About the course: As a DPhil in Molecular and Cellular Medicine student you will spend up to four years (eight years for part-time students) in one of the Kennedy institute of Rheumatology or Botnar Research Centre’s many research groups, working on a research project supervised by the group's principal investigator and your supervisory team. You will take part in the extensive training programme specifically organised for graduate students within the department.This DPhil programme focuses on molecular and cellular mechanisms of immune function and inflammatory disease. Key research foci include immune mediated inflammatory disease (including Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease), mechano-inflammatory disease (including osteoarthritis and tendinopathy), cancer, infection, biophysics, microbiome, metabolism, aging, computational biology, heart disease and tissue healing, using a range of approaches from experimental biology to data sciences.You will develop your research skills during your first year, including compulsory attendance at the NDORMS fundamentals in biomedical research lectures. During the first term you will develop, in consultation with your supervisor, a training needs plan. Your training will be tailored to your specific project and personal requirements drawing from the vast range of courses available at Oxford and covering specialist scientific methods and transferable skills. Please note that there is no formal taught component of the DPhil in Molecular and Cellular Medicine; however, you will develop your research skills through a range of research training in your first year and attending journal clubs and institute seminar series. During the first term there is compulsory attendance at core lectures on a variety of research techniques and foci in the department including immunology, inflammation, tissue engineering, clinical trial design, epidemiology, rheumatology, orthopaedics and musculoskeletal diseases. During your first year, you will be expected to attend a minimum of three topic-related modules. Attendance on a two-day Data Analysis: Statistics Designing Clinical Research and Biostatistics course is compulsory to assist you with appropriate research design. As a component of your training, you will work with your supervisory team to write a research-specific literature review. Assessment: Your progress will be monitored and assessed regularly via: completion of a termly report by you and your supervisors through Graduate Supervision Reporting (GSR); completion of a 5,000-word transfer report and viva before the end of the fourth term (eighth term for part-time students); completion of a 3,000-word literature review by the end of the seventh term (14th term for part-time students); confirmation of your status, by viva and presentation, before the end of the ninth term (18th term for part-time students); and submission of your DPhil thesis (the final stage), which will be assessed by viva at the end of your twelfth term (24th term for part-time students).
