This summer, a new joint graduate program in chemical biology will open its doors to welcome nine students in its entering class to the world of biomedical science in New York City.

The program, announced last summer by the Cornell University and Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, The Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, also in New York City, permits students to pursue Ph.D. research in the laboratories of any participating faculty member at the institutions. Known as the Training Program in Chemical Biology (TPCB), the new graduate program offers a unique opportunity to gain fundamental training in the core chemical sciences that underlie biology and medicine, while subsequently pursuing doctoral training in some of the leading chemical biology, molecular biology and cancer biology laboratories in the United States.

The nine incoming students, who were chosen from an international pool of applicants, will spend the summer familiarizing themselves with research opportunities at the three New York City campuses. Then, after spending the next academic year immersed in core courses in chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell's Ithaca campus, the students will return to New York City to complete coursework in biological subjects and begin their doctoral research projects at one of the partner institutions. Students whose research is conducted at Rockefeller will receive Ph.D. degrees from The Rockefeller University, while students at Cornell, Weill, or Sloan-Kettering will receive Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University.

To enable the students to make full use of the resources that are available to them – in Ithaca and New York City – the TPCB not only provides full fellowship support; but also underwrites the travel and housing expenses for short-term visits between the Ithaca and New York City components of the program.

The TPCB is part of a $160 million initiative, led by an anonymous $80 million gift to further the development of chemical biology, to apply new technologies in structural biology and nanotechnology, and to utilize the full knowledge of the human genome to advance human health.