Program Overview

The Professional Science Master's Program in Biotechnology combines the teaching of current concepts in biology and business with training in professional skills and ethics. These elements are the foundations of careers in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The biology segment emphasizes hands-on learning in project laboratories and internships. Business courses foster team approaches to problem solving. Skills seminars focus on writing, on analyzing and presenting data, and on oral communication. Students are individually advised and mentored, and counseled on their career goals and opportunities. The program includes two years of in-residence courses at Brandeis University and a summer internship.

Neil Simister, Director & Susan Lovett, Assistant Director

Year One

The core of the first year is the Proseminar and the Business of Biotechnology seminar. Proseminar uses Brandeis faculty and outside experts to develop skills in writing and speaking for both scientific and general audiences. Students' written and oral presentations are critiqued in a positive and helpful way; writing assignments are refined through revision and reassessment.

The Business of Biotechnology seminar uses case studies and speakers from industry to introduce topics that include strategy, finance, management, marketing and product development.

Project Research Laboratories guide students through projects with unknown outcomes. After mastering core techniques, students design experiments, analyze data, and refine experimental design. The Biotechnology Project Laboratory focuses on nucleic acids and the Biochemistry Project Laboratory on proteins.

A Biotechnology course anchors the first year lecture classes and two further courses are chosen from graduate level classes in Cell Biology, Structural Biology and Biochemistry.

Summer Internship

The Office of Career Services at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Hiatt Career Center help students choose and apply for internships in companies, not-for-profit research institutions, and Brandeis University research laboratories. The Hiatt Center has many relationships in New England and New York to provide internship opportunities, including Adnexus, Biogen Idec, Cubist, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, EMB Serono, Genzyme, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, IRX Therapeutics, Lincoln Lab, Millenium, Novartis, Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, and Pfizer.

Year Two

Returning students present their internship projects in a symposium for an audience of faculty members, industry guests and first year students.

Students take core courses in Managing Technology and Innovation and in Fundamentals of Management for Biotechnology. Students may elect to take additional Research Project Laboratories or choose from classroom courses in business and biology, including Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Molecular Pharmacology, Protein Structure and Disease, Biostatistics, Human Genetics, Neurobiology of Human Disease, Growth Control and Cancer, Stem Cells, Human Reproductive and Developmental Biology, Enzyme Mechanisms, and Quantitative Approaches to Biochemistry.

Mentoring and Career Guidance

The program directors and course instructors individually advise and mentor students. The Office of Career Services at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Hiatt Career Center provide career guidance one-on-one and with workshops. They also help with alumni networking and organize employer visits.