About the MCB Program

The MCB graduate program is designed to empower you to explore the areas of biomedical and basic sciences that spark your curiosity and passions. It’s an environment where you have the flexibility to choose a final research lab from three rotations, design your own individualized curricula to suit your research goals, and choose two TAships from a wide array of classroom and community-based options.

Flexibility and Freedom

The MCB program allows students to design their own research program and curricula. This flexibility leads to an individualized experience that encourages scientific creativity and student success – in fact, more than 90% of our students graduate with a PhD! We strive to create a supportive and nurturing environment among the faculty, students, and staff so that students can pursue their goals effectively and on schedule. Student cohorts become friends for life, continuing to support each other throughout their careers.

Unprecedented Partnerships

The MCB program encompasses more than 200 laboratories at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle Children’s, Seattle Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Research, and the Benaroya Research Institute. Students have an immense variety of labs where they can conduct their graduate research, another reason why MCB is one of the premiere places in the world for graduate research studies in the biomedical sciences.The MCB program encompasses more than 200 laboratories at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle Children’s and the Benaroya Research Institute.

Students have an immense variety of labs where they can conduct their graduate research, another reason why MCB is one of the premiere places in the world for graduate research studies in the biomedical sciences.

The University of Washington is a research-intensive institution, regularly ranking first overall among public universities in externally funded research programs. The UW is recognized for graduate instruction of high quality, offering over 384 graduate and professional programs across the Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses, 25 of which are in the Biological/Biomedical discipline.

Cutting Edge Facilities

Super-resolution microscopes, sophisticated mass spectrometers, and high thorough-put sequencing, phenotypic screening facilities and high-performing computing allow MCB faculty and students to leverage state of the art technologies to advance their science.

MCB Alumnus Nathaniel Peters at the UW’s W.M. Keck Microscopy Center

Frequently Asked Questions

The average time to degree for MCB students is 5.5 years.

Over 90%

Almost 100%

Here are some statistics from the past 10 years:
~ 55% went Academia
~ 19% went on to For-Profit areas (Bio-tech, science-related, etc.)
~ 15% went on to Non-Profit areas
~ 3% went into Government