Northwestern University offers doctoral students a wide array of research and study opportunities in the biological and life sciences.  Spanning both the Evanston and Chicago campuses, composed of faculty from the schools of arts and sciences, engineering, and medicine, encompassing multiple doctoral degrees (as well as numerous opportunities to pursue combined degrees), collaborating with cutting-edge research centers on both campuses, and partnering with local hospitals such as Northwestern Memorial, Evanston Northwestern, and Children's Memorial, the programs in biological and life sciences at Northwestern provide students with a robust graduate experience not constrained by conventional programmatic boundaries.

 

The doctoral programs that focus on the Biological and Life Sciences specifically are the Integrated Graduate Program in Life Sciences (IGP), the Interdepartmental Biological Sciences Program (IBiS), and the Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (NUIN).  Students interested in the life sciences are also encouraged to learn more about our doctoral programs in Biomedical Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Chemistry; our master’s degree programs in  Neurobiology and Physiology, and Plant Biology and Conservation; and dual degree opportunities, such as the MD/PhD offered through our Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP).  We encourage you not only to visit the sites of these degree programs located on the pages of The Graduate School web site but to also research carefully the pages of the individual programs and centers listed here.  Individual program pages include information about areas of research specialization, special funding opportunities, lecture series, and other highlights of the program.

 

Interdisciplinary research is a hallmark of the biological and life sciences at Northwestern, and our faculty and students often work across departments, programs, schools, and centers while conducting their work.  Therefore, when students pursue research in nanoscience at Northwestern, they may do so under the auspices of such centers as the Institute for Nanotechnology, the Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly or the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.  When students conduct research in neuroscience and neurodegenerative disease, they may do so within the NUIN program or the IBiS program, in addition to working concurrently with such groups as the Feinberg Clinical Neuroscience Research Institute or the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center.  Students have the same type of interdisciplinary experience if they choose to pursue research interests in cell and cancer biology and genetics, biophysics and structural biology, or medical informatics at Northwestern.

 

Students are strongly encouraged to contact the doctoral programs in which they are interested directly to learn more about the research and funding opportunities available and to learn about the cutting-edge developments happening in the faculty labs on campus and in our affiliate hospitals.