or J829. 

With the approval of the Graduate Advisor, directly admitted students who have identified a mentor prior to matriculation, and who have significant prior research experience with that mentor, may forgo laboratory rotations and instead take additional didactic coursework to complete the major.  These students will be expected to take at least 1 credit of J810 each term while completing didactic coursework.

In addition to the required courses listed above, students may choose from the following courses to complete the Microbiology and Immunology major, unless a given course is taken to fulfill the student’s minor plan of student (a course may not count toward both the student’s major and minor plans of study):  G505, G507, G700, G702, G715, G716, G717, G855, G720, G852, Phar-F 850, COMM-C 533, COMM-C 534, ENG-W 533.  MD-PhD dual degree students may include any of the following courses in their major:  GRDM-X 620, GRDM-X 630, GRDM-X 640, GRDM-X 660.  With the approval of the student’s Advisory Committee and the department’s Graduate Advisor, other courses may be substituted for those listed above.

Grades

An overall average of at least a B (3.0). Only 3 credits of C (2.0) can be counted toward the required credits of didactic coursework.

Minor

Students must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours in a minor area of study.  Microbiology and Immunology PhD students may take any minor plan of study at IUPUI or may utilize an individualized minor, in consultation with their mentor and Advisory Committee.  Specific minor programs may require or allow some of the courses listed above.  If a course is taken for a minor, that course cannot also count toward the major; no course can count toward both the major and the minor.

 Qualifying Examination

Within the first 25 months of studies (18 months for combined M.D./Ph.D.), the student submits a written research proposal in the form of a grant application to the advisory committee. The student then has an oral examination administered by the advisory committee and based primarily on the written research proposal. With consent of the advisory committee, the student can request an extension of four months from the faculty to take the qualifying examination. Doctoral studies are continued if the qualifying examination and other work, including research, are deemed satisfactory by the majority of the advisory and research committees.

Dissertation Research

Beyond didactic course work, students will enroll in GRDM-J 810 Research in Microbiology to complete the 90-credit minimum requirement.  Students must complete at least 40 credits of J810. 

Final Examination

Oral defense of the dissertation.

Other Requirements

In addition to course work and research, students will attend the weekly departmental seminar series, participate in a journal club in their area of study, and attend and, starting in their second year, annually present research at the weekly departmental Research in Progress (RIP) student seminar series. 

Submission of a manuscript based on the dissertation research for publication in a primary journal in the field is required.  

It is the policy of the Department that all requirements of the degree program must be completed and the final, approved thesis deposited with the University Graduate School within 5 years of the date of passing the Qualifying Examination.  Failure to complete the degree within 5 years of passing the Qualifying Exam will result in dismissal from the program.

PhD Minors Offered

Ph.D. Minor in Microbiology and Immunology

This minor is open to all Ph.D. students at Indiana University, except those within the IU School of Medicine whose major is Microbiology and Immunology. 

Students completing the 12-credit Minor in Microbiology and Immunology will take both of the following introductory courses:  G728 Fundamental Concepts of Infection and Pathogenesis (1 cr.) and G729 Introduction to Immunological Systems (1 cr.), and students will take at least two of the following advanced courses in Immunology or Microbiology:  J807 Current Topics in Immunology (2 cr.), J815 Current Topics in Viral Immunology, and  J829 Current Topics in Molecular Genetics of Microorganisms (2 cr.).  If both advanced courses are taken, the third course may be applied to the Minor Electives category (see below). 

Minor Electives:  Students may choose from the following courses to complete the Microbiology and Immunology minor:  G505, G715, G716, G717, G720, G724, G725, G727, G747, G780, G805, G817, G848, G852, G855, J710, J800, J807, J815, J829, MNEU-N880.  Additional course may be used or substituted with the approval of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Advisor. 

No course with a grade below B- may count toward the minor. 

Minor Representative:  Any faculty member with a primary or secondary appointment within the Department of Microbiology and Immunology may serve as the minor representative for students completing the Microbiology and Immunology minor.  The minor representative will approve the course work for this minor based on the student’s interests.  

Ph.D. Minor in Cellular and Molecular Biology of Biomedical Systems

A minimum of 12 credit hours of course work outside the student’s major department, including G865 Fundamental Mo­lecular Biology and G817 Eukaryotic Cell Biology (unless these are required by the major department). Since the minor is intended to expose the student to both cellular and molecular biology, at least one course (and preferably two) from each area should be taken. Courses for the minor must be selected from the following list and approved by the advisory committee, the minor repre­sentative of which will be selected from outside the student’s major department. Courses: Anatomy D863, D866; Biochemis­try B807, B810, G817, G841; Medical and Molecular Genetics Q612, Q620, Q622; Pharmacology and Toxicology F835, Cellular and Integrative Physiology F710.

The Department is not currently admitting students to this program.

Program-level Graduate Student Learning Outcomes

Master of Science in Microbiology and Immunology (M.S.)

Students completing the MS in Microbiology and Immunology will be able to:

1. Conduct independent research under the supervision of a research advisor to address a relevant hypothesis in an area of microbiology and immunology.
2. Assess the quality and relevance of primary literature and incorporate into research design.
3. Employ rigorous and ethical approaches to data collection, replication of experimental results, set up of experimental controls and sampling design, organization of raw data, and application of appropriate statistics.
4. Analyze data, interpret results, and draw conclusions from data.
5. Communicate research hypotheses and results effectively in oral presentations.
6. Write and defend a research-based thesis that demonstrates mastery in an area of microbiology and immunology.

Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (Ph.D.)

Students completing the Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology will be able to:

1. Conduct independent research under the supervision of a research advisor to address a relevant hypothesis in an area of microbiology and immunology.
2. Assess the quality and relevance of primary literature and incorporate into research design.
3. Employ rigorous and ethical approaches to data collection, replication of experimental results, set up of experimental controls and sampling design, organization of raw data, and application of appropriate statistics.
4. Analyze data, interpret results, and draw conclusions from data.
5. Communicate research hypotheses and results effectively in oral presentations.
6. Document an original contribution to microbiology and immunology through independent experimental design, submission of results to a peer-reviewed journal, and presentation and defense of a dissertation of original research in an area of microbiology and immunology.