Duke University 2008-2009 - Office of the Registrar - Duke University

genetics and microbiology), Gregory (medicine), Haase (biology), Kuehn (biochemistry),
Lechler (cell biology), Liedtke (neurobiology), Luftig (molecular genetics and microbiology)
MacAlpine (pharmacology and cancer biology), Magwene (biology), Matsunami
(molecular genetics and microbiology), Ohler (biostatistics and bioinformatics), Poss (cell
biology), Seed (pediatrics), Sherwood (biology), Soderling (cell biology), Sullivan
(molecular genetics and microbiology), Tracey (cell biology), Valdevia (molecular genetics
and microbiology), F. Wang (cell biology), Wechsler-Reya (pharmacology and cancer
biology), West (neurobiology), Winn (medicine), S. York (medicine), You (biomedical
engineering), Zhu (cell biology); Associate Research Professors: Cardenas-Carona
(molecular genetics and microbiology) and Hauser (medicine); Assistant Research
Professors Asano (molecular genetics and microbiology), Koh (surgery), and N. Sherwood
(biology); Adjunct Professors Drake (National Institute of Environmental Health Science),
Kunkel (National Institute of Environmental Health Science), and Resnick (National
Institute of Environmental Health Science)
The Duke University Program in Genetics and Genomics (UPGG) is an umbrella
graduate training program that spans several basic science and clinical departments and
bridges the medical center and the college of arts and sciences. There are currently 103
faculty with three adjunct faculty, and 79 students in the program, which was founded in
1967 and has been continuously supported by a training grant from the NIH for the past 25
years. Over the past several decades, the program has served as an important forum for
training and education in genetics, including model systems (bacteria, yeast, fungi,
drosophila, zebrafish, mouse), population genetics, and human genetics. We hope to also
forge a close link between the program and the emerging Institute of Genome Sciences and
Policy (IGSP) at Duke.
The Duke UPGG is unique in that it is degree granting. Thus students can either receive
their degree via the University Program in Genetics and Genomics, or via their host
department that students affiliate with upon joining a laboratory for graduate training. The
requirements for the two are different, since students who choose to earn their degree from
the host department satisfy both UPGG and departmental requirements. In many cases, the
requirements for the UPGG satisfy the departmental requirements.
The relationship between the University Program in Genetics and Genomics and the
Department of Genetics is evolving as a consequence of the merger of the Departments of
Genetics and Microbiology to form the Department of Molecular Genetics and
Microbiology. In the past, the Department of Genetics administered a graduate program in
concert with the University Program in Genetics and Genomics. Now the merged and
expanded Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology has established a
departmental graduate training program, the MGM department, that students from UPGG
can choose to adopt if they join an MGM member laboratory. Alternatively, students have
the option to seek their degree via the genetics program independent of a departmental
affilitiation. These mechanisms ensure a great degree of flexibility in serving the needs of
the member labs, 13 different departments, and ensure that students in the UPGG have both
a common home and can pursue their own unique career paths within the umbrella of the
program.
The curriculum requirements for the Duke University Program in Genetics and
Genomics are flexible. Students are required to take two full semester courses, Genetic
Approaches to the Solutions of Biological Problems (UPG 378) and Evolutionary Genetics
(UPG 287), one additonal full semester course with an emphasis in genetics, and two
minicourses selected from a variety of offerings. Courses for first year students are chosen
in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies and a first year advisory committee.
Courses are available and encouraged for students past the first year of study, and decisions
about additional coursework are made in consultation with the student's faculty advisor and
committee to complement the requirements of the student's own research interests.
Courses of Instruction 178