The curriculum has a minimum duration of 3 years, an extension is possible. The students obtain a PhD Degree conferred by the University of Vienna or by the Medical University of Vienna, depending on the affiliation of the Supervisor, and /or based on the topic of the Thesis. The program is registered as self contained program at the Medical University of Vienna Supervision – the PhD Thesis Committee The main responsibility to educate the students and supervise them on a daily basis rests with the principal investigator of the research group. Throughout their thesis, students will be guided and monitored by a PhD Thesis committee consisting of 3 to 4 group leaders, who will help the students in planning and interpreting their work, in networking with other scientists, and in planning their future career steps. Support A receptive office (Program Manager’s office) helps the Program students with University matters, such as the acceptance of a degree, registration with the University, and all the administrative steps at the end of the Program (in collaboration with Dr. Barbara Hamilton, Dean of Studies, and with the support of the Studies Service Center of the Center for Molecular Biology), as well as with practical matters like obtaining a visa, finding a proper accommodation, opening bank accounts, enrolling in language courses, but also more specific needs like finding child care. Lectures, Workshops, Seminars Program-specific Lectures MAPK pathways Signal transduction in immunocompetent cells Functional organization of the nucleus and signaling Stress signaling Signaling in plants Post-translational modifications NO signaling and S-nitrosylation Chromatin structure, function, and regulation Organelle-based signaling Signaling and the control of cell shape and motility Program-specific advanced methods Workshops Advanced Light Microscopy Proteomic & Genomic Approaches Mouse models - Gene silencing Cell Culture DNA-Protein Interaction Electron Microscopy Transferable skills seminars (organized by the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna) Presentation skills & academic writing Ethics & good scientific practice Project management Patent affairs Business plan development Tutoring Seminars Program-specific journal clubs and work in progress seminars designed to hone the communication skills of the students, attended by the members of the Program. International speakers’ seminar. The Vienna Biocenter runs a busy schedule of seminars held by top-notch scientists from all over the world on very diverse, but late-breaking scientific developments. The students have the opportunity to invite speakers of their choice and will be assigned a dedicated time slot for personal discussions with the seminar speakers. Hot topics in modern research. A series of 4-8 lectures offered each semester, held by members of the VBC Faculty and/or invited speakers, designed to broaden the scientific horizon. Students’ Symposium: Towards the end of the Curriculum, the PhD students organize a workshop, in which they present posters/short talks describing their work and invite international speakers from top scientific institutions as well as companies to facilitate job searches. Thesis and degree The scientific contributions made by the students in the course of their PhD studies will be summarized in a written Thesis evaluated by two independent external reviewers. The Thesis must include at least one first-author publication in press. The PhD proceedings will be concluded by a public Thesis defense.