CMB Program Requirements

The CMB curriculum combines a strong interdisciplinary class offerings with student choice. All students take the flagship CMB251 class, with flexibility to accommodate students with varied backgrounds and specialized interests. This class offers a choice of modules covering areas of cell, molecular, and organismal biology, emphasizing critical review of the primary literature, as well as modules specializing in modern tools of the trade like microscopy, statistics, and bioinformatics. Students pick 6 modules for their first semester, and can take a wide array of elective classes that in some cases take off from the modules to delve deeper in a given topic. CMB students play a very active role in creating their own detailed curriculum, with advice and guidance from the CMB Advisory Committee.

The course load during the first two years generally totals 24 graded credit units including courses recommended or required by the PhD-granting Department. Also, all CMB students participate in the CMB seminar course, CMB 264. This course features an hour-long session in which one advanced student presents his or her research and another advanced student presents an introduction to the upcoming speaker in the CMB Seminar Series. The second hour-long session is the seminar itself, presented by a distinguished visiting scientist (and open to the entire Duke community). We keep a schedule for the student seminar series on this website. To receive a certificate in the CMB Program, it is mandatory that students receive eight units of credit for CMB 264 (preferably in the first two years) in addition to eight units of credit for CMB 251.

As first-year students begin to narrow down their choices for a PhD-granting Department/Program, they are encouraged to consult with each Department/Program DGS about courses that might be suggested or required for the PhD in that particular discipline.