Program Abstract
Biological science has rapidly evolved since the turn of the century; scientists are now able to
routinely generate and analyze data with super-resolutions and at genome-, transcriptome-,
proteome- and organism-wide scales. To rise to these challenges in the 21st century, the new
generation of scientists must then be trained to have a broad and interdisciplinary knowledge of
modern biology and experimental approaches in a highly collaborative environment. The training
program in Molecules, Cells, and Organisms (MCO) is designed to train the next- generation
biologists by allowing them access to faculty mentors representing all areas of modern biology—
from biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology to molecular, cell, neuro-, and
developmental biology to genetics, genomics, and evolutionary biology to systems and
computational biology. The training program is located at the Cambridge campus of Harvard
University, and fifty-five faculty are drawn from five departments in the school of Faculty of Arts
and Sciences, including, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Chemistry and Chemical Biology,
Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and Physics, and
faculty from the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Through its structure of core courses,
quantitative biology courses, journal club, nanocourses, hands-on model systems workshops, lab
rotations, seminars, scientific colloquia and retreats, the MCO program exposes its trainees from
the start to a rigorous and multidisciplinary training, and helps them to develop outstanding
reasoning, quantitative and creative skills required for modern biology, as well as oral and written
communication. As biological sciences continue to attract scientist from all disciplines, the MCO
program is designed to meet the challenge of training a new generation of biologists that can
combine the methods of chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics and informatics with new
concepts in cellular, molecular and behavioral biology. The mission of the program is to equip
trainees with the necessary technical and operational skills that are necessary to be successful
in interdisciplinary research, as exemplified by first-author publications and timely graduation.