Integrative Biosciences (IBIOS)
Program Home Page (Opens New Window)
Peter Hudson, Chair, IBIOS Graduate Education
201 Life Sciences Building
University Park, PA 16802
1-866-PS-IBIOS; 1-866-77-42467 (toll-free in USA)
gradinfo@huck.psu.edu
Degree Conferred:
Ph.D.
The Integrative Biosciences Graduate Faculty
- Raj Acharya, Ph.D. (Minnesota) Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
- Hiroshi Akashi, Ph.D. (Chicago) Assistant Professor of Biology
- Reka Albert, Ph.D. (Notre Dame) Assistant Professor of Physics
- Naomi Altman, Ph.D. (Stanford) Associate Professor of Statistics
- Sarah Assmann, Ph.D. (Stanford) Professor of Biology
- Maria Bewley, Ph.D. (University of Leeds) Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
- Le Bao, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Statistics
- Judith Bond, Ph.D. (Rutgers) Professor and Chair, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- James Broach, Ph.D. (California, Berkeley) Chair, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State College of Medicine
- Donald Bryant, Ph.D. (California, Los Angeles) Ernest C. Pollard Professor of Biotechnology, and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- John Carlson, Ph.D. (Illinois) Professor of Molecular Genetics; Director, Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics
- Laura Carrel, Ph.D. (Stanford Reserve) Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Francesca Chiaromonte, Ph.D. (Minnesota) Associate Professor of Statistics
- Keith Cheng, M.D.; Ph.D. (NYU; U Washington) Professor of Pathology; Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Surinder Chopra, Ph.D. (Vrje U of Brussels, Belgium) Associate Professor of Maize Genetics
- Michael Chorney, Ph.D. (Cornell, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) Professor of Microbiology
- Daniel Cosgrove, Ph.D. (Stanford) Professor of Biology
- Claude de Pamphilis, Ph.D. (Georgia) Associate Professor of Biology
- Cheng Dong, Ph.D. (Columbia) Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering
- Nina Fedoroff, Ph.D. (Rockefeller) Willaman Professor of Life Sciences; Director, Biotechnology Institute
- Gregory Ferry, Ph.D. (Illinois) Stanley Person Professor of Molecular Biology
- John Flanagan, Ph.D. (Tennessee) Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Majid R. Foolad, Ph.D. (California, Davis) Professor of Plant Genetics
- David Geiser, Ph.D. (Georgia) Associate Professor of Plant Pathology
- Channe Gowda, Ph.D. (Mysore, India) Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Mark Guiltinan, Ph.D. (California, Irvine) Professor of Plant Molecular Biology; Director, Endowed Program in the Molecular Biology of Cocoa
- Ross Hardison, Ph.D. (Iowa) Professor of Biochemistry
- Terryl J. Hartman, Ph.D.; M.P.H., (Minnesota; Harvard School of Public Health) Assistant Professor of Nutrition
- S. Blair Hedges, Ph.D. (Maryland) Professor of Biology
- Heather Hines, Ph.D. (Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) Assistant Professor of Biology and Entomology
- Peter Hudson, F.R.S. (UK) Willaman Professor of Biology
- Leonard Jefferson, Ph.D. (Vanderbilt) Evan Pugh Professor; Chair of Cellular and Molecular Physiology
- Byron Jones, Ph.D. (Arizona) Professor of Biobehavioral Health and Pharmacology
- Seogchan Kang, Ph.D. (Wisconsin) Associate Professor of Plant Pathology
- Teh-hui Kao, Ph.D. (Yale) Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Kathryn LaNoue, Ph.D. (Yale) Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology
- Arthur Lesk, Ph.D. (Princeton) Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Jia Li, Ph.D. (Stanford) Associate Professor of Statistics
- Qunhua Li, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Statistics
- Bruce G. Lindsay, Ph.D. (Washington) Willaman Professor and Head of Statistics
- Shaun Mahony, Ph.D. (National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science) Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Moleculuar Biology
- George Makhatadze, Ph.D. (Moscow Physico-Technical Institute) Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Kateryna Makova, Ph.D. (Texas Tech) Assistant Professor of Biology
- Costas Maranas, Ph.D. (Princeton) Professor of Chemical Engineering
- Timothey McNellis, Ph.D. (Yale) Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology
- Webb C. Miller, Ph.D. (Washington), Professor of Biology and Computer Science and Engineering
- Kathleen Mulder, Ph.D. (SUNY, Buffalo) Professor of Pharmacology
- Masatoshi Nei, Ph.D. (Kyoto University, Japan) Evan Pugh Professor of Biology
- Anton Nekrutenko, Ph.D. (Texas Tech) Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Karl M. Newell, Ph.D. (Illinois) Professor of Kinesiology and Biobehavioral Health
- Randen Patterson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biology
- Anthony Pegg, Ph.D. (Cambridge) Evan Pugh Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, and Pharmacology; J. Lloyd Huck Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology
- B. Franklin Pugh, Ph.D. (Wisconsin, Madison) Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Calyampudi Rao, Sc.D. (Cambridge) Eberly Professor Emeritus of Statistics
- W. Brian Reeves, M.D. (Thomas Jefferson) Staff Physician
- Marylyn D. Ritchie, Ph.D. (Vanderbilt) Director, Center for Systems Genomics; Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Gavin Robertson, Ph.D. (California, Riverside) Associate Professor of Pharmacology
- Marilyn Roossinck, Ph.D. (Colorado School of Medicine) Professor of Plant Pathology and Biology
- Ira Ropson, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins) Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- James Rosenberger, Ph.D. (Cornell) Professor of Statistics
- Stephen Schaeffer, Ph.D. (Georgia) Associate PRoefessor of Biology
- Cara-Lynne Schengrund, Ph.D. (Seton Hall) Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Stephan Schuster, Ph.D. (University of Munich, Germany) Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Cooduvalli Shashikaut, Ph.D. (Osmania University, India) Associate Professor of Molecular and Developmental Biology
- Mark Shriver, Ph.D. (U of Texas Health Science Center) Associate Professor of Anthropology
- Thomas Spratt, Ph.D. (Chicago) Associate Professor of Biochemistry
- Jack Vanden Heuvel, Ph.D. (Wisconsin) Professor of Molecular Toxicology
- David J. Vandenbergh, Ph.D. (Penn State) Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health
- George Vogler, Ph.D. (Colorado, Boulder) Professor of Biobehavioral Health
- Kent Vrana, Ph.D. (Louisiana State) Medical Center Professor and Chair of Pharmacology
- James Wang, Ph.D. (Stanford) Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology
- Kenneth Weiss, Ph.D. (Michigan) Evan Pugh Professor of Anthropology and Genetics
Calling upon the expertise of more than seventy faculty members representing twenty-seven different departments among eight different colleges between two different campuses, the Integrative Biosciences (IBIOS) Graduate Program offers a unique opportunity to learn about and work in multiple disciplines. This graduate education component of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences is supported by modern telecommunications facilities and equipment. Doctoral students not only explore new conceptual connections, but also engage in active group learning experiences and explore a variety of potential career opportunities before graduation. Two unique aspects are (1) dual mentors who will expose students to complementary viewpoints and encourage students to pursue problems at the interface between traditional disciplines, and (2) an optional internship that provides a mechanism for students to obtain “real world” experience in future professional settings.
The program offers the following areas of research emphasis (called options): Bioinformatics and Genomics, and Chemical Biology.
General Admission Requirements
Faculty begin reviewing applications December 1.
- Completed official Penn State Graduate School application
- Paid nonrefundable application fee ($45 U.S.)
- Two official transcripts from each institution attended
- Completed Integrative Biosciences Graduate Degree Program application
- Application for a U.S. visa (International applicants only)
- Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) general test
- Three letters of recommendation
- Statement of goals that pertains to the life sciences
- All international applicants whose first language is not English or who have not received baccalaureate or master's degrees from an institution in which the language of instruction is English must take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) examination. A minimum TOEFL score of 600 on the paper test, 250 on the computer-based test, or 100 (including 23 on the speaking component) on the Internet-based test is required.
- Students must have completed a bachelor's degree at an accredited college or university and have a minimum of a 3.0/4.0 junior/senior undergraduate grade-point average.
Prescribed (Required) Courses:
- Foundation of basic knowledge in molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, and computational methods in the life sciences. The IBIOS Graduate Program expects at least 6 credits (or the equivalent) in one or more of these disciplines, taken either as an undergraduate or as a part of the graduate curriculum. The specific courses are left to the discretion of each option.
- IBIOS 590 COLLOQUIUM (4 credits, 2 per semester during any of the first four semesters in residence), a monthly colloquium that will present life science topics of general interest to all faculty and graduate students in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.
- IBIOS 591 ETHICS IN LIFE SCIENCES (1 credit), an examination of integrity and misconduct in life sciences research, including issues of data collection, publication, authorship, and peer review.
- IBIOS 595 INTERNSHIP (optional, 1 credit), an external work assignment relevant to individual research or career goals. (Register for IBIOS 595 in 520 Thomas Building)
- IBIOS 596 INDIVIDUAL STUDIES: Laboratory Rotations (1-3 credits per semester, depending upon option)
- IBIOS 600 THESIS RESEARCH (variable credits)
- IBIOS 601 Ph.D. DISSERTATION FULL-TIME (0 credits)
- IBIOS 602 SUPERVISED EXPERIENCE IN COLLEGE TEACHING (1 credit each semester), two semesters or the equivalent is required after the first year in residence. International Fellows must pass an English proficiency exam before teaching.
The Graduate School requires all graduate students to maintain a 3.0 grade-point average. Individual options may require a higher GPA.
Students must present their thesis in accordance with the Penn State guidelines as described in the THESIS GUIDE Requirements for the Preparation of Master's and Doctoral Theses. Current copies may be obtained from the web site www.gradsch.psu.edu/current/thesisguide or the Thesis Office, 115 Kern Building, University Park, PA 16802; 814-865-5448.
Elective courses. Studenst may select any 400- to 500-level courses pending approval by the Faculty Mentor and the Option Director - available elective courses vary from year to year.
BIOINFORMATICS AND GENOMICS (BG) OPTION
College of Medicine (Hershey)
Prescribed (Required) Courses:
- IBIOS stable number Genomics (3 credits), currently offered as 598B, a special topics course. Videoconferenced between UP and COM
- GEN 520. Genetics (Offered at COM and now planned to be videoconferenced between COM and UP.)
- BCHEM 502. Biological Chemistry (3 credits)
- IBIOS 591. Ethics (1 credit)
- IBIOS 590. Colloquium (1 credit)
- HES 615. Statistical Genetics
- CMBIO 520. Genetic Analysis (3 credits)
- Electives: Choose at least three credits from courses that support the chosen thesis research.
University Park
Prescribed (Required) Courses:
- IBIOS stable number Genomics (3 credits), currently offered as 598B, Bioinformatics I - BIOL 597F, CSE/STAT 598 (3 credits)
- IBIOS 591. Ethics (1 credit)
- IBIOS 590. Colloquium (1 credit)
- Electives. Choose at least three credits from the following courses.
- BIOL 597F, CSE 598F, STAT 597F Bioinformatics II
- GEN 520. Genetics (Offered at COM and now planned to be videoconferenced between COM and UP.)
- STAT 597D. Genometrics
- BIOL 497D. Practical Bioinformatics
- BIOL 497G/597G. Computer Programming in C: Biological Applications
- BIOL 505. Statistical Methods in Evolutionary Genetics
- B M B 597C. Computers for biochemists and molecular biologists
- CSE 598E, STAT 597E. Data Mining
- IBIOS 597G, HORT 597A, and AGRO 597G. Plant Genomics
- BMMB 597A or BMMB 501. Core Concepts in Biomolecular Science
See also BIOTECHNOLOGY.
CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (CB) OPTION
Prescribed (Required) Courses:
- Graduate level courses in biochemistry or molecular biology (6 credits, 3 per semester of the first year)
- Chemical Biology elective ( 6 credits, 3 per semester of the first year)
Last Revised by the Department: Summer Session 2007
Blue Sheet Item #: 35-07-441
Review Date: 6/12/07
Faculty updated: 2/19/13
