Immunology/Microbiology: Curriculum

(Note that the program retains the right to change some of these requirements in order to keep current with research and education advancements.)

First Year to Completion of the Program
During the first year after matriculation, students will enroll in the Graduate College Core Curriculum classes and other courses required by this Division. The schedule for these classes is:

Students in the PhD track only must complete the requirement for a pre-candidacy exam (PCE) by the last day of August. The PCE consists of both a written and oral portion to the exam. The written portion is based on a research proposal submitted to an examination committee appointed by the Graduate Advisory Committee (GAC). The topic of research must be pre-approved by the GAC. The research area of the proposal must be different from the proposed research for PhD dissertation. The proposal should be based on the NIH grant application format (PHS 398) and should be no more than 15 pages in length (single spaced) excluding bibliography. The oral portion of the exam will consist of a presentation based on the grant proposal and may also include basic questions in their area of interest (immunology or virology/molecular biology). Students who fail the PCE will be asked to take a written exam in a specialized area (immunology or virology/molecular biology). Failing this written comprehensive exam will result in recommendations for dismissal by the GAC to the Dean of The Graduate College. Timeline for completing PCE is below:

( Note that if a date falls on a weekend, item is due on the next business day)

1. April: GAC will conduct a workshop describing in detail the requirement of the PCE, how the PCE will be evaluated, and what is expected from the students. The GAC will also discuss key features/criteria of “how to write a grant” with the students.
2. May 15: The student should submit the topic of their choice to the GAC for approval. This should be either a title or a brief description of the general area of research. Detailed plans are not required but the description should be clear to the GAC as to the area of research that will be chosen. The GAC will either approve or reject this topic and notify the student by May 20.
3. June 1: The GAC will notify the student of the appointed examining committee.
4. July 15: Final document is provided to each member of the examining committee and the Program Director, if he/she did not serve on the committee.
5. By August 30: The student should have defended orally the grant proposal. The student is required to schedule a defense date. During this defense, a student’s basic knowledge in his/her area of interest, either virology/molecular biology or immunology will also be assessed.
6. If a student displays poor knowledge in their area of interest (immunology or molecular biology/virology) or has failed the written or the oral test, they will be asked to take a written comprehensive exam in the deficit area that must be completed one month from the date of the oral defense. If the student fails this written comprehensive exam, they will risk being recommended by the GAC for dismissal from the program.

During the first year, when possible, students are required to devote substantial time to research (20 hours/week or more in a quarter in which only one or two 4-credit hour courses are being taken) under the direction of the advisor. After all core courses are completed, a student will be evaluated by the Student Advisory Committee (SAC) for her/his performance in courses, laboratory work, motivation, etc., to determine continuation of the student in the program. This meeting will take place before the beginning of the fall quarter of the second year.

Second Year to Completion of the Program:
The classes required during the second year are:

By the winter of the second year, the student and advisor should submit a list of Student Dissertation Advisory Committee (SDAC) members with a recommendation for a chairperson for approval by the GAC. The SDAC should consist of a minimum of five faculty members. The student should have the approval of each proposed member prior to submitting their recommendation to the GAC. The student's advisor cannot be the chairperson of the committee. The members of the SDAC will be allowed to change with GAC approval if the project substantially changes or if the faculty is no longer appointed at Rush. The SDAC should be consistent with guidelines of the Graduate College Council. At this time, the SDAC must consist of at least five members:

• The advisor
• Two faculty members from the Division of Immunology/Microbiology. This may include a co-advisor.
• One faculty member from another Rush graduate division
• An additional faculty member from either the Division of Immunology/Microbiology, outside of the Division of Immunology/Microbiology, or outside of Rush University

By the spring/summer quarter of the second year, the student will prepare a dissertation proposal describing her/his plan for dissertation research and submit the proposal to her/his SDAC. The SDAC must approve both the written document and oral defense of the proposal before the end of the spring/summer quarter of the second year. Preliminary data should be included, if available, but it is not necessary and presentation/defense should not be deferred to collect such data. While it is mandatory that students complete this requirement by the end of the spring/summer quarter of their second year, students are strongly urged to complete this requirement before this deadline so that they may begin their doctoral dissertation research in earnest as soon as possible. The purpose of the dissertation proposal is to evaluate the student's understanding of her/his project, the project's potential, and its chances of success. The written dissertation proposal should include:

• Abstract
• Specific aims
• Background and significance of the research including a review of the literature needed to understand and evaluate the project
• Preliminary findings (if available)
• Experimental designs describing the rationale, experiments planned, general methods, analysis and alternatives
• References
• Timeline to completion of aims

The dissertation proposal should be reviewed and approved by the advisor before distributing to the SDAC members. It, however, should represent the student's efforts, and not be written by the advisor. Following the oral presentation and discussion, the SDAC will meet without the student to decide whether the defense was successful and to make specific recommendations.

A copy of the approved dissertation proposal should be given to the Program Director to be included in the student's file. After successful defense of the research proposal and the dissertation proposal, the student will be admitted to candidacy. If the proposal defense is failed, the SDAC may require that the proposal be rewritten and defended prior to the end of the fall quarter of the third year. A failure at the second defense will result in a recommendation for dismissal from the program.

Three to Five Years to Completion of the Program
Students should continue to register for special topic courses from years 2 through 4 until they have completed two special topic courses prior to graduation. In special circumstances, students may substitute special topic courses with an elective, providing that permission of the Graduate Program Director prior to this substitution has been granted. Every fall, winter, and spring quarter, doctoral students are expected to register for IMM 520 Advanced Readings in Immunology and Virology, IMM 515 Research Seminar, and IMM 620 Dissertation Research. At least two special topic courses (IMM 610) must be taken prior to graduation. Examples of previous special topics courses include Current Topics in Cellular Immunology: From Bedside to Bench side, HIV Gene Structure and Function, Viral Mimicry, Toll-like Receptors, and Signal Transduction in Lymphocytes. During these years, students should devote maximum time to research.

Once admitted to candidacy, all students must have a SDAC meeting at least every six months. SDAC minutes written by the SDAC Chairperson are to be submitted to the Program Director and will be included in the student's file. If a student has not had a data defense (see below) by the beginning of the fifth year in the program, the frequency of SDAC meetings will increase to once every four months.

Prior to graduation, a student must demonstrate research accomplishment and written communication skills by fulfilling a publication requirement. Students must have a first-authored publication in press in a peer-reviewed journal prior to awarding the degree. To this end, students are strongly encouraged to work with their advisors and members of their SDAC to meet this requirement as soon as possible. The publication requirement should be a clear objective for the student from the moment they enter candidacy. Students can defend their dissertation prior to having a manuscript accepted for publication if she/he provides a copy of the submitted manuscript along with a letter from the journal verifying receipt of the manuscript. These two documents should be submitted to the Program Director prior to planning a defense date.

To encourage development of general communication skills, students are encouraged to fulfill one of the following after being admitted to candidacy:

• The student may make a formal presentation (poster or oral) of her/his work at an institutional, regional, or national meeting
• The student may prepare and submit research grant proposals for extra-departmental review and possible funding.

When the student and the advisor have determined that sufficient data have been obtained and that the project has reached an acceptable degree of completion, a data defense meeting with SDAC is held, in which the student summarizes the data that will be included in the dissertation. If the SDAC approves, two readers will be named and the student will commence writing the dissertation. If the dissertation is not defended within one year of the data defense, the SDAC must reconvene and the data must be re-summarized by the student. In a rapidly changing field of science, the relevance of the work may have changed, and a reassessment of its originality and significance by the SDAC is required.

Curriculum for Students in the Master’s Track
Students in the master’s track are required to take the same first year of classes as the doctoral students. After the completion of first year, students in the master’s track are required to submit a topic of research for approval by the GAC by the summer of the first year. After approval, the student is expected to pursue full-time research in this area, while continuing to register for research seminar, advanced reading, and advanced immunology or microbiology, when offered. Students need to form a research committee made up of their advisor and two faculty members within The Graduate College. They are expected to summarize their findings in the format of a manuscript and defend it orally to their committee members. They are encouraged to present their data in a public format but this is not a requirement. This program is intended to be completed within two years of matriculation.