Comparative Biomedical Sciences
2012-13 Tuition
$20,800Application deadlines
Dec. 1Requirements summary
- all Graduate School Requirements, including the TOEFL Exam for Non-Native English Applicants
- two recommendations
- GRE general test
- resume/CV required for current DVMs seeking Ph.D. admission
The M.S. degree is retained as an exit degree only for students who are unable to complete the Ph.D. program. The Field does not accept applications to the M.S. program.
Degrees
- Ph.D.
Subjects
- Veterinary Medicine (Ph.D.)
Major concentrations
- cellular and molecular medicine
- developmental and reproductive biology
- infectious diseases
- population medicine and epidemiology
- structural and functional biology
The Field of Comparative Biomedical Sciences offers a rich environment for comparative biomedical studies. Research interests of the faculty include studies of normal, healthy animals and animal diseases at the molecular, organismic, animal and herd levels. Modern, well-equipped laboratories are available to conduct research in all of the concentrations. The Cornell Biotechnology Program provides multi-user support facilities in confocal microscopy, electron microscopy, flow cytometry, amino acid sequencing, oligonucleotide synthesis, and gene cloning. The Division of Laboratory Animal Services is available for animal housing and assistance in animal surgical procedures. A large and varied clinic representing all domestic species offers unique opportunities for the study of spontaneous diseases, some of which have recently been developed as animal models for human diseases. The college operates a racetrack and treadmill facilities to study sport physiology and medicine. Other college resources include farms; equine research facilities; specific-pathogen-free flocks of chickens, woodchucks, and other animals; and isolation facilities for infectious disease research. The Diagnostic Laboratory has large sets of data available for analysis and research. An agreement with the USDA facilities at Plum Island offers opportunities to study exotic diseases.
Application:
Official GRE general test scores must be submitted by ETS to the Cornell Graduate School (University Code 2098). The D.V.M. degree is required of applicants to clinical areas of study. Students who hold a D.V.M. degree from a recognized college in the United States or Canada can petition to transfer one year's residence credit for that work toward the Ph.D. degree.
Additional information can be obtained from the graduate field office.
Gregory Acland -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: candid comparative and medical genetics genomics
Dorothy Ainsworth -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: limitations of the respiratory system in health and in disease to equine athletic performance; pulmonary biology; immunology and inflamation
Craig Altier -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: molecular basis of Salmonella pathogenesis; the genetic and environmental control of epithelial cell invasion
Douglas Antczak -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; infectious diseases; Research interests: immunogenetics and infectious diseases
Judith Appleton -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: nematode parasites; parasitism; Trichinella spiralis; Paralaphostrongylus tenuis; mucosal immunity
Joel Baines -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: molecular virology of herpes viruses
Stephen Barr -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: pathogenesis of protozoal disease (Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania giardia); platelet function
Carl Batt -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: rapid diagnostic methods; molecular epidemiology
Klaus Beyenbach -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: mechanism and regulation of electrolyte transport across epithelia, from genotype to phenotype
Rodrigo Bicalho -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: postpartum uterine diseases of cows, specifically puerperal metritis, clinical and subclinical endometritis; bovine metritis as a model to study female urinary tract infection; epidemiology of lameness in dairy cattle (assessment of risk factors, prevalence, biomechanics of bovine digits and preventive/treatment strategies); factors affecting reproductive efficiency in dairy cows; development and implementation of analytical tools that will aid data driven decision making in dairy farms; discovery and development of novel antimicrobials
Gary Blissard -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: viral entry into insect host cells; viral gene expression
Dwight Bowman -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: parasitology
Paul Bowser -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: diseases of finfish; fish health management
Adam Boyko -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: genomic investigation of dogs as a model of genetic disease and evolutionary genetics
Elizabeth Buckles -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: virology; population medicine; infectious diseases; disease diagnosis; wildlife disease; conservation biology; pathology; avian diseases
Margaret Bynoe -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; molecular basis of antigen-induced immune suppression; the modulation of innate immune system response in immunity against cancer
James Casey -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: molecular virology; retrovirology
Sharon Center -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: liver and kidney diseases of small animals
Richard Cerione -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: biochemical and molecular pharmacology
Yung-Fu Chang -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: molecular genetics in the study of pathogenesis of bacterial disease
Theodore Clark -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: cutaneous immunity; host-parasite interaction; DNA vaccines; genetic factors underlying resistance to infectious disease
Paula Cohen -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: mammalion meiosis; germ cell development; DNA repair mechanisms in recombination; genetic basis for nondisjunction in oocytes; transgenic and knocko-t mouse models for studying meiosis and recombination
Ruth Collins -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: regulation of membrane traffic by small GTP-ases
Scott Coonrod -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; structural and functional biology; Research interests: developmental and reproductive biology; structural and functional biology
Matthew DeLisa -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: molecular biotechnology; protein biogenesis and folding pathways; protein engineering
Eric Denkers -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: cellular and molecular basis of immunity to intracellular parasites; cytokine control of infection
Edward Dubovi -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: virology; viral pathogenesis; BVD virus; EAV virus
Normand Ducharme -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; Research interests: equine sports medicine; upper respiratory tract
Gerald Duhamel -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: molecular mechanisms of intestinal bacterial infections in animal models of human diseases, primarily polymicrobial associations in colitis and understanding host-pathogen interactions in the context of gut ecology
Hollis Erb -- Concentrations: population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: epidemiology; dairy herd health
Clare Fewtrell -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: cellular pharmacology; immediate hypersensitivity; immunopharmacology
Maria Julia Bevilaqua Felippe -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: B cell response; neonatal and clinical immunology
Lisa Fortier -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: osteoarthritis and the link between insulin-like growth factor-I and the small G-proteins, Cdc42, Rac, and Rho
Joanne Fortune -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; Research interests: reproductive physiology and endocrinology
Maria Garcia-Garcia -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; Research interests: development biology in mice and flies; genetics of developmental mechanisms that influence embryonic morphology
Robert Gilbert -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; structural and functional biology; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: theriogenology; bovine health and reproduction; canine genetics
Robin Gleed -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: respiration; hypoxea and pulmonary circulation
Yrjo Grohn -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: epidemiology; dairy herd health; ruminant metabolism
Charles Guard -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: clinical pharmacology; comparative gastroenterology
Laura Harrington -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: vector borne diseases; epidemiology; vector biology physiology; mosquito-parasite interactions
Moonsoo Jin -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; infectious diseases; Research interests: protein-protein interactions that occur at virus entry into host cells and escape from endosome into cytosol between cellular adhesion molecules in the immune system and tumor development
George Kollias -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: infectious diseases of free-ranging and captive wildlife; avian pharmacokinetics
Michael Kotlikoff -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: molecular and cellular physiology; physiological genomics
Sylvia Lee -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: molecular genetics of aging; signaling pathways of nutrient sensing; molecular basis of stress response
Cynthia Leifer -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: understanding innate immunity from the inside out; toll-like receptors; signaling; dendritic cells; controlling microbial infection
Roy Levine -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: developmental biology; growth control and cancer
David Lin -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: mice; olfaction; genetics; neurobiology; development; microarrays; genomics
Helene Marquis -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: Pathogenesis of Listeria monocytogenes; mechanisms of regulation of specific virulence factors; signaling during bacterial cell-to-cell spread
Kirk Mauer -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: complex interaction between inflammation, the immune systems and lipid metabolism and how these pathways contribute to hepatobiliary disease
George Maylin -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; Research interests: toxicology; drug testing
Patrick McDonough -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: enteric bacterial infections; antimicrobial resistance; microbial fingerprinting
Sean McDonough -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: use of contemporary methods to explore lymphocyte function in spontaneous veterinary deseases
Vicki Meyers-Wallen -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: inherited canine diseases; reproductive tract disorders
Hussni Mohammed -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: epidemiology of infectious diseases; production medicine
N. Sidney Moise -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; Research interests: arrhythmias; Sudden Death syndrome
Alexander Nikitin -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: genetic modeling of human cancer in the mouse; early detection and monitoring of carcinogenesis; neoplasms of reproductive and endocrine systems
Alan Nixon -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: joint pathology and cartilage resurfacing
Drew Noden -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; structural and functional biology; Research interests: developmental biology; craniofacial development
Linda Nowak -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: neurosciences; cellular physiology; receptor pharmacology; membrane biophysics
Daryl Van Nydam -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: epidemiology of food security/safety issues related to dairy production medicine; study of economically important infectious diseases, particularly zoonoses, subclinical diseases of periparturient cattle and reproductive efficiency
Robert Oswald -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: ion channels; acetylcholine receptors
John Parker -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: reoviruses; caliciviruses; virus structure; virus assembly; virus-host interactions; oncolytic viruses; virology
Colin Parrish -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: viral genetics and function
Bendicht Pauli -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: cancer cell biology; mechanisms of invasiveness and metastasis
Ned Place -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; Research interests: reproductive aging; physiology; endocrinology
Mark Roberson -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: molecular endocrinology in reproductive tissues
Brian Rudd -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: Understanding developmental-related mechanisms limiting immunity in early life.
David Russell -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: the biology of intracellular infection with emphasis on mycobacteria
Janet Scarlett -- Concentrations: population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: epidemiology of companion-animal diseases; occupation epidemiology
John Schimenti -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; Research interests: mouse genetics and functional genomics, genomic instability, genetic recombination, genetics of gametogenesis and development, use of ES cells to mutagenize the mouse genome
Donald Schlafer -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: reproductive pathology; infectious diseases
Ynte Schukken -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: udder health in well-managed dairy herds based on epidemiology and pathobiology
Wayne Schwark -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: neuropharmacology; veterinary clinical pharmacology
Marci Scidmore -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: biology of intracellular infection by the Chlamydia bacterium
L. Selleri -- Concentrations: Research interests: developmental Genetics; organogenesis; morphogenesis; mouse genetics; congenital disease; models for cleft lip/palate
Geoffrey Sharp -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: mechanisms of control of insulin secretion and epithelial electrolyte transport
Kenneth Simpson -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: gastroenterology
Donald Smith -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; Research interests: metabolic alkalosis
Holger Sondermann -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: structural biology; cell signaling; biochemistry; biophysics
Michael Stanhope -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: molecular evolution and comparative genomics of infectious disease organisms
Tracy Stokol -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: hematopoietic and hemostatic disorders in animals; mechanisms of cancer metastasis
Susan Suarez -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; Research interests: sperm motility regulation and transport in the female reproductive tract
Bud Tennant -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: comparative gastroenterology
Rory Todhunter -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: canine hip dysplasia; genetic linkage analysis; osteoarthritis
Alexander Travis -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: comparative biology of male germ cells; signaling and metabolism of sperm during capacitation; organization of lipid raft membrane sub-domains in sperm; applications of technologies using reproductive stem cells for wildlife conservation
Eric Trotter -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; Research interests: small-animal orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery
Gerlinde Van de Walle -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: alphaherpesvirus pathogenesis, basic biology/immunology of mesencymal stem cells for regenerative therapy, Mammary gland stem cell biology and carcinogenesis
Susan Wade -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: pathogenesis; epidemiology and diagnosis of parasitic diseases in domestic and wild animals; food and waterborne parasites; zoonoses; lab systems for rearing arthropods; development/modification of tests for parasite diagnosis
Bettina Wagner -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: antibody mediated immune mechanisms in infectious disease and vaccination; allergic diseases; neonatal tolerance and allergy predisposition; strategies to develop allergy treatments
Joseph Wakshlag -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: exercise physiology and obesity metabolism; canine-cancer biology (mast cell and bone neoplasia) and the effects of nutrients and cellular metabolites on cell signaling
Lorin Warnick -- Concentrations: population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: dairy cattle epidemiology; preharvest food safety; Salmonellosis in cattle; infectious disease
Gregory Weiland -- Concentrations: structural and functional biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: neuropharmacology; receptor mechanisms
Robert Weiss -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: genomic maintenance mechanisms; cell cycle checkpoints; molecular responses to genomic stress; mouse models of genomic instability
Maurice White -- Concentrations: population medicine and epidemiology; Research interests: internal medicine; epidemiology of primary care
Gary Whittaker -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: virology cell biology; biochemistry
Martin Wiedmann -- Concentrations: infectious diseases; Research interests: molecular pathogenesis of food-borne and zoonotic bacterial diseases
Andrew Yen -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; cellular and molecular medicine; Research interests: leukemia; cell growth and differentiation; oncogenes/genetics
Graduate School Professors (emeritus)
Cornelia Farnum -- Concentrations: developmental and reproductive biology; structural and functional biology; Research interests: functional anatomy of cartilage and bone
Karel Schat -- Concentrations: cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; Research interests: avian virology and immunology
Graduate School Learning Outcomes
Background
Comparative Biomedical Sciences is one of five graduate fields associated with the Biological & Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Graduate Program. As an umbrella program, the BBS fosters an atmosphere of collaboration, focusing on the interface between scientific research and clinical practice as well as a commitment to animal and human health. The Graduate Fields associated with the BBS Program share a set of values and expectations in the training of PhD students. Our goal is to maximize the effectiveness of the Fields while maintaining their unique identities and structures. The following graduate fields are members of the BBS Graduate Program:
- Comparative Biomedical Science
- Immunology & Infectious Disease
- Molecular & Integrative Physiology
- Pharmacology
- Zoology & Wildlife Conservation