PhD Program

Overview of Graduate Program

The PhD Program in Microbiology and Immunology, one of three biomedical graduate programs at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, trains students to become outstanding research scientists and prepares them to pursue careers in research, teaching, public health, biodefense and emerging diseases, the bioscience industry, medicine, patent law, technology licensing and science policy. The strength of this training program is evident in the achievements of our students while in the program and the success of our graduates in becoming leaders within their chosen fields.

Graduate students carry out their dissertation research with program faculty whose labs are actively involved in applying state-of-the-art basic research methods in molecular genetics, cell biology and biochemistry to medically important problems in areas including cancer, infectious diseases, signal transduction and cell cycle regulation. The program of study is structured to foster a highly interactive research environment. Students take standard lecture courses, which help to introduce the program faculty, and participate in a wide range of other activities including seminars by visiting scholars, student research presentations, journal clubs, special topic research clubs and an annual program retreat. Our trainees are also encouraged to take courses offered by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science as electives.

Some Microbiology and Immunology training faculty members are also members of the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology at Stony Brook University. Students with specific interests in computational biology and genome sciences are encouraged to visit the Laufer Center's website to learn more about its research at and elective courses. Students whose research interests are at the interface between chemistry and biology and who desire more intensive training in chemistry are eligible to participate in the Chemical Biology Training Program. Visit the Chemical Biology Training Program website to see Microbiology and Immunology faculty members who are part of this specialized training program. Students who intend to pursue careers in translational research are encouraged to read about the Stony Brook Scholars in BioMedical Sciences Program. This "Med into Grad" certificate program provides advanced training in translational research through partnerships between basic biomedical laboratories and clinical research programs.

Please contact us if you would like to know more about the Graduate Program in Microbiology and Immunology.