Molecular and Cellular Physiology Program Curriculum
We offer MS and PhD degrees.
The program curriculum helps students reach a series of training goals including:
- Learn state of the art technical research skills ranging from molecular techniques to in vivo animal models.
- Gain familiarity with the literature and current research findings in molecular and cellular physiology and pathophysiology.
- Learn experimental design and data analysis.
- Develop effective oral, written, and graphic communication skills through presentations in the Department and at national meetings.
- Provide students opportunities to practice teaching skills in the area of physiology.
- Position students for success in postdoctoral positions or independent research in academic or industrial biomedical settings.
The PhD curriculum's didactic courses are completed in two years. Average time to degree is 5-6 years.
The MS curriculum's didactic courses are completed in 1.5 years.
First-Year Curriculum
In the first semester of all basic science programs, all students take the six courses listed below as AMC 516A-F. These courses teach the basic concepts relevant to all aspects of cell and molecular biology. Pre-recorded lectures, textbook readings, and online presentations followed by an in-class review session will cover the basic principles of each topic.
Subsequent face-to-face sessions will include directed reading of review articles and primary literature followed by an instructor-led discussion of the material, introduction to experimental approaches used in biomedical research, and/or hands-on demonstrations of online tools available to scientists.
This curriculum will prepare the student for more specialized courses beginning in the spring semester of the first year and extending into advanced courses in subsequent years.
Late in the first semester, AMC 517 Metabolic Biochemistry will provide an integrated exposure to major chemical reactions taking place within each cell of a living organism. The course provides fundamental insights into normal physiologic processes and how dysregulation of these processes will lead to pathophysiologic conditions. Students also participate in colloquiums specific to their department.
During the spring semester of the first year, students take specialized courses within their selected departments in two eight-week modules from mid-January to late March and from late March to late May.
PhD Program
| Course | Course ID | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Scientific Integrity | AMC 507 | 1 |
| Protein Structure and Function | AMC 516A | 1 |
| Molecular Genetics | AMC 516B | 1 |
| Structure and Function of Biological Membranes | AMC 516C | 1 |
| Signaling and Pharmacology | AMC 516D | 1 |
| Cell Proliferation, Differentiation and Death | AMC 516E | 1 |
| Cell Cytoskelecton, Adhesion and Motility | AMC 516F | 1 |
| Metabolic Biochemistry | AMC 517 | 2 |
| Molecular and Cellular Physiology Research Colloquium | MCP 502 | |
| Research Rotations (A,B,C) | MCP 504 (A,B,C) |
| Course | Course ID | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Fundamentals of Cardiovascular Physiology and Pathophysiology | MCP 611 | 3 |
| Fundamentals of Respiratory and Physiology and Pathophysiology | MCP 612 | 2 |
| Fundamentals of Renal and Endocrine Physiology and Pathophysiology | MCP 613 | 3 |
| Introduction to Grant Writing | AMC 603 | |
| Research Rotations (A,B,C) | MCP 504 (A,B,C) | |
| Molecular and Cellular Physiology Research Colloquium | MCP 502 |
| Course | Course ID | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Discussions in Scientific Integrity | AMC 612 | 1 |
| Biostatistics | MCP 600 | 2 |
| Thesis Research | MCP 501 | |
| Molecular and Cellular Physiology Research Colloquium | MCP 502 |
| Course | Course ID | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PhD Qualifying Exam | ||
| Thesis Research | MCP 501 | |
| Molecular and Cellular Physiology Research Colloquium | MCP 502 |
| Course | Course ID | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PhD Candidacy Exam |
MS Program
| Course | Course ID | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Scientific Integrity | AMC 507 | |
| Protein Structure and Function | AMC 516A | 1 |
| Molecular Genetics | AMC 516B | 1 |
| Membrane Biology | AMC 516C | 1 |
| Cell Signaling & Pharmacology | AMC 516D | 1 |
| Cell Proliferation, Differentiation & Death | AMC 516E | 1 |
| Cell Cytoskelecton, Adhesion & Motility | AMC 516F | 1 |
| Metabolic Biochemistry | AMC 517 | |
| Research Rotations (A,B,C) | MCP 504 (A,B,C) | |
| Molecular and Cellular Physiology Research Colloquium | MCP 502 |
| Course | Course ID | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Fundamentals of Cardiovascular Physiology and Pathophysiology | MCP 611 | 3 |
| Fundamentals of Respiratory and Physiology and Pathophysiology | MCP 612 | 2 |
| Fundamentals of Renal and Endocrine Physiology and Pathophysiology | MCP 613 | 3 |
| Research Rotations (A,B,C) | MCP 504 (A,B,C) | |
| Molecular and Cellular Physiology Research Colloquium | MCP 502 |
| Course | Course ID | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Discussions in Scientific Integrity | AMC 612 | 1 |
| Thesis Research | MCP 501 | |
| Molecular and Cellular Physiology Research Colloquium | MCP 502 |
| Course | Course ID | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Thesis Research | MCP 501 | |
| Molecular and Cellular Physiology Research Colloquium | MCP 502 |
Molecular and Cellular Physiology Courses
- Course ID: MCP 501
Students advance thesis research.
Course ID: MCP 502
Course Director: Dr. John Schwarz
Fall and Spring Course
Description:
Fall- Students present a topic outside of their research project with the intent of teaching the audience an under-presented topic in the department. Presentations include background material leading to the presentation of a recent paper from the literature.
Spring -Students and postdoctoral fellows present their research for review and discussion.
Course ID: MCP 504 (A,B,C)
Students complete research rotations.
Course ID: MCP 611
Course Directors: Drs. Gabrielle Fredman and Roman Ginnan
Description:
MCP 611 is part one of a three-part course to provide students with a foundational knowledge of physiology and pathophysiological principles and focuses on the integration of the of the cardiovascular and immune system under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Students will learn from a combination of didactic lectures, small group discussions of current primary literature and computer simulation exercises designed to sharpen the student’s cardiovascular physiology reasoning skills. Learning Assessment is based on three multiple choice exams and three short answer/essay exams. Assessment will also be made based on the student’s preparedness and participation in small group discussions.
Course ID: MCP 612
Course Director: Drs. Peter Vincent and Roman Ginnan
Description:
MCP 612 is part two of a three-part course to provide students with a foundational knowledge of physiology and pathophysiological principles and focuses on the respiratory system under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Students will learn from a combination of didactic lectures, small group discussions of current primary literature and computer simulation exercises designed to sharpen the student’s respiratory physiology reasoning skills.  Learning Assessment is based on two multiple choice exams and two short answer/essay exams. Assessment will also be made based on the student’s preparedness and participation in small group discussions.
Course ID: MCP 613
Course Director: Drs. David Jourd’heuil and Roman Ginnan
Description:
MCP 613 is part three of a three-part course to provide students with a foundational knowledge of physiology and pathophysiological principles and focuses on the renal and endocrine systems under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Students will learn from a combination of didactic lectures and small group discussions of current primary literature. In class projects designed to sharpen the student’s renal and endocrine physiology reasoning skills are also included. Learning Assessment is based on three multiple choice exams and three short answer/essay exams. Assessment will also be made based on the student’s preparedness and participation in small group discussions.
Course ID: MCP 600
Course Directors: Dr. Paul Feustel and Dr. Peter Vincent
Fall Course: Mon & Thurs, 4:00-5:30 PM every year
Description: This course is designed to teach the student basic statistics so that they can perform appropriate statistical analysis of their research and so they can determine if appropriate analysis was performed when reading the literature in their field of study. The first part of the course will be lecture/exercise based sessions run by the faculty that will expose students to basic principles and tests commonly used in biostatistics, including sessions on what inferential statistics is and determining the statistical analysis as part of your experimental design. In the second part of the course students will bring in experiments and/or data from their laboratory and describe the experimental design and the statistical test that was used (or will be used) to analyze the data and how this allowed (or will allow) them to formulate a conclusion from the data.
Albany Medical College (AMC) Basic Sciences Courses
Course ID: AMC 507
Course Director: Dr. John Kaplan
Students attend a total of three, two-hour class meetings and participate in workshops and discussions. Short readings are assigned. Sessions address current issues in scientific integrity, ethical principles and theory, introduction to ethics case analysis, an ethical skills workshop, and considerations in selecting a mentor. At the end of this course students will have a basic appreciation of ethical principles in relation to standards of professional conduct in science. Students will also develop their skills and confidence in their ability to analyze and discuss ethical and professional standards as they apply to specific aspects of scientific research. This course is required of all first-year students. Learning Assessment is based on attendance, preparedness, discussion and a presentation. Prerequisite for AMC 612.
(Year 1, Fall semester only)
Course ID: AMC 516A
Course Directors: Dr. David Jourd’heuil and Dr. Ken Norman
Part of the Molecular Cell Biology Theme made up of two-week courses that are offered in non-sequential order. Designed to teach beginning graduate students the basic concepts relevant to protein structure and function. Pre-recorded lectures, textbook readings, and online presentation followed by an in-class review session will cover the basic principles of protein structure and function. Subsequent face-to-face sessions will include directed reading of review articles and primary literature followed by an instructor-led discussion of the material. Students will also be provided with hands-on demonstrations of online tools available to scientists interested in protein-centered questions.
Formative assessment will be via student-faculty discussions and interactions during the face-to-face sessions.
Summative assessment will be via a multiple-choice exam on basic concepts, faculty evaluation of student participation in face-to-face sessions, and a final take-home exam that will include topics covered in the face-to-face sessions.
Course ID: AMC 516B
Course Directors: Drs. Lamar and Schwarz
Part of the Molecular Cell Biology Theme made up of two-week courses that are offered in non-sequential order. Designed to teach beginning graduate students the basic concepts relevant to the structure, function, and regulation of DNA and RNA. Pre-recorded lectures, textbook readings, and online presentations followed by an in-class review session will cover the basic principles. This will be followed by four small group discussions (SDGs) with instructor-led discussion/activity and hands-on demonstration of online research and data analysis tools that will utilize and reinforce the background material. Students are assigned learning tools (pre-recorded lectures, directed reading of review articles and/or primary literature that they should complete prior to each face-to-face SDGs.
Course ID: AMC 516C
Course directors: Drs. Drake and Lennartz
Part of the Molecular Cell Biology Theme made up of two-week courses that are offered in non-sequential order. Designed to teach beginning graduate students the basic concepts relevant to the structure and function of biological membranes. Pre-recorded lectures and textbook readings followed by an in-class review session will cover basic principles of membrane biology. Subsequent directed reading of brief review articles and primary literature followed by instructor-led discussion of the material will introduce the student to advanced concepts in membrane biology as well as the process of reading primary literature peer-reviewed publications.
Formative assessment will be via homework questions and student-faculty discussions/interactions during the small group discussion (SGD) sessions.
Summative assessment will be via a multiple-choice exam on basic concepts, faculty evaluation of student participation in SGD sessions and a final take-home exam on the SGD material.
Course ID: AMC 516D
Course directors: Dr. Ginnan
Part of the Molecular Cell Biology Theme made up of two-week courses that are offered in non-sequential order. Designed to teach beginning graduate students the basic concepts relevant to cellular signaling and the principles of drug-receptor interactions used to target these processes. Pre-recorded lectures and selected readings followed by an in-class review session will cover the basic principles of intracellular signaling pathways and pharmacology. Subsequent directed reading of brief review articles and primary literature followed by an instructor-led discussion of the material will introduce the student to advanced concepts and experimental approaches in cellular signaling as well as the process of reading primary literature peer-reviewed publications. Formative assessment will be via homework questions and student-faculty discussions/interactions during the small group discussion (SGD) sessions. Summative assessment will be via a multiple-choice exam on basic concepts, faculty evaluation of student participation in SGD.
Course ID: AMC 516E
Course directors: Drs. Fredman and Tang
Part of the Molecular Cell Biology Theme made up of two-week courses that are offered in non-sequential order. Designed to teach beginning graduate students the basic concepts relevant to cell proliferation and death. Pre-recorded lectures and textbook readings followed by an in-class review session will cover basic principles. Subsequent directed reading of brief review articles and primary literature followed by an instructor-led discussion of the material will introduce the student to advanced concepts in cell proliferation, differentiation, and death, as well as the process of reading primary literature peer-reviewed publications.
Formative assessment will be via homework questions and student-faculty discussions and interactions during the small group discussion (SGD) sessions.
Summative assessment will be via a multiple-choice exam on basic concepts, faculty evaluation of student participation in SGD sessions and a final take-home exam on the SGD material.
Course ID: AMC 516F
Course directors: Drs. Logue and Adam
Part of the Molecular Cell Biology Theme made up of two-week courses that are offered in non-sequential order. Designed to teach beginning graduate students the basic concepts relevant to cell locomotion. Pre-recorded lectures and textbook readings followed by an in-class review session will cover the basic principles of cell signaling, adhesion receptors, and cellular cytoskeleton components and how these are coordinated to regulate cellular motility. Subsequent SGD discussions of the material will introduce the student to advanced concepts in cell signaling, adhesion, and migration, in two complementary formats 1) Discussion of a classic paper that shifted paradigms in cell biology, with focus on understanding the state of the field at the time, technical approaches, and conclusions that can and cannot be drawn from the results. Students will be provided Homework questions to facilitate the discussions. In addition, a second SGD session will expand on this topical area by providing additional didactic material in the form of review articles and then asking students to present a group PowerPoint demonstrating the relevance to the topic to the four graduate themes at AMC. Note: students will be randomly assigned to groups with the hope that most are presenting on topics somewhat outside their chosen discipline. These sessions will begin training in the process of reading primary literature, peer-reviewed publications and organizing and presenting complex material.
Formative assessment will be via homework questions and student-faculty discussions and interactions during the SGD sessions.
Summative assessment will be via a multiple-choice exam on basic concepts, faculty evaluation of student participation in SGD sessions and presentations and a final take-home exam on the SGD material.
Course ID: AMC 517
Course Director: Dr. Ralf-Peter Czekay
A major challenge to biomedical scientists is gaining a better understanding of the structures, functions, and interactions of molecular systems used in nature. Previously acquired knowledge about basic protein and membrane structure as well as function and control of enzymatic processes, will be applied to understand the regulation of complex metabolic processes. This will provide fundamental insights into normal physiological processes and how dysregulation of these processes will lead to pathophysiological conditions, e.g., Metabolic Syndrome. AMC 517 will provide an integrated exposure to major chemical reactions that take place within each cell of a living organism and that provide energy for vital processes and for synthesizing new organic material. This course will focus primarily on bioenergetics and the major biochemical pathways related to three central metabolic themes applicable to all advanced courses within the various training programs: glucose metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and fatty acid/lipid metabolism. Students will integrate information obtained by studying the mechanism of pathways into the concept of pathway communication. Utilizing the socio-medical condition of Metabolic Syndrome, students will gain a deeper understanding of the function and limitations of compartmentalization of molecules, and the significance of pathway regulation far beyond a subcellular compartment, or the cell itself. Small-group-based problem solving will allow stronger integration and reinforcement of the material taught in each section, leading to greater long-term retention of the material discussed in this course.
Course ID: AMC 603
Course Directors: Dr. Michael DiPersio and Dr. Peter Vincent
This course is designed to provide the student with an introduction to writing research grants and to the grant review process. The course will focus on what should be included in the different sections of a NIH research proposal (Research Plan Section). To emphasize the purpose of this information in supporting the grant proposal, students will be provided with sections of well written proposals, as well as proposals that did not do well in study sections. Discussions of these examples will highlight how proposals can be improved. As part of each module, students will write (1) a Specific Aims page, (2) a Significance and Innovation section, and (3) an Approach section that is focused on one of the specific aims. Students will then read and critique one another’s written assignments and discuss their reviews using a study section format. Students will then revise each section in response to the reviewers’ critiques. The course will
culminate in a mock study section performed by faculty with experience serving on NIH grant review panels, in order to demonstrate how the grant peer review process works at the NIH.
Course ID: AMC 612
Course Directors: Dr. John Kaplan, Dr. Thomas Andersen, Dr. Ralf-Peter Czekay
This course utilizes a case-study based discussion format to provide a vehicle for students to learn and reflect upon the responsible conduct of research. Topics covered include an overview of ethical theory, conducting research, reporting research, peer review, handling research materials and information, mentoring and laboratory supervision, misconduct in research, conflict of interest, human subjects and clinical research, animals in research and genetic research. This course also familiarizes students with both internal and national policies regulating research conduct. (This program fulfills the NIH requisite for predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows on National Research Service Award Training Grants.)
Instructors: This course is team-led by a basic scientist and ethicist. It utilizes the text, "Teaching the Responsible Conduct of Research Through a Case Study Approach", prepared by the
American Association of Medical Colleges. Learning Assessment is based on attendance, preparedness, discussion and a presentation.
Prerequisite: AMC 507
(Year 2, Fall semester only)