Program Overview

The foundation of the M.S. program is a basic understanding of molecular and cell biology and the performance of a high-quality research project under the direction of a skilled mentor, with supervision by a committee composed of members of the University’s Graduate Research Faculty. Specialization may be in any of the fields of research being pursued in the College of Medicine and includes molecular genetics, gene therapy, bacterial or viral pathogenesis, protein structure, toxicology, mammalian genetics, wound healing, or congenital eye diseases. The research is presented in the form of a thesis which is defended in a public forum.

Each student must present one seminar during their tenure. The content of the lecture courses is intended to address a critical need for a strong foundation in molecular and cell biology, and to provide an advanced level curriculum in the specialty disciplines represented in the College. Both the seminars and the lecture courses provide preparation for Master’s research which should be well underway by the end of the second semester. Ideally, students will continue their research during the summer.

The spring semester of the second year for those working to complete the M.S. degree requirements in1.5 years would be devoted primarily to finishing the research and writing the thesis. An appropriate Master’s thesis project should involve learning a technique, using the technique independently in a research project, and analyzing and reporting the results. Examples of appropriate projects would include sequencing and analyzing a gene, making and using a monoclonal antibody, creating and testing ribozymes, purifying and partially characterizing a protein, or expressing a recombinant protein. There are many others that would be appropriate. The College of Medicine’s web site, http://www.med.ufl.edu, under Master’s degree programs, has descriptions of the work of some of the faculty interested in training Master’s students. It has been decided that, in some cases, negative results would be satisfactory as long as they were adequately explained. Upon completion of the laboratory research, the student writes and defends a thesis based on the research. The student should plan to have the thesis finished and defended at least four weeks before the anticipated graduation date.

Deadline for applications is March 31 of the current year fall admission.

There is a 3.0 GPA requirement, however, there is no GRE requirement. Application fee is $30, should you apply to more than one program you will be charger per application.

Information regarding international students can be found in the link:.https://admissions.ufl.edu/apply/graduate/international

Degree Requirements

To be considered full time, you are required to take 9 credits each fall and spring and 6 credits in the summer. Completion of the 1.5-year (fall, spring, summer, fall)  Master’s degree requires a total of 33 credits;  Twelve credits of this must be BCH and GMS letter graded courses. Nine hours must be research, including three hours of Master’s Research GMS 6971​, taken during the semester the student plans to graduate.  The remaining 12 credits are part of the individualized plan of work for each student.  Students and advisors should be aware that there are limits in credit hours for Research in Medical Sciences (GMS 6905-10 credits) and Supervised research (6910-5 credits) and Master’s Research (GMS 6971-6 credits).  Students interested in in the PhD in Biomedical Sciences, with permission from their Master’s advisor and the course director, can register for the PhD core course (GMS 6001) offered in the Fall Semester.