Curriculum

Students complete degree requirements over two academic years, augmented by coursework during August at the beginning of the program and during both January terms. Students have the summer free between Year 1 and Year 2 to pursue an internship, most likely in the life sciences or biotech space.

Capstone Overview

First Year

August

Harvard Business School Online CORe Harvard Business School: As with all MBA candidates, MS/MBA students take a short test to determine whether they are required to complete Harvard Business School Online CORe prior to matriculating in August of Year 1. CORe, an online program requiring about 150 hours of work over roughly ten weeks, covers basic business analytics, microeconomics for managers, and financial accounting.
NextGen Biotechnology Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology: In this course, students discuss classical and contemporary papers fundamental to the current biotechnology revolution (such as those underpinning the use of monoclonal antibodies, stem-cell transplantation, neural stimulation and regeneration, and gene therapy).

Fall Term

HBS MBA Required Curriculum Harvard Business School: Fall and Spring of Year 1 is spent at HBS completing the MBA Required Curriculum (RC).

Second Year

Fall Term

Entrepreneurship in the Life Sciences

This course has been specifically designed for students who are considering founding or joining life sciences ventures upon, or soon after, graduation. While the course is focused on the life sciences, students need not have a scientific background, merely a passion for making an impact through participation in these ventures. The primary objective of this course is to enable students to explore entrepreneurship within the life sciences. Students will explore opportunities along various aspects of the R&D and commercialization lifecycle, along science, clinical, regulatory and commercial areas of the lifecycle.

Frontiers in Therapeutics

This course offers a deep dive into the most important unsolved medical issues and how fundamental and clinical sciences are brought to bear (for example, therapeutic modulation, safety and pharmacokinetics, immune-oncology, autoimmunity, depression, and molecular dynamics).

Science Elective

The MS/MBA Program requires a total of three graduate-level courses that form a coherent area of expertise. The following courses below are examples of possible classes that can be part of a student’s science electives. Note that the list of courses can change from semester to semester (e.g., additions, deletions, substitutions) and several of the courses overlap, so students should discuss their exact plan of study with their academic advisor.

Neuroethics: This seminar undertakes a survey of the ethical issues related to current and future neurotechnologies, addressing such topics as consciousness, selfhood, and free will; human-computer interaction (including AI and deep learning); brain-computer interfaces; the use of neuroscience in the courts; and cognitive enhancement. The course covers topics related to medical care for patients with neurological disorders.
Research Ethics: This course will introduce students to the interplay of philosophical, scientific, and practical considerations that characterize the field of research ethics. Real-life ethical issues such as undue influence and coercion of research participants, concerns about privacy and confidentiality of clinical trial data, concerns about unjust research trials in low resource countries, and uncertainty about the value of genetic testing in drug development and study design will be explored.
Pediatric Bioethics: Pediatric bioethics addresses the complexities of a developing child and the role of the parent in health care decision-making for children. The course will examine bioethical considerations at different times (e.g., infancy, adolescence, end-of-life) and in different locales (e.g., intensive care unit, nursery, outpatient clinic) in pediatric health care and investigate fundamental ethical dilemmas through the lens of pediatrics (e.g., considerations of disability, gender, and treatment refusal).
Ethics in Reproductive Medicine: The course will examine the ethical issues that arise in reproductive medicine and women’s health, specifically addressing ethical questions that arise in the context of providing assisted reproduction services, family planning services, pregnancy care, and surgical services to women and their families. Questions addressed include ethics surrounding the abortion and fetal tissue research debate; multiple cases in assisted reproduction, including sex selection, savior siblings, and age restrictions in IVF; and genetic engineering in assisted reproduction.
Ethics in Genomics: This course offers an in-depth exploration of key ethical challenges and controversies surrounding recent developments in genomics. Topics include the appropriate informed consent for genomic testing and direct-to-consumer offers of personal genomic testing, including the return of incidental findings.
Principles of Molecular Biology: This course covers fundamental aspects of DNA and RNA structure, their function, and their interactions with proteins. The physical and chemical properties that drive the interactions of proteins with nucleic acids underpins course discussions of DNA replication, DNA repair, gene regulation, transcription, and translation, with emphasis on how protein structure defines function in the processes and pathways that are introduced.
Behavioral Pharmacology: Introduction to behavioral pharmacology of CNS drugs (e.g., psychomotor stimulants, antischizophrenics, opioid analgesics, antianxiety agents), with emphasis on behavioral methodology (i.e., model and assay development) and pharmacological analysis (i.e., receptor selectivity and efficacy). Special attention is given to tolerance, drug dependence/addiction/treatment, and basic behavioral processes.
Molecular Medicine: This course introduces students to a variety of topics in molecular medicine. The course is conducted as a seminar to study various human diseases and the underlying molecular, genetic or biochemical basis for the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of the clinical disorders. Lectures are presented by faculty experts engaged in current research in these fields, and seminars are conducted by the students with tutorials and supervision by faculty. Cross listed with GSAS: BCMP 218. Molecular Medicine.
Principles and Practice of Drug Development: Critical assessment of the major issues and stages of developing a pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical. Drug regulation, drug development cases, financing drug invention, incentives for drug development, manufacturing and the value chain, and the future of personalized medicine will be discussed.
Cellular Metabolism and Human Disease: This course explores cellular and organismal metabolism, with focus on interrelationships between key metabolic pathways and human disease states. Genetic and acquired metabolic diseases and functional consequences are covered. Interactive lectures and critical reading conferences are integrated with clinical encounters.
Modern Drug Discovery: From Principles to Patients: This course explores concepts surrounding pharmacokinetics (PK) and the intersection of PK and medicinal chemistry—ideas central to modern drug development and evaluation. The course will cover drug-target interactions, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics, with a focus on modern approaches to therapeutic development for small molecules, protein-based therapeutics, nucleic acid–based drugs, and antibacterial compounds as well new frontiers in therapeutic discovery.
Biophysical and Biochemical Mechanism of Protein Function.: This course focuses on the molecular mechanisms that underlie essential biochemical processes. Major topics include biochemical thermodynamics and conformational equilibria, protein structure and folding, receptor pharmacology, allostery, and enzymatic mechanisms of signaling.
Translational Pharmacology: The Science of Therapeutic Development: This intensive two-week course covers principles of pharmacology and their translation into new drug development. Students participate in project groups composed of graduate students, medical students, and post-graduate M.D. fellows to propose a drug development strategy from target choice through clinical trials. Course instruction includes panel discussions and case studies presented by Harvard faculty and faculty from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Cell Fate Decisions in Development and Disease: This quarter course offers an in-depth examination of current knowledge regarding mechanisms of cell fate decisions. These processes will be explored in the context of developmental cell plasticity, cellular reprogramming, and cancer. Concepts involving the instructive role of lineage-specific transcription factors, transcription factor cross-antagonism, gene regulatory networks, and cellular reprogramming will be explored.
Statistical and Quantitative Methods for Pharmaceutical Regulatory Science: This course provides students with the tools in quantitative skills and systems-thinking required to understand and participate in drug development and regulatory review processes, demonstrating the safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of drugs and devices over a product's life cycle from a regulatory perspective. Case study examples derived from FDA decision-making and regulatory assessments are used to highlight and describe each phase of the regulatory process, illustrating regulatory science in action and practice.
Principles of Cell Biology: This course covers critical concepts in cell biology, addressing current and quantitative approaches in cell biology research. Topics include the molecular basis of cellular dynamics, chromosome biology and epigenetics, regulated ubiquitin-proteasome pathways, cell cycle regulation, cytoskeleton and motor dynamics, signal transduction, cell-cell interactions, and programmed cell death.
Vertebrate Developmental, Stem Cell, and Regenerative Biology: Analyzes the developmental programs of frog, chick, zebrafish, and mouse embryos, emphasizing experimental strategies for understanding the responsible molecular mechanisms that pattern the vertebrate embryo. Signaling pathways controlling morphogenesis, organogenesis, stem cells, and regeneration will be discussed in detail.
Molecular and Systems Level Cancer Cell Biology: The course examines the molecular basis of cancer formation, including topics such as cancer epigenetic, tumor heterogeneity, systems biology proteomic approaches to study cancer, immune therapies in cancer, and therapeutic development.
Biology of the Cancer Cell: From Molecular Mechanisms to Therapeutic Implications: A molecular approach to the basis of human cancer. The course will cover cancer genetics and epigenetics, tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes, signal transduction, DNA damage and repair, cancer stem cells, and tumor immunology and immunotherapy. Lectures will be delivered by experts in the various fields to provide an integrated perspective on past, current, and future approaches in cancer biology research.
The Epidemiology and Molecular Pathology of Cancer: This January course will explore multiple types of cancer, including breast, colon, lung, prostate, and brain, through a series of lectures and hands-on practice tutorials that address training in molecular pathology techniques, state of the art image analysis of human biomarkers, tissue processing, immunohistochemistry, and tumor histology. The epidemiology, genetics, and relevant signal transduction pathways of cancer will be highlighted.
The Basics of Translation: This course will focus on how a novel therapeutic modality using antisense nucleotides (ASOs) has grown from a scientific curiosity to a promising and proven therapeutic approach, discussed in the context of an ASO that has been efficacious in addressing spinal muscular dystrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It will also address the critical issue of clinical trials, including their design and the criteria of success.
Chemical Biology Towards Precision Medicine: The course teaches students principles of modern organic synthesis, chemical biology, and human biology relevant to the discovery of safe and effective small-molecule therapeutics, exploring patient-based “experiments of nature” that illuminate disease, including cancer, diabetes, infectious disease, and psychiatric disease. Students will propose research for the development of novel small molecules that affect biological systems.
The Chemistry and Biology of Therapeutics: This course will cover the chemical and biological principles that govern small molecule therapeutics. We will discuss small molecule conformational analysis, chemical forces that drive small molecule-protein interactions, and small molecule binding to proteins to affect disease states. We will also discuss how protein targets are identified and the frontiers of modern small molecule therapeutics. Protein targets include, but are not limited to kinases, proteases, GTPases, scaffolding proteins, epigenetic modifiers, metabolic enzymes and transcription factors. This course will teach students how to use modern computer modeling applications to perform structure-based design of small molecule ligands.
Chemical Biology: Applying chemical approaches to problems in biology. Topics include protein engineering and directed evolution; genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics; genome editing; gene regulation; modern drug discovery; chemical genetics; glycobiology; cancer chemical biology; and synthetic biology.
Genetics in Medicine – From Bench to Bedside: This course will focus on translational medicine: the application of basic genetic discoveries to human disease. Each class will focus on a specific genetic disorder and the approaches used to speed the transfer of knowledge from the laboratory to the clinic, including a clinical discussion and a patient presentation if appropriate. Lectures will highlight current molecular, technological, bioinformatics, and statistical approaches.
Pathology of Human Disease: This course provides a comprehensive overview of human pathology, with emphasis on mechanisms of disease and modern diagnostic technologies. Topics include general mechanisms of disease (inflammation, infection, immune injury, host response to foreign materials, transplantation, genetic disorders, and neoplasia); pathology of major organ systems; and review of diagnostic tools from invasive surgical pathology to non-invasive techniques such as diagnostic imaging and molecular pathology.
Tumor Microenvironment & Immuno-Oncology: A Systems Biology Approach: This course focuses on the critical role that the tumor microenvironment plays in the growth, invasion, metastasis, and treatment of solid tumors. Students will develop a systems-level, quantitative understanding of angiogenesis, extracellular matrix, metastatic process, delivery of drugs and immune cells, and response to conventional and novel therapies, including immunotherapies. Discussions will address challenges and future opportunities in research on cancer and in establishment of novel therapeutic approaches and biomarkers to guide treatment.
Principles of Human Disease: Physiology and Pathology: This course covers the normal physiology and pathophysiology of selected organs. Human biology is emphasized, with some examples also drawn from model organisms. Recent therapeutic approaches, including RNAi, gene therapy, and genome editing, will be covered.
Advanced Topics in Immunology: A comprehensive core course in basic immunology, providing an in-depth examination of the cells and molecules of the immune system. Special attention is given to the experimental approaches that led to the discovery of the general principles of immunology.
Immune and Inflammatory Diseases: This course explores fundamental principles of immunology in the context of immune and inflammatory diseases, surveying a broad range of diseases in which the immune system is essential. Topics will include not only diseases that mobilize classical immunity but also conditions to which the immune systems contributes.
Autoimmunity: This course will focus on basic immunological mechanisms of autoimmune diseases, with an emphasis on recent advances in the field. Each session will focus on a particular topic and discuss three important publications.
Neuro-Immunology in Development, Regeneration and Disease: The nervous and immune systems share parallel molecular pathways, and communications between neurons and immune cells play significant roles in homeostasis and disease. This course will investigate current topics in neuro-immunology, with a focus on molecular mechanisms shared by the immune and nervous systems and the molecular cross-talk between these two systems.
Cancer Immunology: This course will explore recent developments in the cancer immunology field. Multiple therapeutic approaches have shown efficacy against diverse types of cancer, and this course will emphasize new mechanistic insights, including mechanisms of spontaneous protective anti-tumor immunity; key effector cell populations of anti-tumor immunity; innate immune pathways in tumor immunity; inflammation and tumor microenvironment; immunosuppressive mechanisms in tumor immunity; targeting of inhibitory receptors; and cancer vaccines.
Therapeutic Human Antibody Engineering: This quarter course will focus on all aspects of therapeutic antibody (Ab) engineering from bench to bedside with an emphasis on translational research. Topics will include in vitro microbial discovery platforms; engineering strategies such as chimeric, humanized, and human Abs; human Fc engineering; and nanobodies, antibody drug conjugates, and immunotoxins and chimeric antigen receptors.
Strategies to Achieve Durable Anti-Microbial Host Defense: This course will focus on broadly neutralizing and protective anti-viral antibody responses and how critical epitope selection on viral glycoproteins can help to achieve long-term immunity, exploring principles that can be used to design vaccines and anti-viral antibodies. The course will address modern molecular techniques such as NGS and Ab RepSeq. Numerous viruses will be discussed, including HIV and emerging influenza, coronaviruses, flaviviruses, alpha viruses, Ebola, among others.
Molecular Biology of the Bacterial Cell: This course is devoted to bacterial structure, physiology, genetics, and regulatory mechanisms. The class consists of lectures and group discussions emphasizing methods, results, and interpretations of classic and contemporary literature.
Mechanisms of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Host Immune Response: This course focuses on molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis and the host response to infection, addressing themes of pathogenesis, methods, results, and interpretations of classic and contemporary literature. The subjects covered provide a view of activity both from the pathogen’s perspective and from a host-centric view. Additional sessions are spent examining current methods of antibiotic discovery and vaccine development.
Mechanisms of Microbial Pathogenesis: The mechanisms of bacterial, mycoplasmal, fungal, and viral pathogenesis are covered. Topics cover the spectrum of pathophysiologic mechanisms of the infectious process, with emphasis on pathogenesis at the molecular level.
Microbial Sciences: Chemistry, Ecology, and Evolution: This interdisciplinary graduate-level and advanced undergraduate-level course explores topics in molecular microbiology, microbial diversity, and microbially mediated geochemistry. Topics include the origins of life, biogeochemical cycles, microbial diversity, and ecology.
The Human Microbiome: Comprehensive Experimental Design and Methodologies: This course is a comprehensive introduction to the study of human microbial communities and their functions relevant to human physiology. Topics covered include metagenomics, mechanistic interactions of the microbiome with metabolism, the immune system, and the gut-brain axis.
The Discipline of Neuroscience: This course will endow students with the broad conceptual fluency in the discipline of neuroscience required to relate genes to circuit function, metabolism to neurological disease, and cell biology to neural computations. Students will learn to design, quantitatively analyze, and interpret experiments that address a variety of questions spanning molecular to systems neuroscience.
The Molecular Pathology and Current Therapies for Retinal Diseases: This course examines current knowledge regarding retinal diseases, molecular pathology, and therapy, with an emphasis on recent breakthroughs and key studies. Seminal papers selected from both the basic science and clinical ophthalmology will be used to teach basic concepts of ophthalmology and familiarity with advanced imaging tools and animal models of retinal diseases. As the retina has long served as a standard model for studying the CNS, the class will discuss the implications of these studies in other disease mechanisms and therapy.
Human Neuroanatomy and Neuropathology: This course will cover human neuroanatomy in depth, with an emphasis on the functional implications of structure and medical implications of lesions.
Neurobiology of Psychiatric Disease: From Bench to Bedside: This course provides clinical insight and critical analysis of basic and translational science necessary for students to approach psychiatric disorders as scientific problems. Lectures will focus on a range of psychiatric disorders, neural systems underlying behavior, and translational approaches to novel interventions, providing insight on disease characteristics; current, novel and translationally informed treatments; gene vs. environmental risk factors; animal models; and gaps in knowledge across the field.
Stem Cell Therapeutics: Exploring the Science and the Patient Experience: Stem cells are the basis for tissue maintenance and repair and thus are essential elements of normal organ and tissue physiology. Stem cells are also targets for disease processes and, through transplantation, can act as important therapeutic agents. This course will explore how stem cells and tissue regeneration impact human disease pathogenesis and how stem cells might be exploited to advance new therapies for disease.
Understanding Aging: Degeneration, Regeneration, and the Scientific Search for the Fountain of Youth: This lecture and discussion course will explore the fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern organismal aging and contemporary strategies to delay or reverse this process.
The Translational Science of Stem Cells: Through a series of lectures and assigned papers, students will be introduced to a broad view of the ways in which stem cells can be used for translational research. This will include human disease modeling, identifying drugs that target endogenous stem cells or otherwise promote tissue repair, and regenerative medicine (cell-based therapies).
Synthetic Biology: From Ideation to Commercialization: This course provides an introduction to synthetic biology, with an emphasis on medical applications. Topics will include design principles of cells, organisms, and complex proteins; and commercialization of biotechnology and synthetic biology, including conceptualization of research, financing, IP strategies, licensing, and the progression through pre-clinical and clinical research and development.
Science and Business of Biotechnology: This MIT course covers the new types of drugs and other therapeutics in current practice and under development, the financing and business structures of early-stage biotechnology companies, and the evaluation of their risk/reward profiles. Includes a series of live case studies with industry leaders of established and emerging biotechnology companies as guest speakers, focusing on the underlying science and engineering as well as core financing and business issues.
Introduction to Virology: This lecture course reviews the basic principles of virology and introduces the major groups of human viruses.
Virology: This course focuses on several specific areas of virology: epigenetic regulation; RNA virus replication mechanisms; innate responses to viral infection; and inhibition of viral infection. Students will review virus structure, replication, pathogenesis, evolution, emerging viruses, chronic infection, innate and adaptive immunity, and anti-viral drugs/vaccines. Special emphasis will be placed on preparing students to critically evaluate the literature, formulate hypotheses, and design experiments.

(2) HBS Electives Harvard Business School

This is a sampling of MBA program electives that will help prepare aspiring leaders of biotechnology or life sciences organizations. Specific course offerings will vary each year. Students will select their second-year electives with the advice of their academic advisor.

Becoming a General Manager
Building & Sustaining a Successful Enterprise
Business Analysis and Valuation Using Financial Statements
Business at the Base of the Pyramid
Creating Shared Value: Competitive Advantage through Social Impact
Developing Mindsets for Innovative Problem Solving
Entrepreneurial Finance
Entrepreneurial/Intrapreneurial IQ
Field Course: Lab to Market
Field Course: Transforming Health Care Delivery
Financial Management of Smaller Firms
From Data to Decisions: The Role of Experiments Globalization and Emerging Markets
Good Strategies in Flawed Markets
Leadership Execution and Action Planning
Making Markets
Managing Human Capital
Managing International Trade and Investment
Managing with Data Science
Managing, Organizing, & Motivating for Value
Mastering Strategy Execution
Negotiation
People Analytics: Leading in a Data-Driven World
Strategic IQ
Supply Chain Management
U.S. Healthcare Strategy

All HBS Elective Courses

Life Science, Ethics, and Management Seminar

This seminar is designed to challenge students to consider unmet medical need from a diverse perspective. For example, what are the implications of enhancements that increase heath-span but are counter-balanced by an increased lifespan in a debilitated condition? What is the correct approach for modifying the human genome, including germline modifications? What are ways companies can tackle orphan diseases that affect a small number of patients?

January

Capstone Project 1: Students will be required to submit a thesis at the end of the spring semester of year two that challenges them to perform an in-depth structured scientific and business analysis of a new biotechnology opportunity.

Spring

Capstone Project 2

The thesis will serve as a capstone project for all coursework. Students will receive guidance on their work from faculty mentors and present their work to their classmates and joint-degree program faculty at the conclusion of the course, as well as one of the external faculty who have participated in NextGen Biotechnology and Biotechnology Case Studies.

(2) HBS Electives Harvard Business School

Becoming a General Manager
Building & Sustaining a Successful Enterprise
Business Analysis and Valuation Using Financial Statements
Business at the Base of the Pyramid
Creating Shared Value: Competitive Advantage through Social Impact
Developing Mindsets for Innovative Problem Solving
Entrepreneurial Finance
Entrepreneurial/Intrapreneurial IQ
Field Course: Lab to Market
Field Course: Transforming Health Care Delivery
Financial Management of Smaller Firms
From Data to Decisions: The Role of Experiments Globalization and Emerging Markets
Good Strategies in Flawed Markets
Leadership Execution and Action Planning
Making Markets
Managing Human Capital
Managing International Trade and Investment
Managing with Data Science
Managing, Organizing, & Motivating for Value
Mastering Strategy Execution
Negotiation
People Analytics: Leading in a Data-Driven World
Strategic IQ
Supply Chain Management
U.S. Healthcare Strategy

All HBS Elective Courses

(2) Science Electives

Neuroethics: This seminar undertakes a survey of the ethical issues related to current and future neurotechnologies, addressing such topics as consciousness, selfhood, and free will; human-computer interaction (including AI and deep learning); brain-computer interfaces; the use of neuroscience in the courts; and cognitive enhancement. The course covers topics related to medical care for patients with neurological disorders.
Research Ethics: This course will introduce students to the interplay of philosophical, scientific, and practical considerations that characterize the field of research ethics. Real-life ethical issues such as undue influence and coercion of research participants, concerns about privacy and confidentiality of clinical trial data, concerns about unjust research trials in low resource countries, and uncertainty about the value of genetic testing in drug development and study design will be explored.
Pediatric Bioethics: Pediatric bioethics addresses the complexities of a developing child and the role of the parent in health care decision-making for children. The course will examine bioethical considerations at different times (e.g., infancy, adolescence, end-of-life) and in different locales (e.g., intensive care unit, nursery, outpatient clinic) in pediatric health care and investigate fundamental ethical dilemmas through the lens of pediatrics (e.g., considerations of disability, gender, and treatment refusal).
Ethics in Reproductive Medicine: The course will examine the ethical issues that arise in reproductive medicine and women’s health, specifically addressing ethical questions that arise in the context of providing assisted reproduction services, family planning services, pregnancy care, and surgical services to women and their families. Questions addressed include ethics surrounding the abortion and fetal tissue research debate; multiple cases in assisted reproduction, including sex selection, savior siblings, and age restrictions in IVF; and genetic engineering in assisted reproduction.
Ethics in Genomics: This course offers an in-depth exploration of key ethical challenges and controversies surrounding recent developments in genomics. Topics include the appropriate informed consent for genomic testing and direct-to-consumer offers of personal genomic testing, including the return of incidental findings.
Principles of Molecular Biology: This course covers fundamental aspects of DNA and RNA structure, their function, and their interactions with proteins. The physical and chemical properties that drive the interactions of proteins with nucleic acids underpins course discussions of DNA replication, DNA repair, gene regulation, transcription, and translation, with emphasis on how protein structure defines function in the processes and pathways that are introduced.
Behavioral Pharmacology: Introduction to behavioral pharmacology of CNS drugs (e.g., psychomotor stimulants, antischizophrenics, opioid analgesics, antianxiety agents), with emphasis on behavioral methodology (i.e., model and assay development) and pharmacological analysis (i.e., receptor selectivity and efficacy). Special attention is given to tolerance, drug dependence/addiction/treatment, and basic behavioral processes.
Molecular Medicine: This course introduces students to a variety of topics in molecular medicine. The course is conducted as a seminar to study various human diseases and the underlying molecular, genetic or biochemical basis for the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of the clinical disorders. Lectures are presented by faculty experts engaged in current research in these fields, and seminars are conducted by the students with tutorials and supervision by faculty. Cross listed with GSAS: BCMP 218. Molecular Medicine.
Principles and Practice of Drug Development: Critical assessment of the major issues and stages of developing a pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical. Drug regulation, drug development cases, financing drug invention, incentives for drug development, manufacturing and the value chain, and the future of personalized medicine will be discussed.
Cellular Metabolism and Human Disease: This course explores cellular and organismal metabolism, with focus on interrelationships between key metabolic pathways and human disease states. Genetic and acquired metabolic diseases and functional consequences are covered. Interactive lectures and critical reading conferences are integrated with clinical encounters.
Modern Drug Discovery: From Principles to Patients: This course explores concepts surrounding pharmacokinetics (PK) and the intersection of PK and medicinal chemistry—ideas central to modern drug development and evaluation. The course will cover drug-target interactions, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics, with a focus on modern approaches to therapeutic development for small molecules, protein-based therapeutics, nucleic acid–based drugs, and antibacterial compounds as well new frontiers in therapeutic discovery.
Biophysical and Biochemical Mechanism of Protein Function.: This course focuses on the molecular mechanisms that underlie essential biochemical processes. Major topics include biochemical thermodynamics and conformational equilibria, protein structure and folding, receptor pharmacology, allostery, and enzymatic mechanisms of signaling.
Translational Pharmacology: The Science of Therapeutic Development: This intensive two-week course covers principles of pharmacology and their translation into new drug development. Students participate in project groups composed of graduate students, medical students, and post-graduate M.D. fellows to propose a drug development strategy from target choice through clinical trials. Course instruction includes panel discussions and case studies presented by Harvard faculty and faculty from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Cell Fate Decisions in Development and Disease: This quarter course offers an in-depth examination of current knowledge regarding mechanisms of cell fate decisions. These processes will be explored in the context of developmental cell plasticity, cellular reprogramming, and cancer. Concepts involving the instructive role of lineage-specific transcription factors, transcription factor cross-antagonism, gene regulatory networks, and cellular reprogramming will be explored.
Statistical and Quantitative Methods for Pharmaceutical Regulatory Science: This course provides students with the tools in quantitative skills and systems-thinking required to understand and participate in drug development and regulatory review processes, demonstrating the safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of drugs and devices over a product's life cycle from a regulatory perspective. Case study examples derived from FDA decision-making and regulatory assessments are used to highlight and describe each phase of the regulatory process, illustrating regulatory science in action and practice.
Principles of Cell Biology: This course covers critical concepts in cell biology, addressing current and quantitative approaches in cell biology research. Topics include the molecular basis of cellular dynamics, chromosome biology and epigenetics, regulated ubiquitin-proteasome pathways, cell cycle regulation, cytoskeleton and motor dynamics, signal transduction, cell-cell interactions, and programmed cell death.
Vertebrate Developmental, Stem Cell, and Regenerative Biology: Analyzes the developmental programs of frog, chick, zebrafish, and mouse embryos, emphasizing experimental strategies for understanding the responsible molecular mechanisms that pattern the vertebrate embryo. Signaling pathways controlling morphogenesis, organogenesis, stem cells, and regeneration will be discussed in detail.
Molecular and Systems Level Cancer Cell Biology: The course examines the molecular basis of cancer formation, including topics such as cancer epigenetic, tumor heterogeneity, systems biology proteomic approaches to study cancer, immune therapies in cancer, and therapeutic development.
Biology of the Cancer Cell: From Molecular Mechanisms to Therapeutic Implications: A molecular approach to the basis of human cancer. The course will cover cancer genetics and epigenetics, tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes, signal transduction, DNA damage and repair, cancer stem cells, and tumor immunology and immunotherapy. Lectures will be delivered by experts in the various fields to provide an integrated perspective on past, current, and future approaches in cancer biology research.
The Epidemiology and Molecular Pathology of Cancer: This January course will explore multiple types of cancer, including breast, colon, lung, prostate, and brain, through a series of lectures and hands-on practice tutorials that address training in molecular pathology techniques, state of the art image analysis of human biomarkers, tissue processing, immunohistochemistry, and tumor histology. The epidemiology, genetics, and relevant signal transduction pathways of cancer will be highlighted.
The Basics of Translation: This course will focus on how a novel therapeutic modality using antisense nucleotides (ASOs) has grown from a scientific curiosity to a promising and proven therapeutic approach, discussed in the context of an ASO that has been efficacious in addressing spinal muscular dystrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It will also address the critical issue of clinical trials, including their design and the criteria of success.
Chemical Biology Towards Precision Medicine: The course teaches students principles of modern organic synthesis, chemical biology, and human biology relevant to the discovery of safe and effective small-molecule therapeutics, exploring patient-based “experiments of nature” that illuminate disease, including cancer, diabetes, infectious disease, and psychiatric disease. Students will propose research for the development of novel small molecules that affect biological systems.
The Chemistry and Biology of Therapeutics: This course will cover the chemical and biological principles that govern small molecule therapeutics. We will discuss small molecule conformational analysis, chemical forces that drive small molecule-protein interactions, and small molecule binding to proteins to affect disease states. We will also discuss how protein targets are identified and the frontiers of modern small molecule therapeutics. Protein targets include, but are not limited to kinases, proteases, GTPases, scaffolding proteins, epigenetic modifiers, metabolic enzymes and transcription factors. This course will teach students how to use modern computer modeling applications to perform structure-based design of small molecule ligands.
Chemical Biology: Applying chemical approaches to problems in biology. Topics include protein engineering and directed evolution; genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics; genome editing; gene regulation; modern drug discovery; chemical genetics; glycobiology; cancer chemical biology; and synthetic biology.
Genetics in Medicine – From Bench to Bedside: This course will focus on translational medicine: the application of basic genetic discoveries to human disease. Each class will focus on a specific genetic disorder and the approaches used to speed the transfer of knowledge from the laboratory to the clinic, including a clinical discussion and a patient presentation if appropriate. Lectures will highlight current molecular, technological, bioinformatics, and statistical approaches.
Pathology of Human Disease: This course provides a comprehensive overview of human pathology, with emphasis on mechanisms of disease and modern diagnostic technologies. Topics include general mechanisms of disease (inflammation, infection, immune injury, host response to foreign materials, transplantation, genetic disorders, and neoplasia); pathology of major organ systems; and review of diagnostic tools from invasive surgical pathology to non-invasive techniques such as diagnostic imaging and molecular pathology.
Tumor Microenvironment & Immuno-Oncology: A Systems Biology Approach: This course focuses on the critical role that the tumor microenvironment plays in the growth, invasion, metastasis, and treatment of solid tumors. Students will develop a systems-level, quantitative understanding of angiogenesis, extracellular matrix, metastatic process, delivery of drugs and immune cells, and response to conventional and novel therapies, including immunotherapies. Discussions will address challenges and future opportunities in research on cancer and in establishment of novel therapeutic approaches and biomarkers to guide treatment.
Principles of Human Disease: Physiology and Pathology: This course covers the normal physiology and pathophysiology of selected organs. Human biology is emphasized, with some examples also drawn from model organisms. Recent therapeutic approaches, including RNAi, gene therapy, and genome editing, will be covered.
Advanced Topics in Immunology: A comprehensive core course in basic immunology, providing an in-depth examination of the cells and molecules of the immune system. Special attention is given to the experimental approaches that led to the discovery of the general principles of immunology.
Immune and Inflammatory Diseases: This course explores fundamental principles of immunology in the context of immune and inflammatory diseases, surveying a broad range of diseases in which the immune system is essential. Topics will include not only diseases that mobilize classical immunity but also conditions to which the immune systems contributes.
Autoimmunity: This course will focus on basic immunological mechanisms of autoimmune diseases, with an emphasis on recent advances in the field. Each session will focus on a particular topic and discuss three important publications.
Neuro-Immunology in Development, Regeneration and Disease: The nervous and immune systems share parallel molecular pathways, and communications between neurons and immune cells play significant roles in homeostasis and disease. This course will investigate current topics in neuro-immunology, with a focus on molecular mechanisms shared by the immune and nervous systems and the molecular cross-talk between these two systems.
Cancer Immunology: This course will explore recent developments in the cancer immunology field. Multiple therapeutic approaches have shown efficacy against diverse types of cancer, and this course will emphasize new mechanistic insights, including mechanisms of spontaneous protective anti-tumor immunity; key effector cell populations of anti-tumor immunity; innate immune pathways in tumor immunity; inflammation and tumor microenvironment; immunosuppressive mechanisms in tumor immunity; targeting of inhibitory receptors; and cancer vaccines.
Therapeutic Human Antibody Engineering: This quarter course will focus on all aspects of therapeutic antibody (Ab) engineering from bench to bedside with an emphasis on translational research. Topics will include in vitro microbial discovery platforms; engineering strategies such as chimeric, humanized, and human Abs; human Fc engineering; and nanobodies, antibody drug conjugates, and immunotoxins and chimeric antigen receptors.
Strategies to Achieve Durable Anti-Microbial Host Defense: This course will focus on broadly neutralizing and protective anti-viral antibody responses and how critical epitope selection on viral glycoproteins can help to achieve long-term immunity, exploring principles that can be used to design vaccines and anti-viral antibodies. The course will address modern molecular techniques such as NGS and Ab RepSeq. Numerous viruses will be discussed, including HIV and emerging influenza, coronaviruses, flaviviruses, alpha viruses, Ebola, among others.
Molecular Biology of the Bacterial Cell: This course is devoted to bacterial structure, physiology, genetics, and regulatory mechanisms. The class consists of lectures and group discussions emphasizing methods, results, and interpretations of classic and contemporary literature.
Mechanisms of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Host Immune Response: This course focuses on molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis and the host response to infection, addressing themes of pathogenesis, methods, results, and interpretations of classic and contemporary literature. The subjects covered provide a view of activity both from the pathogen’s perspective and from a host-centric view. Additional sessions are spent examining current methods of antibiotic discovery and vaccine development.
Mechanisms of Microbial Pathogenesis: The mechanisms of bacterial, mycoplasmal, fungal, and viral pathogenesis are covered. Topics cover the spectrum of pathophysiologic mechanisms of the infectious process, with emphasis on pathogenesis at the molecular level.
Microbial Sciences: Chemistry, Ecology, and Evolution: This interdisciplinary graduate-level and advanced undergraduate-level course explores topics in molecular microbiology, microbial diversity, and microbially mediated geochemistry. Topics include the origins of life, biogeochemical cycles, microbial diversity, and ecology.
The Human Microbiome: Comprehensive Experimental Design and Methodologies: This course is a comprehensive introduction to the study of human microbial communities and their functions relevant to human physiology. Topics covered include metagenomics, mechanistic interactions of the microbiome with metabolism, the immune system, and the gut-brain axis.
The Discipline of Neuroscience: This course will endow students with the broad conceptual fluency in the discipline of neuroscience required to relate genes to circuit function, metabolism to neurological disease, and cell biology to neural computations. Students will learn to design, quantitatively analyze, and interpret experiments that address a variety of questions spanning molecular to systems neuroscience.
The Molecular Pathology and Current Therapies for Retinal Diseases: This course examines current knowledge regarding retinal diseases, molecular pathology, and therapy, with an emphasis on recent breakthroughs and key studies. Seminal papers selected from both the basic science and clinical ophthalmology will be used to teach basic concepts of ophthalmology and familiarity with advanced imaging tools and animal models of retinal diseases. As the retina has long served as a standard model for studying the CNS, the class will discuss the implications of these studies in other disease mechanisms and therapy.
Human Neuroanatomy and Neuropathology: This course will cover human neuroanatomy in depth, with an emphasis on the functional implications of structure and medical implications of lesions.
Neurobiology of Psychiatric Disease: From Bench to Bedside: This course provides clinical insight and critical analysis of basic and translational science necessary for students to approach psychiatric disorders as scientific problems. Lectures will focus on a range of psychiatric disorders, neural systems underlying behavior, and translational approaches to novel interventions, providing insight on disease characteristics; current, novel and translationally informed treatments; gene vs. environmental risk factors; animal models; and gaps in knowledge across the field.
Stem Cell Therapeutics: Exploring the Science and the Patient Experience: Stem cells are the basis for tissue maintenance and repair and thus are essential elements of normal organ and tissue physiology. Stem cells are also targets for disease processes and, through transplantation, can act as important therapeutic agents. This course will explore how stem cells and tissue regeneration impact human disease pathogenesis and how stem cells might be exploited to advance new therapies for disease.
Understanding Aging: Degeneration, Regeneration, and the Scientific Search for the Fountain of Youth: This lecture and discussion course will explore the fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern organismal aging and contemporary strategies to delay or reverse this process.
The Translational Science of Stem Cells: Through a series of lectures and assigned papers, students will be introduced to a broad view of the ways in which stem cells can be used for translational research. This will include human disease modeling, identifying drugs that target endogenous stem cells or otherwise promote tissue repair, and regenerative medicine (cell-based therapies).
Synthetic Biology: From Ideation to Commercialization: This course provides an introduction to synthetic biology, with an emphasis on medical applications. Topics will include design principles of cells, organisms, and complex proteins; and commercialization of biotechnology and synthetic biology, including conceptualization of research, financing, IP strategies, licensing, and the progression through pre-clinical and clinical research and development.
Science and Business of Biotechnology: This MIT course covers the new types of drugs and other therapeutics in current practice and under development, the financing and business structures of early-stage biotechnology companies, and the evaluation of their risk/reward profiles. Includes a series of live case studies with industry leaders of established and emerging biotechnology companies as guest speakers, focusing on the underlying science and engineering as well as core financing and business issues.
Introduction to Virology: This lecture course reviews the basic principles of virology and introduces the major groups of human viruses.
Virology: This course focuses on several specific areas of virology: epigenetic regulation; RNA virus replication mechanisms; innate responses to viral infection; and inhibition of viral infection. Students will review virus structure, replication, pathogenesis, evolution, emerging viruses, chronic infection, innate and adaptive immunity, and anti-viral drugs/vaccines. Special emphasis will be placed on preparing students to critically evaluate the literature, formulate hypotheses, and design experiments.

Life Science, Ethics, and Management Seminar

MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences

Curriculum

First Year

August

Fall Term

January

Spring Term

Summer

Second Year

Fall Term

Bioethics

Biological Chemistry & Molecular Pharm

Biostatistics

Cell Biology

Chemistry & Chemical Biology

Genetics

Human Biology & Translational Medicine

Immunology

Microbiology

Neurobiology

Stem Cell & Regenerative Biology

Systems Biology

Virology

January

Spring

Bioethics

Biological Chemistry & Molecular Pharm

Biostatistics

Cell Biology

Chemistry & Chemical Biology

Genetics

Human Biology & Translational Medicine

Immunology

Microbiology

Neurobiology

Stem Cell & Regenerative Biology