Integrative Life Sciences - PhD

The doctoral program in integrative life sciences is a flexible, interdisciplinary program designed for students seeking new ways to answer emerging research questions. While still centered on a core academic curriculum, this program offers opportunities to draw from the varied disciplines that comprise VCU Life Sciences. For example, students in this program have identified genes associated with aging in yeast, characterized reproductive patterns in James River sturgeon and investigated barrier island shrub dynamics.

Today, the complexity of any question in the life sciences requires a mastery of multiple disciplines. The ILS program aims to manage and efficiently exploit expanded realms of knowledge — objectives inherent in the broad concepts of systems biology and biological complexity. Life scientists must now meld technological skills, information processing, modeling and systems organization in order to study biological phenomena. The courses and philosophy of the ILS program reflect this need and are intended to equip students for future careers in modern biological sciences.