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MCDB 199

MCDB 199 – Special Studies Directed Research in MCDB

Overview

MCDB majors conducting individual research under the guidance of an MCDB-approved faculty mentor may enroll in MCDB 199 (maximum on course per quarter / four units per quarter / letter grading). Non-MCDB majors may only enroll in MCDB 199 under MCDB faculty members.

Students must be working on a culminating research project, designed to broaden and deepen their knowledge of some aspect of molecular, cell, and developmental biology. Although familiarity with the scientific literature is essential to research, students must be conducting experimental laboratory research. A literature search, literature evaluation, or survey work is not sufficient to enroll in MCDB 199. Students are expected to commit a minimum of 12 hours per week to their research project.

Check out the MCDB 199 Syllabus for more information.

Eligibility Requirements

At the time of enrollment, all students must…

  • Be in their junior/senior year;
  • Have a minimum 3.0 overall GPA and upper-division major GPA;
  • Have completed LIFESCI 7A, 7B, 7C, 7L, and 107;
  • Not be working for pay in their faculty mentor’s lab.

At the time of enrollment, MCDB majors must…

* If a student is working with a faculty mentor who is NOT included on the MCDB-Approved List of Faculty Research Mentors, they may petition their research in order to enroll in an upper-division MCDB research course. More information about the petition process can be found here.

At the time of enrollment, non-MCDB majors must…

Enrollment Policies

  • Students are permitted to enroll in MCDB 199 in Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer Session A (10 weeks).
  • Students will not be permitted to enroll in MCDB 199 if they have outstanding Incomplete or NR grades in previous upper-division research courses with the same faculty mentor.
  • Students are permitted to enroll in a maximum of one upper-division MCDB research course per quarter.
  • Students are not permitted to enroll in an upper-division MCDB research course and another SRP-99 or SRP-199 course under the same faculty research mentor in the same quarter.

Enrollment

Please review below the list of materials required to enroll in MCDB 199.

To enroll in MCDB 199, you will need the following:

  1. MCD BIO 199 Course Contract – Must be signed by your faculty mentor. You do NOT need the Chair’s signature.
  2. Project Proposal – Must follow proposal guidelines and be signed by you and your faculty mentor.
  3. Outside Faculty Mentor Agreement* – Signed by your faculty mentor.

* If your faculty mentor is NOT listed as an MCDB faculty member on our Faculty webpage, then you must submit the Outside Faculty Mentor Agreement.

Check out the following webpages to learn how to:

Ready to Submit?

Please submit the required materials to this form for enrollment: https://sa.ucla.edu/forms/p/mcdbresearch

The deadline to submit all materials is 5:00 PM on Monday of Week 2 of the quarter you wish to enroll. You will be enrolled by the end of the day on Friday of Week 2.

Note: You must submit the form each quarter you wish to enroll in an upper-division MCDB research course.

ASSIGNMENTS

For each quarter enrolled in MCDB 199, students must report on their research progress by completing a final paper that will be submitted to and graded by the faculty research mentor. Students will also submit a copy of the final paper, signed by their faculty mentor, to the MCDB Department via Bruin Learn by 5:00 PM on Friday of Week 10.

Final Paper Guidelines

The final paper must be written by the student (with guidance from the faculty research mentor) and outline the student’s own experiments. A copy of a multi-authored publication or paper submitted for publication will not be accepted in place of a final paper.

Please fill out and attach this Title Page as the first page of your final paper.

      The final paper should be in the format of a journal article. Although the format can vary slightly, the paper should contain the following information:

      • Title
      • Author(s)
      • Summary (Abstract)
      • Introduction
      • Results
      • Discussion
      • Experimental Procedures (Methods)
      • Acknowledgements
      • References
      • Figures and Figure Legends
      • Tables and Table Legends (if applicable)

      The final paper should be long enough to capture and describe well the required information, at least 10-15 pages in length (double-spaced) (including figures and references).

      Submitting your Final Paper

      Please follow the steps below to submit your final paper to your faculty mentor and the MCDB department.

      1. Draft your final paper with the guidance of your faculty mentor, as needed.
      2. Ensure that your faculty mentor reviews your final paper before submission. Ask your faculty mentor to sign your final paper to confirm they have reviewed it. 
      3. Submit your final paper, signed by your faculty mentor, to Bruin Learn by 5:00 PM on Friday of Week 10.

      Final Paper Submission Deadline

      5:00 PM on Friday of Week 10

      MCDB 199A-D FAQ

       

      General

      MCDB 199 does not fulfill MCDB major requirements.

      Final Paper

      Your experiments are not required to work or yield a publishable result. However, it is important to analyze the experiments. In cases in which few results are obtained, you may suggest further experiments or future directions. For negative results, you may indicate why your controls led you to conclude that the result was negative. Such analysis can be included in the Discussion section of your final paper.

      Grading

      Your faculty research mentor will assign a letter grade for MCDB 199.

      Grading will be based on successful participation in individual meetings, completion of required assignments, and specific research deliverables defined per project. Specific grading criteria and expectations vary and should be discussed with the faculty mentor before the student begins research. The student and mentor should establish clear grading criteria and a work schedule before the quarter begins. This ensures:

      • Both parties have a shared understanding of expectations.
      • There’s clarity on when the student should be in the lab.
      • Both agree on what constitutes a successful quarter.