Courses
Descriptions of the two required courses are listed below along with the courses that
fulfill the quantitative requirements and updates can be found on the BMB course website.
If you are not a declared Biochemistry graduate student, you will need to submit the
online override request form (MSU NetID and password required) and then contact the instructors for permission to enroll.
1. BMB 864 Plant Biochemistry
Semester(s) offered: Alternating spring semesters on even years
Credits: 3
Completion of BMB864 is a new requirement of the program which runs alternating spring semesters on even years, and the course has been revised to encompass themes relevant to the PBHS program, including biotechnology applications of plant and microbial biochemistry and synthetic biology.
2. BMB 960-Sect 301 - Plant Biotechnology Research Forum
Semester(s) offered: First 8-10 weeks of the semester.
Credits: 1
Enrollment will be limited to 15 students.
IMPORTANT: Attendance of the Annual Symposium will be a required portion of the course.
Description: This is an advanced seminar focusing on reading of the literature and student presentations on topics related to plant biotechnology. Topic areas in general address modern problems in human health and environmental sustainability. The course is part of the training program in plant biotechnology 'Plants for Health and Sustainability' (https://plantmetabolism.natsci.msu.edu/), though students not participating in the training program are also very welcome to take the course.
Quantitative training requirement:
Participants are also expected to complete a minimum of one full semester equivalent
course (three credits) to satisfy this requirement of statistical/quantitative analysis or computational biology. The following list is a selection of courses that fulfill this requirement.
- HRT 841 - Foundations in Plant Computational and Data Sciences. Three credit project-based course. Also known as ‘Plants and Python', offered every Fall.
- Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering (CMSE) 890-301
‘Programming Foundations for Bioinformatics’. One-credit introductory module. See https://cmse.msu.edu/academics/bioinformatics-program/ for course details. - Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering (CMSE) 890-302 ‘Statistical Analysis and Visualization of Biological Data’. One credit continuation module. See https://cmse.msu.edu/academics/bioinformatics-program/ for course details.
- CMSE 890 (303) - Intro to Data Handling: Unix and Python (Spring 2020)
No prerequisite but previous experience in a programming language highly suggested. See https://cmse.msu.edu/academics/bioinformatics-program/ for course details.
- Other courses that would fulfill this requirement:
- Plant Biology 810 ‘Theory and Practice in Bioinformatics’. Three credit intensive follow up to CMSE 890 modules. Can also be taken as a stand-alone course.
- Statistics and Probability 814 ‘Advanced Statistics for Biologists’. Four credit intensive course for advanced students.
- Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering 801 ‘Introduction to Computational Modeling’
- Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering 802 ‘Methods in Computational Modeling’
- Chemical Engineering 882 ‘Advanced Biochemical Engineering’. Three credit course focused on synthetic biology and biomanufacturing.