The CBMG graduate program is organized into five specializations:

• Cell and Developmental Biology specialization emphasizes advanced research in fundamental processes in cellular processes (including cytoskeletal activity, membrane biology, secretion, and cell division) and in developmental biology (focusing on genetic, molecular, and evolutionary mechanisms operating in eukaryotic organisms).
• Genetics and Genomics specialization provides advanced training in new genetic, molecular and genomic techniques for investigating important problems in macromolecular processing, signal transduction, developmental biology, environmental stress, host-pathogen interactions, molecular evolution, and plant biology.
• Microbiology, Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology specialization provides a wide range of research opportunities for studying the interactions of microbial pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and fungi, with their eukaryotic hosts.
• Virology specialization is designed to address specific research questions concerning viruses within the broader field of microbial pathogenesis.
• Plant Biology specialization offers broad training in genetic, molecular, and cellular techniques for studying important questions in the cell biology, physiology, development, evolution, and host-pathogen interactions of plants.

Individual CBMG faculty may also sponsor graduate research in different programs. This cross-listing of graduate faculty is intended to help the each student design a unique research program based on his/her background, interests, and career objectives. For instance, many CBMG faculty are also members of the graduate program in Molecular and Cell Biology (MOCB), which is a broad intercampus and interagency graduate program involving research faculty from the Colleges of Life Sciences and Agriculture on the College Park campus, the Centers for Agricultural Biotechnology and of Advanced Research in Biotechnology on the Maryland Biotechnology Institute campuses, and the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD. Although the CBMG and MOCB have rather similar missions and core requirements, CBMG concentrates on graduate training in the five specializations described above, whereas MOCB tends to place more emphasis on biochemistry, biophysics, biotechnology, biomedicine and oncology. Interested applicants should apply to the program more closely allied to their research interests. CBMG faculty interested in microbial ecology, microbial systematic, photosynthesis, green plant evolution, or plant morphogenesis are also affiliated with another interdepartmental graduate program called Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics (BEES). CBMG and BEES have very dissimilar core requirements so that prospective students interested in these areas and wanting to work with CBMG faculty should apply to CBMG for a greater emphasis on molecular and cellular approaches or to BEES for a more organismal approach.

Many CBMG faculty have also developed individual collaborations with prominent scientists at such world-famous federal laboratories as the National Institutes of Health, USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Smithsonian Institution Natural History Museum, and Food and Drug Administration Laboratories, so that the wealth of potential research opportunities for graduate students extends from the College Park campus throughout the Washington, DC area.

Specific information about various aspects of the CBMG graduate program can be found through the links in the above text and the menu in the left frame.