UCLA
1P-109D Center for the Health Sciences
Box 951732
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732
(310) 825-5719
Pathology is, by definition, the science of disease. Its main purpose is to unravel disease mechanisms. Without it, progress in prevention, diagnosis, and therapy are left to chance. Yet, among medical disciplines, it is one of the youngest because scientific concepts of disease, based on direct observation of diseased organs, developed only in the last 150 years.
Once normal molecules, cells, and organs have been damaged, the result of the injury manifests itself by distortions of behavior at the molecular, cellular, and organ levels. The study of these injuries and reactions to injuries constitutes a body of knowledge well worth mastering for its own sake. Students, however, must also learn to use the existing tools or develop the new tools needed to dissect the events that follow injury. Although education in methodology is not, in principle, different in pathology from that in all other biomedical sciences, it is very different in scope.
A combined education in breadth and depth is indispensable; it is this education, as it is applied to injuries and reaction to injuries, that is the goal of the Ph.D. program in Experimental Pathology.
The following constitutes introductory information regarding graduate degree programs. For a complete outline of degree requirements, see Program Requirements for UCLA Graduate Degrees available in the program office and accessible on the Graduate Division Gopher via the Internet.
Students are only accepted into the program for the purpose of obtaining a Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology. However, the department also awards a Master of Science degree in Experimental Pathology in cases where a student was unable to finish the full Ph.D. program but whose completed work is adequate to the standards and minimum requirements set for a master's degree.
Consult the department.
Students must complete the core courses and the six elective units required of all experimental pathology graduate students. The minimum number of units required is 36, and the minimum number of graduate units required is 35. The maximum number of units permitted in the 500 series is eight units, and the maximum number of 500-series units that may be applied toward the graduate course requirement is four units.
Students must take the written qualifying examination. An M.S. student must answer at least two-thirds of the questions on this examination and pass with a minimum grade of B. Students have the same amount of time as Ph.D. students to complete the examination.
Students must execute an original scholarly research project. This project must be approved by a committee of three faculty. Students then must write up the project as a thesis which requires approval of the same committee. The student and the faculty adviser must select two other faculty members for the committee. Members of the committee must be in the department
Consult the department.
Consult the department.
Admission to the program is through UCLA ACCESS to Programs in Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences. Information may be obtained from UCLA ACCESS, 172 MBI, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1570, (310) 206-6051.
Consult the graduate adviser.
First Year
Fall Quarter: Biological Chemistry CM253, one seminar course, one laboratory rotation.
Winter Quarter: Neurobiology M209A or Biological Chemistry CM267, one seminar course, one laboratory rotation.
Spring Quarter: Choice of elective (for students obtaining degrees in experimental pathology, this is normally four units of basic mechanisms of disease), one seminar course, one laboratory rotation.
Second Year
Fall Quarter: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 250A. (Students who have not taken basic mechanisms take taped course and the seminar.)
Winter Quarter: Six units from Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 234A, 234B, 234C, 234D; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 250B.
Spring Quarter: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 250C.
The written examination must be completed by the end of the second year, after the core course requirements are completed.
The examination consists of the submission of a written grant proposal related to the general areas of the student's dissertation, yet different from the dissertation. The format of the proposal is based on the first award application from the Public Health Service Grant application, with minor modifications. The proposal must be submitted by the middle of September of the student's second year. Students must take the University Oral Qualifying Examination by the end of September of that year.
199. Special Studies (2 to 6 units). Supervised laboratory research, 10 hours minimum. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Students select instructor among eligible research faculty and carry out independent laboratory research project under instructor supervision. P/NP or letter grading.
200A. Dental Pathology (3 units). Lecture, 90 minutes; laboratory, three hours. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Fundamental causes of disease processes, using as examples selected lesions or diseases of major organ systems.
M215. Interdepartmental Course: Tropical Medicine (2 units). (Same as Medicine M215, Microbiology and Immunology M215, and Pediatrics M215.) Lecture, two and one-half hours. Prerequisites: basic courses in microbiology and parasitology of infectious diseases in School of Medicine or Public Health. Study of current knowledge about diseases prevalent in tropical areas of the world. Major emphasis on infectious diseases, with coverage of problems in nutrition and exotic noninfectious diseases. Syllabus supplements topics covered in classroom. S/U grading.
231A. Pathological Anatomy and Physiology (6 units). Lecture, two hours; discussion, six hours; laboratory, four hours; other, six hours. Prerequisites: graduate standing, completion of curriculum satisfying basic requirements for study of human pathology. Lectures, demonstrations, and individual study of a student loan collection of microscopic slide preparations and of specimens from recent autopsies. Kodachrome photomicrographs and projection of micro-slides. Concentration in area of general pathology.
231B-231C. Pathophysiology of Disease (6 units each). Prerequisites: course 200A, graduate standing, completion of curriculum satisfying basic requirements for study of human pathology. Lectures, demonstrations, and individual study of a student loan collection of microscopic slide preparations and of specimens from recent autopsies. Kodachrome photomicrographs and projection of microslides. Concentration in area of general pathology. In Progress grading.
232. Topics in Vertebrate Neurobiology (2 units). Introduction to cell biology of vertebrate central nervous system, with special reference to its development, structure, and potential disease processes.
233. General Pathology Seminar (3 units). Lecture, two hours; discussion, one hour. Corequisite: course 231A. Designed to provide students with in-depth understanding of topics in course 231A. Reading and discussion of current publications pertaining to general pathology, with emphasis on cell injury/cell death and inflammation/fibrosis.
234A-234F. Molecular and Cellular Foundations of Disease (2 units each). Lecture, 90 minutes; discussion, 90 minutes. Prerequisites: graduate standing, background in biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics. Investigation of the disease process. Two topics (four weeks each) offered per term; topics include genetic and metabolic disorders, infectious diseases, oncology, immunology, and nutritional diseases.
M237. Molecular and Cellular Foundations of Disease. (Same as Biological Chemistry M237.) Lecture, two hours; discussion, two hours. Prerequisites: one course each in molecular biology, cell biology, and biological chemistry. Discussion of key issues in disease mechanisms, with emphasis on experiments leading to understanding of these mechanisms. Identification of important questions still remaining unanswered. S/U or letter grading.
245. Environmental Pathology. Prerequisites: graduate standing, consent of instructor. Designed to explore interrelationships of man with his total environment. Presentation of series of special topics to discuss effect on man of changes in compositions of air, water, soil, and other materials. S/U grading.
250A-250B-250C. Pathology Graduate Student Seminars (2 units each). Limited to and required of all students in experimental pathology. Review and discussion of current literature and research in special topics of experimental pathology.
254. Seminar: Experimental Neuropathology (1 unit). Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Weekly seminar series presented by experts working at forefront of research on diseases of nervous system. New experimental approaches and laboratory model systems for studying diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases, epilepsy, neuroblastoma, and multiple sclerosis. S/U grading.
255. Mapping the Human Genome (3 units). Lecture, 90 minutes; discussion, 90 minutes. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Basic molecular genetic and cytogenetic techniques of gene mapping. Selected regions of human genomic map scrutinized in detail, particularly gene families and clusters of genes that have remained linked from mouse to human. Discussion of localizations of disease genes. S/U or letter grading.
M256. Seminar: Viral Oncology (2 units). (Same as Microbiology and Immunology M256.) Advanced research seminar designed to consider current developments in the field. Selection of current subjects and publications dealing with tumor viruses, oncogenesis, development, and cellular regulation.
M257. Introduction to Toxicology. (Same as Pharmacology M257.) Prerequisite: Pharmacology 241 or consent of instructor. Biochemical and systemic toxicology, basic mechanisms of toxicology, and interaction of toxic agents with specific organ systems.
M258. Pathologic Changes in Toxicology. (Same as Pharmacology M258.) Designed to give students experience in learning normal histology of tissues which are major targets of toxin and the range of pathologic changes that occur in these tissues (liver, bladder, lung, kidney, nervous system, and vascular system).
262. Biology of Aging. Lecture, two hours; discussion, two hours. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Introduction to biology of aging, with emphasis on mammalian and cellular aging -- survival curves, biochemical, immunological, immunogenetic, and neuroendocrine alterations over the life cycle, accelerated aging, life-extension strategies; major theories of aging. S/U or letter grading.
M293. Major Concepts in Oncology. (Same as Microbiology and Immunology M293 and Oral Biology M293.) Lecture, three hours. Prerequisite: graduate standing or consent of instructor. Designed for graduate students contemplating research in oncology. Topics include cancer pathophysiology, genetics, membranes, macromolecular synthesis and control, cell cycle, growth control; physical, chemical, and viral oncogenesis, epidemiology of cancer; tumor immunology; principles of cancer surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. S/U or letter grading.
596. Directed Individual Study or Research (4 to 12 units). Individual research with members of the staff or of other departments, the latter for purpose of supplementing programs available in department. S/U grading.
597. Preparation for Qualifying Examinations (2 to 8 units). Prerequisite: one year of pathology coursework. Individual study for qualifying examinations. S/U grading.
599. Preparation of Ph.D. Dissertation (2 to 8 units). Prerequisite: completion of qualifying examinations and majority of Ph.D. research. Writing and completion of dissertation. S/U grading.