Education
Education of Graduate Students in the Department of Cellular Neurobiology
We place four major emphases in education of graduate students.
1. Encourage students to think independently.
Students in the PhD Program should have their own opinion and a point of
view in research projects. Soon after enrollment in the program, they are
asked to critically read previous publications and discuss the tentative
projects with senior scientists. Through this process, students select
topics which are related to their own interest and also fit with the research
background of our laboratory. For students in the Master's Program, we
generally provide pre-arranged topics, but proposals from students are
also welcome.
2. Encourage students to learn from experiments.
Scientists with good ideas, but without will and diligence to realize them,
can not be successful. Clever scientists are not always good scientists,
mainly because they foresee difficulties associated with their projects
too early and can not keep their motivation after starting real experiments.
Once students select their research projects, it is important for them
to be patient and be more or less insensitive to criticism. Students are
encouraged to stay late in the laboratory, perform many experiments, and
learn especially from mistakes and negative results.
3. Encourage students to acquire skills for presentation.
When scientists obtain good results, they have to present data effectively
and precisely. When scientists are stuck in the middle of their projects,
they have to ask help from other scientists by explaining their experiments
and associated problems as clearly as possible. Scientists without presentation
ability will not survive. Students will receive advices to improve their
presentation skill in either English or Japanese in every opportunity associated
with seminars, scientific meetings, and manuscript writings.
4. Encourage students to have positive attitudes.
The above three points are written as "Encourage students to XX",
indicating that the most important characters required for scientists are
"being positive and independent". Behavior of students in the
laboratory should not be passive, but should be based on their own positive
motivation and immediate action. The reason we get together to do research
in the laboratory is not to belong to something authorized, but to combine
effort of individual scientists/students to achieve scientific contributions
that can not be done by isolated individuals. Newly enrolled students tend
to be passive due to their lack of knowledge, but we strongly suggest them
to positively participate in scientific discussions and other activities
in the laboratory.
We have slots for both the Master's Program and the PhD Program of the Graduate School of Medicine. For details, please check the link below.
[Application leaflet for the Master's Program 2011]
[Application leaflet for the Doctorate Program of Medicine 2011]
If you have questions related to enrollment of the Graduate School, send
e-mail to;
imais
m.u-tokyo.ac.jp (secretary to Prof.Okabe)
Medical Scientist Training Program
Please see [MD Program Homepage] for details.
Lectures and Courses
Please see [Lectures and Courses] in Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy Homepage.