Courses

Credit Hours: 6
Offered: Annually, fall and spring
Students: Required for all MD/PhD and PhD students in the first and second years

Course Description: This course explores the molecular and clinical foundations of selected diseases and disorders. Students begin with preparatory reading before engaging in faculty-led discussions, lectures from outside experts, and small-group meetings with invited speakers. Topics cover molecular pathophysiology, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, and the molecular basis for both standard and experimental therapies.

A core component of the course involves reviewing seminal papers that have transformed clinical medicine, with a focus on research that has shifted paradigms across medical disciplines, not just within a single disease area. Students select papers in consultation with faculty, then present and analyze them, discussing both the quality of the research and its broader impact on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

By the end of the course, students will have a deeper understanding of how disease processes affect clinical presentation across organ systems, tissues, cells, and subcellular structures.

Prerequisites: None

Credit Hours: 3
Offered: Every summer
Students: Required for MD/PhD and PhD students at the end of Year 1

Course Description: This course introduces students to key model organisms used in biomedical research, including yeast, C. elegans, zebrafish, Drosophila, mice, and humans. Students explore the strengths of each organism and the techniques associated with their use, building a practical understanding of how to match the right model system to a specific experimental question.

By the end of the course, students will be able to identify the most appropriate model organism for their research needs.

Prerequisites: None

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description:  The bioinformatics course will introduce students to the handling of complex data, network analyses, artificial intelligence, proteomic, epigenetic, metabolomic and transcriptional profiles of single cells.

Credit Hours: 3
Offered: Every two years, spring
Students: Required for MD/PhD and PhD students

Course Description: Ethics I and II equips young scientists and physician-scientists with a practical framework for navigating ethical decisions in research. The course covers the historical context for ethical standards, evolving concepts in research ethics, and current regulatory requirements for animal and human research.

Topics include authorship decisions, peer review, collaborative research, data ownership, intellectual property, scientific record keeping, conflicts of interest, scientific misconduct, and ethical dilemmas in both basic and clinical research. Instruction is case-based, using real scenarios and problems to guide discussion and critical thinking.

Required texts include “Scientific Integrity, 3rd Edition” by F.L. Macrina and “On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research, 3rd Edition” by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

By the end of the course, students will understand current regulatory requirements, recognize accepted research practices, and have a clear set of guidelines for identifying and managing ethical conflicts as they arise.

Prerequisites: None

Credit Hours: 3
Offered every three years (fall)

Course Description:  This course will present an integrated view of the molecular, biochemical and cellular events involved in innate and adaptive immune responses, as well as key concepts in autoimmunity, allergy and hypersensitivity, and immunodeficiency diseases. Lectures in each of the areas noted above will provide an overview of the current status of the field and address key research topics, current research literature, and incorporate active discussion by students culminating in a student-directed debate of topical, unresolved issues in the field of immunology.

Core lectures will be complemented by interactive debate format sessions as well as lectures from visiting immunologists who will present their cutting-edge research, providing students with an up-to-date understanding of current advances in this rapidly moving field.  Emphasis will be placed upon clinical situations in which immune function is impaired leading to pathology. 

Credit Hours: 3
Offered every 3 years (spring)

Course Description: This course covers descriptive statistics, exploratory and graphical methods, probability, probability distributions, sampling methods, estimation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, sample size and power, linear regression and correlation, design of experiments, data transformations, logistic regression, survival analysis, design of case-control and cohort studies, design of clinical trials, data management and use of large data sets, statistical issues in diagnostic testing and screening, and an introduction to SAS statistical software. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to design studies appropriately, analyze data, work productively with a biostatistician on complex analyses, and assess the appropriate use of statistics in published papers.

Credit Hours: 3
Offered every 3 years (spring)

Course Description: This is a graduate-level course that is organized into four units; “#1: Neurons as building blocks”, “#2: Neural communication”, “#3: Neural networks”, and “#4: Sick brains”.  Each unit includes 3 lectures that are followed by a debate of current papers. The last unit includes a few invited speakers that present research on brain diseases, currently under way at Northwell Health.

Credit Hours: 3
Offered every three years (fall)

Course Description: Topics covered in this course include chromosome and gene structure, concepts and methodologies in genetic analysis, discussion of simple vs. complex traits, use of animal models for genetic analysis, and new paradigms in genetics.
The course combines lectures given by faculty in the department and research seminars by outside speakers with students preparing for the seminars by reading recent papers by the speaker.  Following seminars, students meet with the speaker over lunch to discuss both the seminar and the presenter’s recent publications. After completion, students should have a strong framework for understanding the contribution of genetics to functional variations between individuals and groups in susceptibility to and expression of various disorders.
A previous course in genetics is desirable.

Credit Hours: 1 per semester
Offered every semester (fall and spring)

Course Description: Students and faculty analyze, in depth, a current highly-significant publication related to translational research.  Papers are selected and presented by students, with discussion by all attending. Students should gain proficiency in critical reading of papers, ability to identify significant research findings and familiarity with the advantages and limitations of the methodology described in the publication.

Credit Hours: 1 per semester
Offered every semester

Course Description:  This seminar meets weekly on an ongoing basis.  The purpose of the program is to provide current state-of-the-art knowledge of biomedical research.  Each session consists of a research seminar by an invited scientist who is a recognized expert in his/her respective field, followed by a question and answer period.  Topics vary, with guest speakers invited by faculty in the department of molecular medicine and investigators in the Feinstein Institute. Students attending the seminars should gain solid general knowledge of current advances in these fields, and a thorough understanding in depth of those areas that impact directly or indirectly on their thesis topic.

Credit Hours: 1 per semester
Offered every semester.

Course Description: Each session consists of two presentations of current research, given by faculty in the Department of Molecular Medicine and investigators within The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, followed by a question and answer period.  Students present their research at least once each year in this format.

Students in this course should have a complete base of information about the various types of research studies being conducted in the medical school and the Feinstein Institute, a better foundation of information about the topics presented, and be able to effectively organize and present their own studies to a scientific audience.