Developmental and Regenerative Biology (DRB)

Introduction and History of the DRB Program

Across the Harvard University campuses there is a broad interest and expertise in Developmental and Regenerative Biology. This ranges from the role of development in evolution to the regulation of stem cell actions in the treatment of disease. In the last few years, significant efforts have been made to coordinate the existing intellectual capital in this area, including the establishment of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), the launch of the Integrative Developmental Biology (iDB) educational initiative, and the announcement of a university-wide Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (SCRB).

In order to further gel these efforts, we are pleased to announce a formal graduate program in Developmental and Regenerative Biology (DRB). The DRB graduate program will be launched and administered under the auspices of the Graduate Programs in BBS in Fall 2009. Students interested in the DRB program should apply to the BBS program by December 8 2008.

The DRB program in BBS will have a truly cross-campus and interdepartmental character, providing a mechanism to engage and integrate SCRB, HMS and FAS faculty in the education and training of GSAS students. DRB faculty members are drawn from four different campuses (Cambridge, HMS Longwood, MGH East and MGH Central) and over 10 departments. This diversity in faculty membership will allow incoming students access to an expanded number of faculty whose research interests lie in this area. Students who complete the program will be awarded a PhD in the area of Developmental and Regenerative Biology.

Goals of DRB Program

In this DRB program, we have two major goals: one is to provide our students with a well-defined, rigorous training program focused on Developmental Biology. DRB will provide a teaching platform in developmental and regenerative biology and research training for graduate students, familiarizing them with the necessary skills for the world of academic and clinical scientific research. Our second goal is to provide a truly interdisciplinary graduate program that takes advantage of the extraordinarily rich intellectual expertise of faculty members from every campus and every relevant department in the Harvard University community.

Applying for the DRB Program

Students interested in the DRB program are referred to the application process for the BBS program. Since DRB students are BBS students, they are not limited to the curriculum and faculty within the DRB program. Go here for additional application details: http://www.hms.harvard.edu/dms/applicationprocess.html

It should be noted that any BBS student with an interest in topics related to DRB may become a member of the program. There is no specialized DRB application prior to your arrival at graduate school; simply indicate your interest in DRB. Upon arrival, students who have expressed interest or develop an interest in this area will be assigned appropriate advisors and will be encouraged to pursue the recommended DRB curriculum, extra-curricular activities and choose an appropriate thesis lab. Non-DRB students will be permitted to participate in DRB curriculum and certain DRB extra-curricular activities

Course Requirement

Since DRB students are admitted to graduate school through the BBS, all DRB students are required to fulfill the BBS prescribed requirements. This includes completion of 8 full semester, half-courses (one of which must be Micro230). Fulfillment of the remaining course requirements can be satisfied from a wide variety of choices, but should include the core courses (BCMP 200, Genetics 201, Cell Biology 201 and BCMP 201) as well as upper level reading courses and advanced didactic courses at any of the four campuses. At least 2 of these courses should include courses directly related to areas of Developmental and Regenerative Biology. The following courses should be considered to fulfill this recommendation; CB207, CB214, CB330, NB207 or one of the SCRB courses. A list of additional recommended courses, along with descriptions of each course, is listed below.

Rotations and Choosing a Thesis Lab

As determined by the BBS, DRB students are required to do at least two rotations before choosing their thesis lab. The average rotation is 10-12 weeks. Given the cross campus nature of DRB, special consideration must be given to the reality that the rotation lab and classes may not be on the same campus. Therefore, the following options regarding rotation choice should be considered. First, if possible, we recommend taking classes held at the campus at which you will rotate. Depending on semesters, this may be a viable option. If this is not an option, then we encourage students to extend the length of a rotation 2-4 weeks beyond the recommended 3 months, in order to compensate for time lost in the lab due to travel time. Finally, students can choose to do shorter but full-time rotations during the summer prior to the start of their G1 year, the winter break of their G1 year (January) OR immediately following the completion of the G1 year (June).

Students who join labs of DRB faculty are expected to participate in scheduled programmatic DRB activities. These include monthly seminars and data/journal clubs and yearly retreats/workshops. Go here to see the list of DRB faculty.

Teaching

Gaining experience in teaching is required in the BBS program. Therefore, each DRB student must fulfill one semester as a non-paid teaching assistant. If possible, DRB students should be a teaching assistants in a course related to development or regenerative biology.

Paracurricular Activities

The DRB program hosts a monthly seminar series at which faculty researching questions related to developmental and regenerative biology present their work. All self-identified DRB students should attend these seminars. Go here for scheduling information http://idb.med.harvard.edu/content/section/9/55/. For this 2008-09 year, DRB students are also invited to have lunch with these speakers immediately following their seminars. In the future, monthly data/journal clubs will be initiated which will rotate among the campuses (Cambridge, HMS Longwood, MGH East and MGH Central). All self-identified DRB students should attend these monthly events.

Senior students (>G2) are encouraged to continue participating in monthly data/journal clubs and seminar series, attend and present work at national meetings, attend and teach in nanocourses related to their area of interest

DRB Administration

Director

Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas, Ph.D.

Professor of Cell Biology
Harvard Medical School, Longwood Campus
artavanis@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-7049

Executive Committee

Connie Cepko, Ph.D.
Professor of Genetics, Investigator for HHMI
Harvard Medical School, Longwood Campus
cepko@genetics.med.harvard.edu
617-432-7618

John Flanagan, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Harvard Medical School, Longwood Campus
flanagan@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-4096

Gary Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
ggilliland@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
617-355-9092

Andrew Lassar, Ph.D.
Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Harvard Medical School, Longwood Campus
andrew_lassar@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-3831

Andy McMahon, Ph.D.
Professor of Science
Harvard University, Cambridge Campus & Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
mcmahon@mcb.harvard.edu
617496-3757

Alex Schier, Ph.D.
Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Harvard University, Cambridge campus
schier@fas.harvard.edu
617-496-4835

Amy Wagers, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pathology
Harvard Medical School, Longwood Campus & Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
amy.wagers@joslin.harvard.edu
617-732-2590

Malcolm Whitman, Ph.D.
Professor of Developmental Biology
Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Longwood Campus
malcolm_whitman@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-1320

Meg Bentley, Ph.D.
Instructor of Cell Biology, DRB Teaching Fellow
Harvard Medical School, Longwood Campus
meg_bentley@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-6698