Genetics Training Program

The UC San Diego Genetics Training Program is designed for predoctoral (Ph.D.) students in any life or health sciences graduate program at UC San Diego who have completed their first year of study. We do not admit students from outside the university. The program is built on Genetics and Genomics research in the UC San Diego Health Sciences (including the School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, and Institute for Genomic Medicine), UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences, and The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Our program complements this outstanding research environment with specialized coursework and seminars, peer interactions, and a career advising program to train graduate students for front-line careers as academic or industrial scientists. Our faculty, students and alumni investigate genetic mechanisms and use genetic methods to understand biological problems important for human health. Our program's integrated educational principles merge a rigorous training in the principles, intellectual underpinnings, and quantitative analytical methods of both classical and cutting edge Genetics – including emerging genomic approaches – with an appreciation of the problems, perspectives, and ethical issues associated with modern clinical and medical Genetics, including gene therapy. We welcome students from diverse backgrounds and abilities.

Our philosophy is to train outstanding students in the intellectual and technical methods of Genetics after they have developed a strong foundation in modern biological or biomedical sciences through their first year of graduate study and selected an appropriate mentor for their thesis research. UC San Diego graduate students with an interest in Genetics or Genomics should apply with the support of a faculty mentor during the Spring or Summer of their first year, to begin training in the Fall of their second year of graduate school. Our students learn the logic and culture of current and developing Genetics and Genomics research, as well as the lore and methods of classical Genetics. By putting these focused intellectual activities into broad biological and clinical contexts, by providing training in the full range of Genetic investigation and exposing students to a broad range of research organisms, and by giving our trainees access to outstanding mentors and research problems, the UC San Diego Genetics Training Program develops uniquely prepared graduates with a foundation to take on the next generation of challenge in the life and health sciences.

To learn more, visit the Genetics Training Program site.