The Neuroscience Graduate Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences promotes interdisciplinary training that crosses traditional departmental boundaries and offers a rigorous foundation in the core concepts of neuroscience. Our goal is to cultivate the development of leaders in neuroscience research. Ongoing research in the program employs a wide array of techniques and includes multiple levels of investigation, ranging from genes, molecules, and cells to neural networks, systems, and behavior. Our faculty's research interests range from molecular & cellular neuroscience, systems neuroscience, computational neuroscience, cancer neuroscience, and translational neuroscience, which focuses on neurological diseases such as brain tumors, neurodegeneration, aging and psychiatric disorders. Unique to the neuroscience program is the option of fast track, which allows those students with strong interest in Neuroscience to bypass the Graduate School's Foundation course. We welcome attendance and participation of all interested faculty, students and other trainees at our retreat, seminars and other program activities.
Neuroscience Program Requirements
Students who are certain they want to affiliate with the Neuroscience Program may begin taking Neuroscience course in the fall semester (“Fast Track”).
Students who are interested in Neuroscience but want to keep their program options open should enroll in GS21 1017 Foundations of Biomedical Research during the fall semester, and then begin Neuroscience courses in the spring semester (“Traditional Track”).
In addition to general GSBS course requirements for the PhD degree and MS degree, the Neuroscience Program requires the following courses:
PhD Students
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required courses | ||
| Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience * | ||
| Systems Neuroscience * | ||
*A minimum grade of B is required in both courses | ||
| Quantitative requirement | ||
| Biostatistics for Life Scientists | ||
| Electives: Students must complete two advanced electives, with at least one selected from the Neuroscience electives list. | ||
| Biology of Neurological Diseases | ||
| Neurocircuits and Behavior | ||
| Additional elective options | ||
Two of the following courses may be combined to count as one Neuroscience elective: | ||
| Neurobiology of Mental Health Disorders | ||
| Cancer Neuroscience | ||
| Neuroimmunology | ||
| Courses that do not fulfill the Elective Requirement | ||
| Current Topics in Neuroscience | ||
| Current Topics in Neurobiology of Disease | ||
| Translational Neuroscience | ||
MD/PhD Students
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required courses | ||
Students must complete at least one of the following courses: | ||
| Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience * | ||
| Systems Neuroscience * | ||
*A minimum grade of B is required in both courses | ||
| Electives | ||
Students must complete two advanced electives, with at least one selected from the Neuroscience electives list above. | ||
MS Students
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required courses | ||
Students must complete two courses from the list below and must earn a grade of B or better for course credit. | ||
| Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience | ||
| Systems Neuroscience | ||
| Biostatistics for Life Scientists | ||
| Biology of Neurological Diseases | ||
| Neurocircuits and Behavior | ||
Second Area of Research Concentration (ARC2) Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required courses | ||
Students must complete at least one of the following courses: | ||
| Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience * | ||
| Systems Neuroscience * | ||
*A minimum grade of B is required in both courses | ||
Students may choose to take both courses in lieu of an advanced elective below. | ||
| Electives | ||
Students must complete one advanced elective from the following list: | ||
| GS14 1612 | Biostatistics for Life Scientists | 2 |
| GS14 1183 | Biology of Neurological Diseases | 3 |
| GS14 1223 | Neurocircuits and Behavior | 3 |
Candidacy Exam
Neuroscience Program students can either take an on-topic or off-topic candidacy exam, following the GSBS guidelines for on-topic or off-topic exam, respectively. The exam is designed to meet two main objectives:
- To evaluate the student’s ability to develop a novel hypothesis, write a proposal that tests that hypothesis, and defend an original research project.
- To evaluate the breadth of the student’s overall neuroscience knowledge as gained from the Neuroscience Core Courses.
The research proposal should be broad in scope, and should incorporate several distinctly different experimental approaches. Although most breadth questions will be derived from the research proposal, the student will ultimately be responsible for all areas covered in the core curriculum. Development of the proposal should follow GSBS guidelines.
There are three phases to the candidacy exam:
- Selection of a topic approved by the advisory committee and generation of a one-page abstract submitted to the program manager and the Academic Standards Committee
- Writing a proposal in NIH pre-doctoral fellowship format
- Taking an oral examination based on the submitted proposal, consisting of a 15-20 minute presentation followed by a period of open questioning by a five-member committee.
- Students who joined the program Fall 2025 and earlier have the choice to present in either a slides-based format or as a chalk talk.
- Students who joined the program beginning in Spring 2026 are required to present in a chalk talk format.