Curriculum

All NGP students complete core curriculum courses during their first year including: Cellular Neuroscience (NSC 512), Integrative and Systems Neuroscience (NSC 531), Ethics in Research (IND 501), Human Brain Anatomy (NSC 511)¹, Introduction to Programming (NSC 410), and 3-4 laboratory rotations of their own choosing. During years 1 and 2, NGP students must also complete 2 Fall semesters of Current Topics in Cellular Neuroscience (NSC 592), 2 Spring semesters of Critical Reading In Integrative and Systems Neuroscience (NSC 592), Applied Statistics in the Biomedical Sciences (BST 467), serve as a teaching assistant for one semester (NSC 581 - in year 2 or 3) and register for NSC Student Seminar (NSC 503) each semester they are in the program.

In addition to the coursework listed above, students must complete a minimum of 10 elective credits of coursework². All students are strongly encouraged to enroll in Introduction to Computational Neuroscience (NSC 547). For most students, elective credits will come from either Neuroinflammation (ANA 513), Biology of Neurological Disease (NSC 525), Biochemistry (IND 408), Foundations in Cellular and Molecular Biology (ANA 511), Foundations in Modern Biology (modules 2, 3 and 4) (IND 431), or Genetics (IND 410). The remaining 3 (or more) elective credits are earned in upper-level graduate courses and are chosen in consultation with the NGP Director and/or the student’s thesis advisor.

Partial list of graduate level electives

• ANA 513 Neuroinflammation
• ANA 518 Introduction to Neuroengineering
• ANA 522 Neuroscience Student Seminar
• ANA 581 Teaching Tutorial in Neuroscience
• ANA 591 PhD Readings/Special Topics
• ANA 595 PhD Research in Neuroscience
• BCSC 501 Language
• BCSC 502 Cognition
• BCSC 508 Cognitive Neuroscience
• BCSC 511 Behavioral Methods in Cognitive Science
• BCSC 512 Computational Methods in Cognitive Science
• BCSC 532 Probabilistic Theories of Cognitive Processing
• BCSC 543 Neurochemical Foundations of Behavior
• BCSC 546 Biology of Mental Disorders
• BCSC 547 Advanced Computational Neuroscience
• BME 416 Speech on the Brain
• BME 472 Advanced Biomedical Microscopy
• BST 463 Introduction to Biostatistics
• BST 465 Design of Clinical Trials
• BST 467 Applied Statistics in the Biomedical Sciences
• ECE 440 Introduction to Random Processes
• GEN 503 Genetics Seminar
• GEN 506 Principles in Stem Cell Biology
• GEN 507 Advanced Genetics and Genomics
• GEN 508 Genes, Development, and Disease
• IND 409 Cell Biology
• IND 417 Workshop in Scientific Communications
• IND 418 Biostatistics Boot Camp
• IND 420 Mastering Scientific Information
• IND 431 Foundations Modern Biology I
• IND 439 Leadership and Management for Scientists
• IND 447 Signal Transduction
• IND 501 Ethics and Professional Integrity
• IND 511 URBest Internship
• IND 990 Summer in Residence - There are 4 sections of Summer in Residence.
• Section 01 – Students over the summer will register for this section (May – August)
• Section 02 – Students joining in June should register for this section (June – August)
• Section 03 – Students joining in July should register for this section (July – August)
• Section 04 – Students joining in August (prior to fall, due to extenuating circumstances) should register for this section (August)
• LING 425 Introduction to Semantic Analysis
• LING 428 Lexical Semantics
• MBI 589 Virology Seminar
• MBI 473 Immunology
• MBI 515 Advanced Immunology
• NSC 410 Introduction to Programming
• NSC 420 Biostatistics and Experimental Design Boot Camp
• NSC 503 Neuroscience Student Seminar
• NSC 511 Human Brain Anatomy
• NSC 512 Cellular Neuroscience
• NSC 525 Biology of Neurological Disease
• NSC 531 Integrative and Systems Neuroscience
• NSC 541 Neurons, Circuits, Systems
• NSC 547 Introduction to Data Analysis Methods in Neuroscience
• NSC 581 Teaching Tutorial in Neuroscience
• NSC 590 Lab Rotations in Neuroscience
• NSC 591 PhD Readings/Special Topics
• NSC 592 Neuroscience Journal Club
• NSC 595 Neuroscience PhD Research
• PHP 404 Principles of Pharmacology
• PHP 405 Effective Scientific Communication
• PHP 447 Signal Transduction
• PHP 467 Statistical Rigor and Data Analysis
• PM 419 Recruitment and Retention
• PM 488 Experimental Therapeutics
• PTH 507 Cancer Biology
• PTH 509 Pathways of Human Disease
• PTH 571 Molecular Basis of Disease
• TOX 521 Toxicology I
• TOX 522 Toxicology II
• TOX 560 Societal Determinants of Neurotoxicity

• M.D./Ph.D. students are allowed to waive the required Neuroscience Graduate Program electives.
• NSC 511 is not required for M.D./Ph.D. students. Email the course instructor for approval to waive this requirement.
• M.D./Ph.D. students are exempt from the TA requirement but may do so if interested.
• M.D./Ph.D. students need to complete only one rotation report – instructions on page 11-12 of the handbook.
• M.D./Ph.D. students can waive up to ten elective credits from medical school.
  • Typically, Human Structure & Function (ANA 526) or Mind, Brain and Behavior (ANA 525)

During the first year, each student is assigned a first year advising committee comprised of two NGP faculty members and a senior NGP student. The goal of the first-year advisory committee is to provide critical feedback to students early in their careers, before they choose a thesis lab. Since students may not have formed individual relationships with faculty and senior students at this point, the first-year advisory committee provides an opportunity to forge such relationships and get mentorship at a critical time when students may have less access to meaningful input. Mentors provide advice on areas that include (but are not limited to): expectations in graduate school, balancing classes and lab work, study habits, choosing a rotation and eventually a thesis lab, reading the scientific literature, scientific writing, qualifying exams, interacting with faculty and students, networking, and future career options. The first year advising committee also provides feedback on rotation reports (see below) and oral presentations in student seminar. By the start of the second year, this committee is replaced by the Part I Exam Committee, Part II Exam Committee, and eventually by the Thesis Committee. Timing and guidelines for convening these committees are described later in the handbook.

The primary purpose of the lab rotation is to provide students with an insider’s view, through active participation in a research project, of the research interests, laboratory environment, and mentoring style of faculty they are considering as potential thesis advisors. Laboratory rotations also provide an opportunity to learn new techniques and to gain an appreciation for different scientific approaches to a problem. The experience should broaden one’s research skills and, therefore, students may want to avoid multiple rotations in labs utilizing essentially the same approaches and techniques. On the other hand, coordinating the rotations to employ different techniques aimed at investigations into one area of neuroscience research can also be beneficial.

NGP students must complete at least 3 rotations with tenure track faculty by the end of the summer after their first year⁸. The Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education has established a standard set of start and end dates for lab rotations as follows:

At the conclusion of each rotation, the student and rotation mentor each complete a Lab Rotation Evaluation. Rotation Evaluation forms are available from the NGP Administrator or online at: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/graduate/home/forms.aspx. Incoming students are encouraged to arrive early and begin their first rotation on July 1 before starting classes in the fall.

When selecting a lab rotation, students must check with the mentor to find out whether they will be working with radioisotopes, certain regulated chemicals, or biologicals, and/or animals or human subjects. In such cases, students will be required to complete trainings through MyPath, https://mypath.rochester.edu/.

⁸ M.D./Ph.D. students complete two lab rotations generally during their 1st and 2nd summers in medical school.

Rotation reports

NGP first year students are required to complete two written rotation reports (MSTP students will only be required to complete a fall rotation report). The goal of guided rotation 

reports is to provide students with the opportunity to practice their scientific writing skills early. These skills include the ability to formulate project goals, provide rationale as well as an overview of the field. Many students come in with limited scientific writing experience and struggle to develop these skills in graduate school. A critical aspect of the rotation reports is to provide students with consistent feedback throughout the first year to ensure that their skills improve and that they are provided with the support they require, depending on their level of competency.

It is important that both students and faculty realize that rotation experiences vary widely. Some students will design and complete a full experiment and be ready to present their findings in the form of a scientific paper. Others will take part in a team approach and experience different techniques without formally carrying out an experiment. Those students may write a rotation report that focuses on the bigger questions addressed by their rotation lab or the techniques that they have explored to address these questions. DATA ARE NOT REQUIRED but may be presented if available. The most important result of the rotation write-up is that students learn to communicate scientific concepts clearly and identify important aspects of a new scientific field.

To ensure that reports are completed in a timely manner, rotation reports will only be required for fall and winter rotations. Completion of the reports will be required to obtain a passing grade in NGP Student Seminar (NSC 503). Students not doing rotations in either of those rotation periods can complete a report on a rotation completed earlier.

Report format

1. The main point of the report is to demonstrate an understanding of the scientific field explored during the rotation and to provide a description of the rotation experience. DATA ARE NOT REQUIRED, although students who have obtained data during their rotations are welcome to include them in their report.
2. The report must include a Title followed by at least four sections:
   1. Purpose: a brief paragraph succinctly describing the point of the rotation project or rotation experience.
   2. Introduction: an overview of the field and where the rotation project fits into the big picture view.
   3. Materials and Methods: description of the techniques used with their limitations. This section may include the design of experiments if this approach was part of the rotation whether the experiments yielded data.
   4. Discussion section describing any results or expected results if none were obtained and how they would inform the field and lead to future research directions.
   5. A results section may be included if appropriate.
3. A proposal will be required at the beginning of the rotation period. If the report describes a rotation that was completed prior to the timing of the report, then the proposal can be replaced with the purpose section.
4. The report is to be submitted as a Word document approximately 3 - 6 pages of text, double spaced, Arial font, 11 point, one-inch margins on all four sides of the page. Figures, Tables and References are NOT included in this page limit. Pages must be numbered.
5. Complete references are to be provided at the end of the report. There is no limit to the number of references; however, the student is expected to have read all the references cited. References should be cited in the text as “First author et al., 2005”, rather than numbered.
6. Additional pages can be used, as needed for Figures, brief Figure Legends and Tables for data obtained during the rotation.

Timelines

Students are expected to turn in sections of the report on Mondays throughout the semester to their advisory committee and to rewrite those sections based on the feedback obtained. Hence, timely submission of both the report sections and feedback from the faculty is critical. Faculty may ask for additional rewriting if necessary. Although not required, students are strongly encouraged to seek feedback from the rotation advisor before or along with submission to the first-year advisory committee.