Flexible and rigorous course work training.

Our students follow a curriculum that includes a combination of one core course (Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Seminar) and other specialized advanced topic electives. These elective courses are offered based on faculty’s research areas. These courses are designed to inspire as well as to help students develop into creative and analytical scientific thinkers through intensive training in scientific principles, data analysis, experimental design, and problem-solving skills. Importantly, this curriculum afford students even greater flexibility to develop a program of study that fits their developing research interests. The courses are offered in English-based text books and journals.

Laboratory Research.

Independent research is at the core of the graduate program. Students have the opportunity to select from seven primary faculty and 5 secondary faculty mentors whose research programs span a diverse array of scientific disciplines, including zebra fish developmental biology, Mechanism of Cancer metastasis of breast, lung and colon cancers, tropical medicine and infectious diseases, diabetes and autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, stem cells and cell cycle research. Again, flexibility is an integral part of our program; students generally selecting a mentor/thesis lab, prior to the school start. Collaboration amongst our department, the department of Medicine and MacKay memorial hospital researchers is common rather than the exception, providing our students with unique basic and clinical science training opportunities.

Participation in the broader research community.

Research retreats,special topical symposia and seminar series, student research days, colloquia, research-in-progress meetings, and multi-institutional regional conferences supplement the formal course work and research activities of our students. Through many of these activities, students learn about cutting edge research that is being performed throughout the scientific communities in Taiwan and the world.

Exposure to clinical/translational aspects of disease.

The school is closely linked with Taiwan’s MacKay Memorial Hospital system. Students in the graduate program are provided numerous opportunities to gain exposure to clinical and translational aspects of disease. These include frequent interactions with our clinical faculties, who teach in our core courses and routinely serve as co-mentors and members of student thesis advisory committees. Additionally, our students have the opportunity to attend “diseases and aging” “Mitochondria and diseases” conferences that form part of the scientific enterprise of the medical school.