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LMCB - Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology

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Rotation projects and thesis topics

Year 1:
In the first year, students attend tutorial courses on many cell biology topics. Tutorials are designed to encourage active student participation and discussion in an informal atmosphere to give a broad understanding of various areas of molecular cell biology, including developmental biology, neurobiology, immunology, computational biology and the cell biology of disease. In parallel, students undertake three 12-week lab rotations. At the end of their third rotation, students choose a host lab for their PhD.

Years 2-4:
Years 2-4 are focussed on research. Students meet with their committees on an annual basis. 
Year 2 committee meetings. MPhil to PhD upgrade meeting. tudents meet with their committee to discuss progress with their project, as well as identifying further skills training.
Year 3 committee meeting. Review of progress and training needs, and initial discussion of post-PhD career plans.
Year 4 committee meeting. Discussion of thesis content and plans for thesis completion. Detailed discussion of post-PhD career plan. 

Tutorials

Students attend tutorial courses on many cell biology topics in their first year. Tutorials are designed to encourage active student participation and discussion in an informal atmosphere to give a broad understanding of various areas of molecular cell biology as well as developmental biology, neurobiology, immunology and the cell biology of disease. They are led by active researchers from the LMCB and leading laboratories in the UK and Europe. Students are sent a reading list in advance and may be asked to prepare material to present. Tutorials are held twice a week throughout the first year and fall into the following categories

    •    Cell Decision Making
    •    Cell Signalling
    •    Cytoskeleton
    •    Computational Biology
    •    Development
    •    Growth Control
    •    Membrane trafficking
    •    Neurobiology

The LMCB retreat

On alternating years, LMCB members and all PhD students go to a countryside conference centre where they present their work in poster format, listen to invited speakers, and participate in various sporting and social events. Students are also encouraged to arrange international conferences with research institutes from around Europe. These events give students the opportunity to attend conferences and present their work to an international audience in an informal setting. Previous conferences have taken our students to Barcelona, Sorrento and Paris.

Advice and supervision

In addition to guidance from their primary supervisor, each student will also be offered independent counsel from a committee of three Programme members. This committee is chosen after discussion with the student and their primary supervisor. The committee is there to provide the student with support and advice as their thesis work progresses. Students also give yearly seminars about their research at the LMCB internal seminar series.