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Genetics

Faculty E-mails

Professors
Peter W. Atkinson, Ph.D. (Entomology)
Julia N. Bailey-Serres, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Nancy E. Beckage, Ph.D. (Entomology/Cell Biology and Neuroscience)
Michael T. Clegg, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Timothy J. Close, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Donald A. Cooksey, Ph.D. (Plant Pathology)
Darleen A. DeMason, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
J. Allan Dodds, Ph.D. (Plant Pathology)
Achilles Dugaiczyk, Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
David A. Eastmond, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience)
Brian A. Federici, Ph.D. (Entomology)
Daniel R. Gallie, Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
Sarjeet S. Gill, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience)
Andrew J. Grosovsky, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience)
Anthony H. C. Huang, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Bradley C. Hyman, Ph.D. (Biology)
Tao Jiang, Ph.D. (Computer Science)
Keh-Shin Lii, Ph.D. (Statistics)
Elizabeth M. Lord, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Leonard P. Nunney, Ph.D. (Biology)
Alexander S. Raikhel, Ph.D. (Entomology)
Natasha Raikhel, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Mikeal L. Roose, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Neal L. Schiller, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences)
Stephen R. Spindler, Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
Mark S. Springer, Ph.D. (Biology)
Daniel S. Straus, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences)
Jolinda A. Traugh, Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
J. Giles Waines, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Linda L. Walling, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Shizhong Xu, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Zhenbiao Yang, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Associate Professors
Katherine A. Borkovich, Ph.D. (Plant Pathology)
Elizabeth A. Bray, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Shou-Wei Ding, Ph.D. (Plant Pathology)
Howard S. Judelson, Ph.D. (Plant Pathology)
Bai-Lian Li, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)
Xuan Liu, Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
Dmitri A. Maslov, Ph.D. (Biology)
A.L.N. Rao, Ph.D. (Plant Pathology)
Frances M. Sladek, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience)
Assistant Professors
Jeffrey B. Bachant, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience)
Xingping Cui, Ph.D. (Statistics)
Cheryl Hayashi, Ph.D. (Biology)
Isgouhi Kaloshian, Ph.D. (Nematology)
Paul B. Larsen, Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
Stefano Lonardi, Ph.D. (Computer Science)
Changxuan Mao, Ph.D. (Statistics)
Ernest Martinez, Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
Constance I. Nugent, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience)
Frank Sauer, Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
Patricia S. Springer, Ph.D. (Botany and Plant Sciences)

The Genetics Graduate Program (GGP) is an interdepartmental program that includes faculty from the departments of Biochemistry, Biology, Botany and Plant Sciences, Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Computer Sciences, Entomology, Nematology, Plant Pathology, and Statistics, as well as the Division of Biomedical Sciences. The GGP administers a program leading to the Ph.D. in Genetics. Three fields of specialization (subdisciplines) offered by the program are molecular/cellular genetics, evolutionary/population genetics, and genomics/bioinformatics. The program is structured to allow maximum flexibility in the design of an individual student course program and research goals. A primary objective is to allow students to develop a capability in research as rapidly as possible, consistent with the student's initial preparation.

Students are expected to meet all general requirements of the Graduate Division as printed in the Graduate Studies section of this catalog. Submission of GRE scores (verbal, quantitative and analytical) is mandatory for admission. Applicants with any B.A. or B.S. degree and an adequate background in the biological and physical sciences will be considered. A minimum background should include courses in elementary biochemistry (1 quarter), biology (1 year), elementary genetics (1 quarter), general chemistry (1 year), organic chemistry (2 quarters), calculus (2 quarters), and statistics (1 quarter). The GGP evaluates applications on a continual basis from October to May. However, the GGP normally considers applications for teaching and research assistantships at the same time as fellowships; therefore, students are strongly encouraged to complete their applications for admission and support as early as possible. Normally, fellowships are awarded in January, for students entering the following fall quarter.

The GGP has been identified as the graduate training "home" for UCR's Genomics Institute. The Genetics faculty, partnering with colleagues in UCR's Computer Science and Statistics departments, has developed a contemporary curriculum in the broad area of genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics. Unique to this curriculum is the melding of microbial, animal, and plant genomics/bioinformatics within a single program. The curriculum was designed to interface with the molecular/cellular and evolutionary/population tracks.

Doctoral Degree

All students choose a genetics subdiscipline for specialization (either molecular/cellular, evolutionary/population, or genomics/bioinformatics). Specific course requirements are selected on the basis of the subdiscipline and the student's particular needs and objectives. The Ph.D. is a research degree, and, accordingly, the goal of the program is to train students in the theoretical and experimental foundations of modern genetics. Students are strongly encouraged to participate in lab rotations, select a major professor and begin research work early in their training (during the first year of residence).

Students are advanced to candidacy following successful completion of a written preliminary examination and an oral qualifying examination. Successful completion of a final oral dissertation defense is also required. There is no foreign language requirement. Each student is required to have at least one quarter of teaching experience. This requirement may be satisfied by serving as a teaching assistant in a genetics-related course.

Normative Time to Degree 15 quarters

GRADUATE COURSES

GEN 205. Signal Transduction Pathways in Microbes and Plants (4) Lecture, 3 hours; discussion, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing in the biological sciences, BIOL 107A or BIOL 113 or BIOL 114 or CBNS 101; or consent of instructor. Advanced topics in signal transduction pathways that regulate growth and development in plants and prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes. Areas covered include two-component regulatory systems; quorum sensing; signaling via small and heterotrimeric G proteins; mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades; cAMP signaling; photoreceptors; plant hormone signaling; responses to low-oxygen stress; calcium signaling; and plant pathogenesis. Cross-listed with CMDB 205, BCH 205, BPSC 205, MCBL 205, and PLPA 205.

GEN 240A. Advances in Bioinformatics and Genomics (4) Lecture, 4 hours. Prerequisite(s): BCH 110C or BIOL 107A; BIOL 102. Introduces current concepts and technologies in bioinformatics and genomics. Covers genomics foundations and gene discovery, functional genomics, macromolecules, and gene and genome evolution.

GEN 240B. Advances in Bioinformatics and Genomics (4) Lecture, 4 hours. Prerequisite(s): GEN 240A, STAT 160A, STAT 160B, STAT 161 (STAT 161 may be taken concurrently). Introduces current concepts and technologies in bioinformatics and genomics. Covers phylogenetics, sequence comparisons and genomics databases, and genetic mapping and single nucleotide polymorphisms and introduces biological data modeling.