Your First Year
Lab rotations and course work help you choose an advisor and program in the first year. During the first year,
you will embark on lab rotations with research faculty, participate in common courses with your peers
and then select the biomedical PhD program that fits you best.
You'll want to arrive in July to complete a research rotation before classes begin in the Fall.
Based on your interests, you will be matched with a faculty advisor who will help you identify
research rotations among our training faculty. A minimum of three rotations of at least 4-6 weeks
each must be completed in the first year.
During each research rotation, you'll spend at least 20 hours per week in a prospective mentor's
laboratory, acquiring new techniques, learning about the lab's research areas, interacting with lab
staff and trainees, and getting to know the faculty. While you're there, you'll do everything a student
in the lab would do, including attending journal clubs, research seminars and lab meetings.
This allows you to evaluate the research and environment that best suits your interests.
In the fall, BSTP students take the coordinated Curriculum in Cell and Molecular Biology or
similar elective courses in these fundamental areas (if qualified). The one-semester course meets
each morning and includes lectures, introduction to common techniques, small group journal discussion,
and involves faculty instructors from most departments at the School.
You'll choose a thesis advisor, and thus, a particular PhD program, in December of the first year.
Your research interests are the primary factor in this choice. Some faculty are affiliated with several
PhD programs at Case, allowing you even more flexibility. In general, the PhD programs differ
in the courses required to complete the degree, but are similar in most other respects.
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