Study

The Ph.D. in the MCB program requires successful completion of a minimum of 30-credit hour courses (42-credit hour courses for students holding B.S. degree only), a qualifying exam and thesis research. The maximal length of study is 7 years.

Molecular and Cell Biology 4
Seminar 4
Thesis Research 12
Elective Courses >=10
Total 30

 

Schedule of Study

[ 1st year ]
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
Summer
Molecular and Cell Biology
+
Seminar
+
+
Lab Rotation
(+)
(+)
(+)
Thesis Research
+
Qualifying Exam (optional)    
(+)

 

[ 2nd year ]
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
Summer
Seminar
+
+
Annual Progress Report
+
Thesis Research
+
+
+
Qualifying Exam
(+)
+

 

[ 3rd year to Graduation ]
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
Summer
Annual Progress Report
+
Thesis Research
+
+
+

*** View Handbook for Faculty & Student

 

program
  • Transfer Credits. New students who have previously completed graduate school coursework with a grade of 70 or higher at other domestic or international colleges and universities within five years of admission, students can request to have these credit transferred with Curriculum and Degree Committee if any of the following condition is met:

    1. Course with identical titles and contents (transcript required)
    2. Course with similar titles and contents (transcript, the course outline, syllabus and textbook used need to be provided to get approval by Curriculum and Degree Committee and the corresponding course instructor)
    3. If necessary, take the oral or written exam in time.
      Requests for transfer credits should be submitted by the end of the Add/Drop period of the first semester after enrolling in the program. The total numbers of transfer credits should not exceed 1/3 of the total elective credits required by the program for graduation (Thesis credits excluded). Molecular and Cell Biology, thesis research and Seminars credits cannot be transferred.


  • MCB Course(4-credit). Every student should take MCB course on the 1st semester of the 1st year and students who pass the MCB course are eligible to take QE before the beginning of the 3rd year.

  • Lab Rotations. Please check the Lab Rotation Guideline for the rules of each rotation period. Students may rotate through several labs with the goal of finding a lab to conduct their thesis research. The duration of each lab rotation is upon mutual agreement between the student and the advisor, but shall not exceed 4 months. A maximum of 2 credits will be granted, even if students take more than 2 lab rotations. Students are highly recommended to decide on the thesis research lab by the end of the first summer. Studentship will be terminated if a student cannot find a thesis research lab before applying for qualifying exam.

  • Seminar. To invite as many PIs to join the seminar and to benefit students in diverse fields. Please check the Seminar Guideline for the rules of each rotation period.

  • Chinese Course. It is for foreign student only. Foreign students should take it on the 1st year.

  • Thesis Research. A minimum of two years of thesis research is required. Twelve credits will be granted to the student upon completion of their thesis defense. Students should choose a thesis advisor from among the eligible TIGP-MCB faculty after their enrollment.

  • Course Requirements. Seminar for another year. In order to be eligible to take the Qualifying Exam in the Spring semester of their second year students need to ensure that MCB course are completed by the end of the Fall semester of their second year.

  • Choosing a thesis advisor.(1) A thesis advisor is selected upon mutual agreement between the student and a TIGP-MCB faculty member.
    (2) The thesis advisor must be a faculty member of the TIGP-MCB program at the beginning of the student’s first semester. If a student needs to change his/her thesis advisor during the PhD study, the new thesis advisor must be a TIGP-MCB faculty member at the time of the change. In all cases, the thesis advisor must have agreed to advise and sponsor the student for the entire period of graduate study.
    (3) To ensure continuity of a student’s thesis research, faculty members who reach the age of 65 before each fall semester are no longer eligible to be a thesis advisor for a new student enrolled thereafter. A list of available faculty members is provided in each year’s student handbook.
    (4) If a thesis advisor retires or transfers to a new post and no longer has a primary appointment in Academia Sinica or NDMC, his/her student can either find a new advisor from among the eligible faculties at the time of transfer or stay with the same advisor. If the student chooses to stay with the same advisor, the first/primary affiliation of the corresponding author in the publication used to apply for the thesis defense still needs to be listed as “Molecular and Cell Biology, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica and Graduate Institute of Life Science, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan”. >>>DL Thesis advisor form

  • Thesis Committee. The thesis advisor should organize a thesis Committee within one month of a student choosing their lab. Each Thesis Committee should consist of at least three members, including the advisor. The Thesis Committee must meet at least once a year to evaluate the progress report from the student. The thesis committee evaluates the progress and advises on current research problems and the future direction of the project.

  • Progress Report. Students are required to complete their annual progress reports to the Thesis Committee in a timely manner in order to graduate. The first report should be given by the end of the third semester aimed at discussing the thesis proposal with the committee. Thereafter, progress reports should be given once a year by the end of each Fall semester. The date should be reported to Office of MCB program by December 31st and the report should be done no later than January 31st. Students should prepare a written proposal or progress report (see below for format), and submit it to their Thesis Committee and the TIGP-MCB office at least one week before their scheduled annual progress report meeting. The annual progress in the 5th year should open to all program faculty and students. The 4th year student will also be scheduled a 30-min talk open to all program faculty and students before the end of the 4th year.
    --> Progress Report Form

    Format for the written report (no more than 15 pages, single-spaced)
    1. Title page
    2. Introduction (2-5 pages)
    3. Results and discussion
    4. Future work
    5. References

    Students should coordinate the schedule for their progress report with their Thesis Committee and duly notify the Thesis Committee members when to attend meetings to discuss their progress reports.

  • Qualifying Exams. In principle, the TIGP-MCB qualifying exam (QE) will be held twice every year. Students should take the QE before the start of their third academic year. Students who pass the Molecular and Cell Biology course are eligible to apply to take the QE. Students must submit an application form and a one-page research proposal containing abstracts and specific aims to the Curriculum and Degree Committee before the application deadline.

    The Curriculum and Degree Committee will assemble a QE evaluation committee to evaluate each abstract and to appoint a QE committee for each student according to the subject of their proposal. The QE committee consists of five members, and the student’s thesis advisor should not serve on the committee or be present during the QE. Maximal of 2 thesis committee members can be invited to serve as the student qualifying exam committee (advisor excluded). Students must submit their proposal to the MCB office two weeks before the date of the QE. The date of the QE exam will be announced before 1st June or 1st December.

    Two formats of thesis proposal can be accepted and either one should be approved and verified by the thesis advisor.:
    1. Non-thesis proposal: The topic cannot be closely related to your Masters or Ph.D. thesis or to your advisor’s research. However, the subject can be in the field of the student’s thesis research.
    2. Thesis proposal: Students can use their thesis proposal to take the QE with the consent of their thesis advisor.

    The format of qualifying examination proposals:
    1. Specific Aims
    2. Background and Significance
    3. Experimental Design and Methods
    4. Anticipated Results
    5. Discussion
    6. Page limit for content of proposal is 25 pages. (Use Times New Roman font, 12-point type, and single-spacing.)

      7. *Items 4 and 5 can be presented separately or together.
      *The format for references should follow that of the journal “Cell” or “Nature” consistently.

    Students will defend their proposal in front of their QE committee.
    The QE will be evaluated based on: (1) background knowledge; (2) rationale, originality and feasibility of the proposal; and (3) presentation skills. For the thesis proposal, it is suggested to include your preliminary data to support the feasibility of your proposal. Preliminary data does not guarantee that you will pass the exam.
    At least three of the QE committee members are required to approve a pass grade for the QE. Students who fail the first QE should retake the exam before the end of their fifth academic semester. Students who fail the qualifying examination the second time will result in studentship termination.
    Timetable for students eligible to apply for the QE
    Semester Application Announcement of the dates Examination
    taken
    Fall October 1-15 By November 15 December 15 - January 15
    Spring April 15-30 By June 1 July 1 - August31
    *** Qualifying Exam Form
    *** INSTRUCTIONS & REMINDER for the studetns and committee.
  • Annual Thesis Committee Meetings (Progress Report).  Students must give an annual progress report to the thesis committee by the end of every fall semester. --> Annual Progress Report and Fellowship Evaluation Form
    A written progress report of the same format as proposal is required, and should be submitted to the thesis committee and MCB Office one week before presentation.

  • GRADUATION/Degree Requirements
    In order to earn a Ph.D. degree under the TIGP-MCB program, a candidate must successfully complete/meet the following criteria within seven years.

    • Completion of course requirement: 30 credits of course work (including 12 credits for thesis research) are required for students with a Master’s degree and 42 credits for students with only a Bachelor’s degree.

    • Students must have completed annual progress reports in a timely manner.

    • Students must meet one of the following requirements:

      1. The student should have published at least one manuscript, or have a manuscript accepted for publication, as first-author in a research journal that is ranked in the top 50% of journals in that subject amongst SCI list publications. The affiliation for TIGP-MCB program students should be listed in their published work as "Molecular and Cell Biology, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica and Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan", followed by the primary affiliation of the advisor. An alternative option is: “Molecular and Cell Biology, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica and National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan". The publication date of the manuscript can be anytime after the student has been enrolled in the TIGP-MCB program.
      2. If the paper has more than one first author, is a review article, is published in a journal not ranked in the top 50% of journals in that subject amongst SCI list publications or in a journal has not received ranking, or the student’s research work is not yet published but the student has been in the TIGP-MCB program for 5 or more years and has shown exceptional aptitude, at the discretion of the advisor and Thesis Committee, the following procedure can be followed to apply for approval for a thesis defense:
        • The student’s thesis committee is required to submit a recommendation letter to verify that the quality and quantity of the student's work is sufficient to gain a Ph.D. degree under the TIGP-MCB program. The recommendation letter should detail the student’s specific accomplishments, independence and communication skills in research.
        • The thesis advisor should also write a statement outlining the reasons why the student’s capabilities and qualifications warrant award of a Ph.D. degree.
        • The student must also submit a written statement specifying his/her own contributions to the paper(s) and other achievements. Awards and oral presentations of the student in international meetings etc., would be helpful to the TIGP-MCB Curriculum and Degree Committee in evaluating the application.
          These documents should be submitted to the TIGP-MCB Curriculum and Degree Committee at least one month before the next scheduled Curriculum Committee meeting of our partner university. Please note that the partner university’s committee meeting schedule may vary each year.
        • The student should give an oral presentation to the TIGP-MCB Curriculum and Degree Committee, and the thesis advisor should be present at the presentation to answer any questions from the Committee. The TIGP-MCB Curriculum and Degree Committee will make a majority vote.
        • If approved by the TIGP-MCB Curriculum and Degree Committee, the case will then be submitted to the partner university’s Curriculum Committee for approval through a majority vote.
        • The student’s thesis advisor needs to attend the partner university’s Curriculum Committee meeting in person in order to properly defend the application during the voting.
        • For students who have not reached the maximum time allowed for their PhD study and who are applying for thesis defense without a publication, they need to submit document showing that the submitted manuscript has gone through the full review process (e.g. providing reviewer’s comments), and provide a statement from the advisor elucidating how they will address the comments and will resubmit, or that they will submit to a new journal and how they will have a better chance of getting accepted in the new journal.

    • Students must pass the thesis defense.


  • Thesis Defense Committee
    With the consent of the student’s Thesis Committee, a Thesis Defense Committee of 5-7 members must be formed. The Thesis Defense Committee must comprise 2-4 non-TIGP-MCB faculty members. Students must present their thesis work in an open seminar, followed by a defense in front of the Thesis Defense Committee. Chair cannot be advisor and has to be a MCB faculty.
program

Required Courses- Required for all students.

  • 3024101 Molecular and Cell Biology(4 credits, 1st semester of the 1st year)
  • 3024110 Seminar (1 credit/semester, 1st and 2nd years)
  • 3024501 Annual Progress Report (every fall semester, starting in the 3rd academic year)
  • 3024130 Thesis Research (12 credits)
  • 3024211 Primary Chinese (o credit; for international students who cannot excel in mandarin)

Elective Courses- Choose at least 2 courses.


In addition, the MCB students can take any courses offered by other programs inTIGPand by NDMC.