Curriculum
The curriculum of each student is prepared considering the candidate’s previous education, experience in research and their specific interests. The student is advised and guided personally by a guardian or tutorial committee.
The plan of studies is eight semesters and includes, for the students that enter our program before 2018, a total of 340 credits, of which 140 correspond to courses, seminars and research units and 200 to the completion of the doctoral thesis. One credit is equivalent to 18 hours of work. For the students that enter our Program in 2018 and after, the total of credits needed is 200, 80 correspond to courses, seminars and research units and 120 to the completion of the doctoral thesis.
Curriculum include:
Bibliographic Seminars: activities in which students present and discuss original research papers, advised by a teacher.
Research Units: research laboratories stays during which the student works on solving a specific experimental problem. These activities will last two months, full-time. In general, a student will conduct two research units in their curriculum.
Courses:
The courses can be sorted into four categories: Basic Courses, Advanced Courses, Complementary Courses and General Education Courses.
• Basic Courses: cover the basic disciplines related to materials, for example: Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Genetics and Cellular Physiology Basic, etc.
• Advanced Placement: analyzing specific topics such as biological membranes, Molecular Endocrinology, Cariobiología and Neuroscience.
• Complementary Courses: are more casual and generally shorter.
All these courses are taught by teachers who develop research in the area they teach and the reference material is original scientific literature.
• General Education Courses: contribute to the humanistic education of the student. The theme is variable and teachers are renowned intellectuals in the field of the arts or humanities.
Each of these activities must be approved with minimum score of 4.0 on the scale from 1.0 – 7.0.