Welcome to ACCESS

UCLA ACCESS is an umbrella graduate program that represents 12 outstanding Ph.D.-granting programs:  Biological Chemistry; Cellular and Molecular Pathology; Chemistry and Biochemistry; Human Genetics; Molecular and Medical Pharmacology; Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics; Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology; Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology; Molecular Biology; Molecular Toxicology; Oral Biology; and Neurobiology. ACCESS maximizes student choice by providing students with a range of research opportunities that span molecular, cellular and integrative areas of the biosciences. The first year of course work and laboratory rotations provides students with the ability to make a well-informed decision on their topic and mentor for thesis research.  Students transition into one of the 12 degree-granting programs at the end of the first year of graduate study. 

ACCESS is organized into interdepartmental research affinity groups spanning a wide spectrum of research areas. The collegiality and interdepartmental organization of these groups fosters interdisciplinary research and provides students with an exceptionally broad range of research areas from which to choose. The affinity groups are: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Bioinformatics; Cell Biology; Cell Physiology & Biophysics; Developmental Biology; Gene Regulation; Gene-Environmental Interactions; Genetics & Genomics; Immunology; Microbial Pathogenesis; Molecular & Medical Pharmacology; Molecular Basis of Disease; Molecular Cellular & Integrative Physiology; Molecular Evolution & Computational Biology; Molecular Parasitology; Neurobiology; Plant Molecular Biology; Stem Cell Biology; Structural Biology & Proteomics; Tumor Cell Biology & Signal Transduction; Virology and Gene Therapy.