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QUICK LINKS
DEGREE PROGRAMS (top)
The Department of
Biological Sciences offers research-oriented M.S. and Ph.D. degrees
in Biological Sciences. Qualified students usually enter the Ph.D. program
without first earning an M.S. degree. Requirements for the Ph.D. include
appropriate coursework individualized to the needs of the student, presentation
of seminars and successful completion of qualifying and general examinations.
The Ph.D. also requires formulation and execution of original research,
as demonstrated by production of a dissertation and research publications.
The M.S. requires a thesis and a minimum of 30 semester hours of graduate
work, 24 hours of which must be in coursework. At least one-half of the
minimum required credit in the M.S. program must be in courses
at or above the 7000 level.
The Biological Sciences degree programs are designed to be flexible in order
to meet the many of needs of students in the sub-disciplines of modern biology.
This flexibility allows designing a program of courses that will benefit
the student and his or her research needs.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW (top)
The Biological Sciences degrees may be undertaken in any of the three Divisions
within our Department: Biochemistry
& Molecular Biology (BMB); Cellular,
Developmental, & Integrative Biology (CDIB); and Systematics,
Ecology, & Evolution (SEE). Over 60 faculty have a wide range of
research
interests. The 130 graduate students in the department receive funding
from a combination of departmental teaching assistantships, fellowships,
and external research support.
FACILITIES (top)
The Department of Biological Sciences is housed in the Life Sciences Building
that recently was expanded by a major addition. The laboratories are designed
for conducting modern research in diverse fields including biochemistry
and molecular biology; cell, organismal and integrative physiology; ecology,
systematics, and evolutionary biology; plant biology; microbiology and molecular
genetics. Several large facilities with technical help and state-of-art
instrumentation facilitate research at LSU and include laboratories for
Functional Genomics (DNA sequencers, real time PCR, Scan Array and Microarray
equipment), NMR
analysis NMR analysis and mass
spectrometry (Kratos high-resolution, Finnigen tandem, and Bio-Ion Plasma
Desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometers), and confocal, light and electron
microscopy (in the Socolofsky
Microscopy Center). Common instruments and facilities include tissue
culture facilities, media preparation facilities, darkrooms, walk-in cold
rooms, plant-growth chambers, animal facilities and aquatic facilities.
Research support comes from the Louisiana State University Gene
Probes and Expression Systems Laboratory, the Protein
Facility , and the Macromolecular
Computing Analysis Facility. The personnel of the Department of Experimental
Statistics are available to help design experiments and analyze data, especially
in ecological studies.
The recent addition of a Beowulf cluster provides a computer system that
will run at 2.1 TeraFlops, or 2.1 trillion floating-point operations per
second. This would rank it among the six or seven fastest computers in the
world, and second among academic institutions worldwide. An initiative in
Biological Computing is a part of this new investment by the State of Louisiana.
Students and faculty also have access to the research collections of the
Museum
of Natural Science (with more than 350,000 specimens) and the LSU
Herbarium (home to many specimens of land plants, lichens, and fungi)
as well as many of the research facilities of the Louisiana Agricultural
Experiment Station and Louisiana Sea Grant. Louisiana
Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) provides support for marine/estuarine
research and maintains two research vessels for offshore research and numerous
smaller boats for inshore sampling. Field research by department members
is conducted in numerous tropical, subtropical, temperate and high-latitude
locations. Biological Sciences faculty collaborate with scientists throughout
LSU including the Departments of Animal Science, Chemistry, Plant Pathology
and Crop Physiology, Oceanography and Coastal Science, the Pennington
Biomedical Research Center, the Audubon Sugar Institute, the Institute
for Environmental Studies, Civil and Environmental and Chemical Engineering,
and the School of Veterinary Medicine, as well as universities and research
centers throughout the nation and world.
CONTACT (top)
For more information, please contact the Office
of Graduate Studies, Department of Biological Sciences. We may be reached
directly at (225)578-1556 or gradoff@lsu.edu
, or by mail at: Graduate Studies, Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana
State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.
ADMISSION (top)
Applications for graduate study are accepted at any time, but they are evaluated
only after all supporting documents and credentials have been received.
Applications should be initiated at least 7-9 months prior to anticipated
entry. For Fall admission, we recommend applications be submitted by the
end of the preceding year. By the time of admission, applicants should have
earned a minimum of a baccalaureate degree with training in the areas our
own undergraduates receive. These include courses in general and advanced
biology (including genetics and biochemistry), inorganic and organic chemistry,
calculus, introductory physics, and physical chemistry. Qualified students
lacking one or two of these areas may remedy the deficiencies after admission.
Applicants must score at least 1100 on the GRE (verbal plus quantitative
scores, analytical is not included) and 550 (paper test) or 213 (computer
test) on the TOEFL (for international students) in order to be considered
for admission. An overall GPA of at least 3.00 ("A" = 4.0) is
required.
There are four simple steps for applying to our program:
- Submit an application. Electronic
submission has been implemented and is recommended. Details on how
to apply also are found at that site. You also may apply by submitting
a completed "Application for Admission" form (available from
the Department).
- Send to the LSU
Graduate School a non-refundable fee of $25 (U.S.). This must be
in the form of a check or money order payable to Louisiana State University.
- Have the results of the GRE (verbal, quantitative and analytical)
and TOEFL (if your are a foreign applicant) sent to the LSU Graduate
School.
- Have the following sent to the Department of Biological Sciences:
- Official transcripts from the registrar of each college or university
you previously or currently attend
- Three letters of recommendation written by persons familiar with
your academic and professional qualifications. A cover form for
the letters
of recommendation is available online.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE (top)
Teaching Assistantships are available from the Department. Research Assistantships
are available from grant support to individual faculty members. All awards
are competitive. Assistantships provide annual stipends ranging from $13,250
for M.S. candidates, and $15,250 base pay for Ph.D. students; Ph.D. students
may receive supplements to provide a higher overall stipend.
Outstanding Ph.D. applicants who are U.S. citizens may be awarded Board
of Regents’ Fellowships by the department. These research fellowships
may be renewed for up to four years with renewal subject to annual review.
Fellowships carry no teaching responsibilities beyond a one semester departmental
requirement, and include tuition waiver and an $18,000 annual stipend.
To be considered for support for fall enrollment, applications must be
completed by the end of the year preceding the year of admission.
GRADUATE FACULTY (top)
(Most names are linked to faculty web pages which contain a research
description and a list of recent publications)
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NMR, RNA Structure,
Small-molecule RNA interactions |
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Olfaction and Taste |
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Microbial ecology, benthic ecology,
biological oceanography |
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Microbial
ecology, physiology, and diversity; molecular biology; microbiology
of the cryosphere |
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Immunopathology, lung cell and molecular
biology, regulation of gene and protein expression, neonatal immunity
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Population
and Community Ecology, Plant-Herbivore-Natural Enemy Interactions,
Ecological Genetics, Biological Pest Management |
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Study of proteins
involved with ribosome biogenesis and nucleolar structure. Posttranslational
phosphorylation or methylation of individual nucleolin peptide domains. |
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Regulatory function
and metabolism of iron sulfur proteins during oxidative stress |
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Membrane biogenesis in E. coli |
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Chromatin Structure
and Gene Expression |
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Geomicrobiology,
molecular- and culture-based approaches to understand microbial diversity
and ecology, geochemistry and biogeochemical cycling, karst studies |
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Marine ecology,
meiofaunal abundance |
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Molecular population
genetics, systematics and evolution of marine invertebrates |
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Integrative Fish Biology, Environmental
Physiology, Aquatic Toxicology |
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Cellular and synaptic physiology
of retinal neurons |
| Anne
Grove |
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Protein-nucleic
acid interactions and sequence-dependent DNA bendability, analyzed
in the context of the yeast RNA polymerase III and bacterial histone-like
proteins |
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Molecular systematics and mammalogy
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| Hollie
Hale-Donze |
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Infection and Immunity |
| Steven
Hand |
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Bioenergetics, molecular physiology,
environmental control of gene expression, comparative biochemistry |
| Kyle
E. Harms |
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Population, Community, and Evolutionary
Ecology |
| Craig
M. Hart |
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Chromosome Organization, Chromatin
Structure and Gene Expression |
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Molecular evolution, population
genetics and speciation in marine invertebrates and fish |
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Functional, ecological,
and evolutionary morphology |
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Molecular genetics and Bioimaging |
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Mammalian genomic imprinting,
Genome evolution and function |
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Bioactivity and structure of
complex carbohydrates, microbial diagnostics, termite chemical effectors,
analysis and pharmacophores |
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Developmental genetics, cell
differentiation, cell cycle, plant biology |
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Macromolecular X-ray crystallography, environmental
regulation of cellular metabolism, and protein chemistry |
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Protein structure and function;
energy management in proteins; the role of water and solvent in protein
function and stability |
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Plant Ecophysiology |
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Reproductive Physiology |
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Regulation of membrane lipid
synthesis |
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Photosynthesis and bioenergetics |
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Genetics and molecular biology
of conjugation in the genus Streptomyces; biological control
and pathogenesis of the sweetpotato pathogen Streptomyces ipomoeae |
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Plant population biology / ecology
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Cell biology of nuclear receptors,
trafficking, nuclear import and export, molecular endocrinology, biochemistry,
molecular biology |
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Molecular systematics and
ecology, molecular approaches to bacterial taxonomy |
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Biochemical Adaptation to the
Marine Environment |
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Freshwater Mussel Anatomy and
Physiology; Muscle Structure and Function |
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Diabetes research, transcription
factors, biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology |
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Community ecology, Macroecology,
and Biogeography |
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Marine environmental physiology |
| Kurt
Svoboda |
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Neurobiology and Behavior |
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Vascular plant systematics |
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Functional genetics of microbial
metabolites and structural diversity of natural products |
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Structure and Function of protein
tyrosine phosphatases; Structure and Function of the phox (PX) domain-containing
proteins |
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Population genetics, systematics, biogeography,
phylogeography and physiological and functional ecology of reptiles
and amphibians |
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Avian population genetics and systematics |
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Christopher Carlton
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Systematics, diversity and phylogenetic relationships
of beetles |
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Biological oceanography |
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Systematic icthyology and ethology |
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Gerald Guala
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Molecular biology and pathogenesis of herpes simplex viruses
(HSV) and human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) |
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Paul LaRock
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Estuarine pollution, microbiology, geomicrobiology, oceanography |
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Wetland and barrier island plant ecology, plant physiological
ecology |
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Randall Mynatt
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Robert Peet
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Evolutionary ecology, conservation biology, and molecular evolution |
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Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Environmental,
and Toxicology |
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Ornithology |
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Molecular systematics and ornithology |
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Steven R. Smith
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Genetic toxicology of environmental pollutants
and human disease; Mechanism of mutagenesis and carcinogenesis; Inheritance
and genetic diseases |
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Gene
Regulation |
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