The BMS program is deeply committed to training students to perform research that will have an impact on human health. For some students, this is achieved through a focus on basic molecular mechanisms of cell, tissue or organ function, or via the development of transgenic mouse models of human disease. For others this involves helping design clinical trials and working with blood or tissue samples from patients undergoing evaluation or treatment in clinical trials; some of our students, for example, are searching for novel human viruses in such materials, while others are evaluating them for molecular markers of diagnostic or prognostic significance. For other students, this involves participation in structure-based drug design or mechanism-based drug screening.

Mini-Courses
Each spring, the BMS Program, in conjunction with the UCSF Institute for Molecular Medicine, offers focused mini-courses that deal with the translation of basic science advances to clinical medicine. These small seminar courses provide an opportunity for close contact with laboratory scientists and clinical investigators interested is a particular disease (or set of diseases). They combine contact with affected patients, exposure to clinical and epidemiological perspectives, and basic molecular and cellular biology, all in the context of how these forms of inquiry advance the development of new therapeutics. For example, in Spring 2009, we will offer the following:
Hematopoiesis and Leukemogenesis, directed by Professors Kevin Shannon, MD (a pediatric hematologist and expert on Ras signaling), Neil Shah, MD, PhD (a medical oncologist and an expert on tyrosine kinase inhibition) and Emmanuelle Passegue, PhD (a stem cell biologist interested in cancer stem cells).
Neuro-Oncology, directed by Professor David James, PhD, focusing on clinical practice, translational research, and more basic research issues associated with this discipline.

Each year, the palate of disease-oriented mini-courses will change to reflect the areas of translational research in which research is most active or progress most remarkable.

Full-Length Courses
BMS faculty in each of our thematic areas also offer full-length disease-oriented electives. Examples include an elective Autoimmune Diseases led by Professor Abul Abbas, MD (a pathologist and immunologist), and Microbial Pathogenesis and Host Defense directed by professor Joanne Engel, MD, PhD (a microbiologist and infectious disease specialist). These are not traditional immunology and microbiology courses; rather, they are cross-disciplinary explorations of human immune and infectious diseases that seek to describe how fundamental cellular and molecular processes engender the clinical symptoms of these disorders. To do this, each course includes clinicians actively involved in patient care as well as bench researchers. Advanced Human Genetics, the primary BMS genetics elective (directed by Professors Robert Nussbaum, MD and Jane Gitschier, PhD), deals with a series of human genetic disorders, from Cystic Fibrosis to Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colon Cancer. Students with an interest in genetics may also elect coursework in Population Genetics and in Genetic Epidemiology; the latter has a heavy emphasis on clinical investigations of human subjects at the population level. Other mini-courses on translational subjects open to BMS students are offered by our sister program in Neuroscience, and include examinations of neurodegenerative disorders and developmental disorders of the nervous system. Other courses include the new winter quarter course Molecular and Cellular Biology of Cancer taught by Professors Martin McMahon, PhD and Lisa Coussens, PhD, and the spring quarter course Basic and Clinical Aspects of Stem Cell Biology taught by Professor Susan Fisher, PhD.

Clinical and Translational Science Institute
BMS students also have access to the teaching and research activities of the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), which overseas training in clinical investigation and epidemiology at UCSF (see the CTSI website). Although the actual leadership of clinical trials generally requires an MD degree, PhDs can and do participate in the design and conduct of such trials, and BMS students in the translational research track with an interest is learning about clinical (i.e. patient-based) investigation can do so via enrollment in the elective Epidemiology 150.03 Designing Clinical Research for Residents and Students.