Students entering this first year umbrella program receive cross-disciplinary training by taking graduate courses from all three disciplines and conducting three six week laboratory rotations in at least two of the disciplines. Following the first year, students can then seamlessly enter one of the three graduate programs to receive a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Chemistry or Medicinal Chemistry. Three graduate level courses are taken in the first semester that cover important fundamentals of biology and chemistry:

BioC 8001 (Biochemistry: Structure, Catalysis and Metabolism (3 cr)

Chem 8321 (Organic Syn) or Chem 8411 (Intro.Chem.Biol.) (4cr)

MedC 5700 (General Principles of Medicinal Chemistry I) (2cr)

In addition, three six week laboratory rotations (3 cr) in research groups from at least two different departments are done to provide multidisciplinary training. Students attend weekly student research seminars held by either department and are strongly encouraged to attend departmental seminars and/or the seminars series offered by the NIH chemical biology training grant.

During the second semester, students join one of the three graduate programs depending on their chosen advisor and continue training in one of the three programs. At this time students become eligible to be nominated by their advisor for support by the NIH Chemical Biology (6 annual slots) or NIH Biotechnology (15 annual slots) training grants. Most program faculty are trainers on one or both training grants.