Comparative Pathology
The Division of Comparative Pathology offers a
combined residency/graduate program for veterinarians in either anatomic,
clinical, or toxicologic pathology. The biphasic program consists of (1)
study in experimental pathology, or a related field, leading to the PhD
degree and (2) applied training in pathology which fulfills eligibility
requirements for the certifying examination of the American College of
Veterinary Pathologists. Dissertation research may be carried out in diverse
fields directed by any of the 11 pathologists currently on the staff or
by other biomedical scientists either in the College or other units of
the University such as Animal Science, Bioengineering, Life Sciences,
etc. Successful applicants may receive a substantial departmental stipend
which is not dependent upon nor limited by extramural funding, or be funded
by research grants while in residence. Limited stipends provided by industry
also may be available.
Candidates for a Doctorate of Philosophy Degree complete 96 hours of course
and thesis work and show proficiency in several required areas of scientific
communicative skills such as computer literacy, statistics' and grant
writing. Each student selects a major advisor within the first semester
and a graduate advisory committee during the first year. The student's
plan of study must be approved by this committee. The degree is granted
after passing a preliminary examination after two years of course work
is completed and a final defense of the student's doctoral thesis. Other
requirements include presentation of two seminars and a thesis prospectus
and participation in the divisional seminar series.
Departmental Support
Graduate teaching associateships with tuition and partial fee waivers are available on a competitive basis. Funds are provided from departmental sources and are renewable each year depending upon satisfactory progress in the program. All students are required to work in the Diagnostic Laboratory and assist in the teaching of senior veterinary students. The amount of financial aid varies depending upon the experience of each applicant.
Research Facilities
The Department of Pathobiology is housed on one and a half floors of
a 158,000 square-foot Basic Sciences Building and is currently expanding
into adjacent undeveloped space. Major pieces of equipment include ultracentrifuges,
gamma and scintillation counters, HPLC, spectrophotometers, and a laser
gel scanner. Terminals connect to university IBM and VAX mainframes and
Cray supercomputers.
The College has its own electron microscopy, photography, histology, and
library facilities. The library contains over 800 specialty journals and
32,000 reference books and is part of the University of Illinois library
system, the third largest university library in the U.S. with over 7 million
volumes. A new addition to the college of a 12,000 square-foot laboratory
animal care facility provides complete needs for animal research in both
noninfectious and infectious disease systems. The college diagnostic laboratory
with virology, immunology, pathology, parasitology, toxicology, and microbiology
sections handles over 12,000 cases per year and provides a rich source
of material and contact with field problems.
Major expansion of the University of Illinois has taken place in biotechnology
and supercomputing. The University Biotechnology Center is comprised of
faculty from many departments including several faculty members from Veterinary
Pathobiology. Interdisciplinary collaboration is fostered with access
to facilities such as the Cell Science Center with its flow cytometry
and monoclonal antibody laboratories and the molecular biology lab with
protein sequencer, peptide sequencer, and DNA synthesizer. University
seminar series in molecular biology, toxicology, and immunology bring
together faculty and students with common interests. The recently completed
Beckman Institute is the result of a $40 million gift from Arnold and
Mabel Beckman, the largest single gift made to a public university. A
program is now developing at the Institute that draws on multidisciplinary
research contributions from many campus units.