Pharmaceutical Sciences, M.S.

I. Admission Requirements

For unconditional admission to the graduate program, a student must hold a bachelor’s degree in biology, chemistry, or related science with a minimum of 30 credits in biology, chemistry (including organic chemistry), biochemistry, and physics at the undergraduate level and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 in these courses. A conditional admission may involve correcting topic deficiencies by taking undergraduate courses that are prerequisites to graduate courses. Undergraduate biology and chemistry course deficiencies need to be removed within one semester of admission into the program.  Credits in these courses do not count towards the graduate program. 

II. Program Requirements

Elective Courses

The electives should be selected from the following list of courses in consultation with the students’ research advisors based on specific research interest.

• PHRG 5120 - Advanced Biochemistry Lab (2)
• PHRG 5150 - Introduction to Biosensor Technology (3)
• PHRG 5160 - Physical Biochemistry (3)
• PHRG 5170 - Bioinformatics: Protein Structure Modeling and Drug Design (3)
• PHRG 5180 - Cheminformatics: Small Molecule Modeling for Drug Discovery (3)
• PHRG 5190 - Plant-based Pharmaceuticals (3)
• PHRG 5200 - Cloning and Expression (3)
• PHRG 5220 - Chemical Library Design (3)
• PHRG 5230 - The Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Drug Action (3)
• PHRG 5250 - Metabolic Diseases (3)
• PHRG 5270 - Pharmaceutical Technical Writing (3)
• BIOG 5130 - Critical Analysis of Research Literature in Biology (3)
• PHRG 5140 - Advanced Methods in Protein Chemistry (3)

III. Exit Requirements

1. A cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher is required.  A grade of “B” or better must be earned in the required graduate core courses for both thesis and project options.

2. Comprehensive Written Examination - Students in both thesis and non-thesis options are required to successfully pass a written comprehensive examination covering the pharmaceutical sciences (PHRG) core curriculum courses.  Students may select any four subject exams and are required to score equal or higher than 60% in order to pass each section.  A score of less than 60% will require that the student retake that/those exam(s) at the next regularly schedule comprehensive exam date.  Students are encouraged to discuss issues regarding the comprehensive examination with the Department Chair, Graduate Coordinator, and the directors of each core course.

3. Non-thesis Option - Candidates for the degree must conduct a project, write and present a project report to the department.

4. Thesis Option - Candidates for the degree must complete and defend a thesis approved by the department.

Graduate Curriculum Guide for Pharmaceutical Sciences