The mission of the Ph.D. program in Cell and Developmental Biology is to train and support students from diverse backgrounds in becoming scientists and advancing basic biomedical science. Students are prepared for future careers, including research at the cellular, molecular, and organism level. Graduate study in cell and developmental biology at Vanderbilt emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to biological research, bridging a wide range of scales, from single molecules to whole organisms, with exciting opportunities in basic and disease-oriented biomedical science.
Faculty are affiliated with several centers (Center for Matrix Biology, Center for Mechanobiology, Center for Stem Cell Biology, Center for Structural Biology, Digestive Disease Research Center, the Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center, the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development). There are significant collaborative interactions with the trans-institutional Program in Developmental Biology.
The department provides specialized training in basic cellular and organismal processes with the goal of solving fundamental biological problems as a foundation for addressing questions of biomedical significance. In each research area, multidisciplinary approaches in genetics, proteomics, and imaging are employed. Key model systems include yeast, C. elegans, Drosophila, Xenopus, zebrafish, chick, mice, and cultured cell lines. Research areas include cell cycle progression, cell signaling, motility and polarity, vesicle trafficking, gene regulation, cytoskeletal dynamics and molecular motors, apoptosis, cell differentiation and cell fate decisions, tissue patterning, embryogenesis, morphogenesis, organogenesis, and tumorigenesis. Graduate studies in each of these areas may include interdepartmental courses in Cell and Developmental Biology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Psychology, Biological Sciences, Neuroscience, and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. The program is designed to lead to a Ph.D. degree; however, a non-thesis, terminal master's may be earned in special circumstances.