Biological and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Master of Science

Core Courses
201 (CHE 101) Instrumental Methods of Analysis
A lecture laboratory course on the applications of modern physical and chemical techniques to chemical analysis. Emphasis is placed on the underlying principles underlying analog and digital data acquisition and evaluation Credit: 3 semester hours. Laboratory fee $60.

202 (TOX 201) Methods in Toxicologic Evaluation
Prerequisite: BIT 252 and permission of the instructor. Experimental toxicology and pathology deals with the variety of experimental methods  utilized to determine the safety and toxicity of materials administered by mouth, applied topically to the skin or mucous membranes, or administered inhalation of gasses or aerosols. Credit: 3 semester hours.  

203 (PHS 203) Research Methods in Pharmacology
This course intends to introduce the student to select in vivo and in vitro techniques used in quantitative evaluation of pharmacological agents. Credit: 3 semester hours. Laboratory fee $135.

 207 (BIO 207) Biochemistry
Structure and function of biomolecules; enzymes; introduction to the organization and chemical economy of the cell; an overview of metabolism. Credit: 3 semester hours.

208 (BIO 208) Molecular Biology
Prerequisite: 207 Structure and function of DNA; protein synthesis  and the genetic code; mechanisms of gene transfer; recombinant DNA; viruses; chromosomes; gene expression and its regulation.

209 (BIO 209) Introduction to Bioinformatics
A consideration of the application of information technology to biological questions, including DNA sequencing, proteomics and genomics. Credit: 3 semester hours.

212 (BIO 212) Cell Biology
Prerequisite: 207.  Structure and function of subcellular organelles.  Transport; the endoplasmic reticulum, protein secretion and membrane biogenesis; the cytoskeleton; mitochondria, chloroplasts and the generation of useful energy. Credit: 3 semester hours.

215 (PAS215)  Foundations of Regulatory Affairs
This course provides the student with an understanding of the laws, regulations and procedures of federal and state guidelines that affect drugs and medical devices during their development, production and distribution stages. Credit: 3 semester hours.

248 (BIO 248) Laboratory Techniques and Applications I
Project-based hands-on experience with a variety of modern cellular, biochemical and molecular techniques. Credit: 3 semester hours.

249 (BIO 249) Communication Skills in the Life Sciences
Instruction in the reading of original research articles in a single area of interest to both the student and faculty member. Weekly presentations of papers are required.

250 (PHS 250) Cell and Tissue Culture
Co-requisite 250L. Student is acquainted with cell culture technology as well as biochemical and biophysical characteristics and capabilities of mammalian cells in culture. Credit: 3 semester hours.

250L (PHS 250L) Cell and Tissue CultureLaboratory
Co-requisite: PHS 250. This course is the laboratory component of PHS 250. Hands-on laboratory experiments in cell culture technology are performed by the students. The objective of the laboratory assignments is to expose the student to the biological, biophysical, and toxicological characteristics of mammalian cells in culture. Credit: 1 semester hour. Laboratory fee $135.

252 (IPP 252) Biostatistics
Prerequisites: Undergraduate chemistry or biology and mathematics. Statistical methods used in drug evaluation. While principal emphasis is placed on animal studies, evaluation of techniques applicable to chemistry and pharmacy are also covered. Credit: 3 semester hours.

253 (BIO 253)  Laboratory Techniques and Applications II
Project-based hands-on experience with a variety of modern cellular, biochemical and molecular Techniques. A continuation of BIO 248. Credit: 3 semester hours.

255 (IPP 255) Biotechnological Drug Delivery Systems
Prerequisite: Undergraduate course in biological and chemical sciences. This course is designed to focus on various physicochemical, biological and pharmaceutical concepts and strategies involved in the design and development of invasive (parenteral) and noninvasive drug delivery systems for biotechnological drug molecules such as proteins and peptides. Lecture. Credit: 3 semester hours.

256(PAS 256)  Princples of Experimental Design
Prerequisite: Undergraduate courses in biological and chemical sciences. This course is designed to develop competencies necessary to solve complex biological problems with efficient experiments using small sample size. Lecture. Credit: 3 semester hours.

257 (PHS 257) Gene Technology in the Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences
Prerequisite: Undergraduate biochemistry or the equivalent. Course presents the basic mechanism underlying the expression of the information encoded in the DNA: transcription, translation and replication. Credit: 3 semester hours.

261 (PHS 261) Laboratory in Gene Technology for the
Pharmaceutical & Allied Health Professions
The use of modern databases to mine known information and synthesize new conclusions from combined resources is used as a starting point. The class is divided into groups, each working with a different protein or a mutant of the target protein. Credit: 1 semester hour

263 (MCM 263)  Laboratory in Analysis of Biomacromolecules
A course designed to present the fundamentals of the use of modern analytical techniques for the identification and isolation of biomacromolecules. Emphasis is placed on protein purification methods. Credit: 3 semester hours.

264  (MCM 265) Principles of Drug Design I
Prerequisite: Undergraduate medicinal chemistry or equivalent. Required course designed to present an overview of the basic principles involved in medicinal chemistry. Credit: 3 semester hours.

265 (PAS 265) Scientific Inquiry: Regulation and Ethical Challenges
This course considers the nature of the scientific enterprise and both the legal and ethical restrictions placed on its methods and products by the government through imposition of regulation and society at large through moral suasion. Credit: 3 semester hours.

352 Special Research in Biotechnology
Prior consent of the faculty directing the research.
Students perform a semester of full time research under the supervision and in the laboratory of a faculty member of the Biology, Chemistry, or Pharmaceutical Sciences departments. Students are required to prepare a report on the research project and submit it to the faculty member for evaluation. Credit: 3 semester hours.

900 Internship in Biotechnology (capstone project).
Completion of a minimum of 21 credits with a GPA of 3.0 and approval of the Director of the Institute for Biotechnology
Students are required to perform a semester long full-time internship at a biotechnology/ pharmaceutical company. A required written report is submitted to the on-site mentor for evaluation and an oral presentation is given at the company.  The student then submits the written report to the Director of the Institute for Biotechnology and repeats the oral presentation at the university at an appointed time. Credit: 3 semester hours.

 925 Maintaining Matriculation
Students who do have not registered for other courses must register for 925 until degree requirements are completed. No credit. Fees $110 per semester.

“The Professional Science Master's (PSM) is an innovative, new graduate degree designed to allow students to pursue advanced training in science or mathematics, while simultaneously developing workplace skills highly valued by employers. PSM programs consist of two years of academic training in an emerging or interdisciplinary area, along with a professional component that may include internships and "cross-training" in workplace skills, such as business, communications, and regulatory affairs. All have been developed in concert with employers and are designed to dovetail into present and future professional career opportunities.”

The M.S. in Biological and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology was developed as a Professional Science Master’s degree program with funding in the form two grants from the Sloan Foundation through the Council of Graduate Schools in 2003.  The degree program was approved by the New York State Department of Education in May, 2006 and the first class was admitted in January, 2007.

“The National Professional Science Master's Association (NPSMA) is a collaborative of Professional Science Master's (PSM) degree program directors, faculty, administrators, alumni, and students that supports PSM degree initiatives. It engages businesses, industries, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and trade associations in the development of PSM degree programs and with internship and job placement for PSM degree students and graduates.”

St. John’s University Institute for Biotechnology, its students and alumni are members of the National Professional Science Master’s Association.  Students and alumni benefit from networking with their counterparts in other Professional Science Master’s programs around the country.  The NPSMA also facilitates internship and job placement for its members.

“The New York Biotechnology Association (NYBA) is a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to the development and growth of New York State based biotechnology related industries and institutions, and to strengthening the competitiveness of New York State as a premier global location for biotechnology/biomedical research, education and industry.”

St. John’s University Institute for Biotechnology has been a member of NYBA since 2003 and has been a sponsor of the NYBA Annual Meeting since that time.  At the 18th Annual meeting in April 2009, Dr. Diana Bartelt, Director of the Institute, chaired a panel entitled “Employee Development Program Alliances with Academia: The Hidden Benefits.”

“The Long Island Life Sciences Initiative (LILSI) has as its mission to attract, retain and develop life sciences companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, nutriceutical and personal care sectors on Long Island by providing business development, strategic networking, and educational opportunities to enhance corporate competitiveness, productivity, efficiency and profitability.”

St. John’s Institute for Biotechnology has been a sponsor of the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative Annual Summit Meetings since 2003.  Students in the M.S. in Biological and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology degree program have served as volunteers at the meetings and participated in job fairs.

Jason Alter, Ph.D.
Vice President of Marketing for Aureon Laboratories
Dr. Alter graduated from Alfred University with a B.A. in Biology and History. Subsequently he earned a M.S. degree in Microbiology from Texas A&M University and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Binghamton University. Dr. Alter did a postdoctoral fellowship at Schering Plough Pharmaceuticals examining the cellular location of fibronectin and collagen 01 (IV) messenger RNAs during intimal lesion development in a balloon angioplasty model of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation.  Dr. Alter has worked in a number of marketing roles for both traditional and non-traditional life science companies (e.g. IBM). Dr. Alter joined IBM's newly-formed Life Sciences Division as a Marketing Manager and was responsible for many of the initial outbound marketing activities of this business unit. Subsequently, as Manager of Program Marketing, he and his team were responsible for all outbound marketing for the IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences team.

John D. Haley, Ph.D.
Senior Research Director, Translational Research OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dr. Haley has over thirty years of experience in biochemical research in the fields of endocrinology, oncology, signal transduction and pharmacology, in which he has published over 50 manuscripts.  Dr. Haley obtained B.Sc. cum laude in Chemistry from Tufts University, Medford, MA and a Ph. D. in Molecular Endocrinology from the Howard Florey Institute for Experimental Physiology and Medicine, Melbourne University, Australia.  He served as a Research Fellow at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (London) and at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (London). He currently holds the position of Senior Research Director, Translational Research at OSI Pharmaceuticals, and his group is focused on drug target pathway identification, validation and biomarker discovery through a scientific understanding of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer recurrence.

Joseph Scaduto, M.S.,  M.B.A.
Assistant Director of Business Development Center for Biotechnology (CFB), State University of New York at Stony Brook
Mr. Scaduto is the founding Executive Director of the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative (LILSI). He has accumulated almost 10 years of experience providing business development expertise, strategic planning services and technology commercialization guidance to emerging and expanding bioscience companies on Long Island and throughout New York State. Mr. Scaduto is primarily responsible for corporate outreach, industry relations and government affairs activities on behalf of the CFB. He leads efforts to plan and execute the annual Life Sciences Industry Summit, while administering several programs meant to facilitate industry-academic interactions, technology transfer and new company formation, including BioPartnering Meetings, BioStrategy Sessions and the Technology Commercialization Clinic (TCC).  Mr. Scaduto serves on the Tenant Selection and Review Committee of the Long Island High Technology Incubator (UHTI), the Stony Brook University Software Incubator, and the Stony Brook University Incubator at Calverton.  Prior to joining the CFB, Mr. Scaduto held a variety of laboratory research and technology management positions at Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Binghamton University, Mount Sinai Graduate School of Biological Sciences, BioLife Solutions, Inc. and The Collaborative Group, Ltd.

Mark Sleeman, Ph.D.
Dr. Sleeman is currently the Head of Metabolic Research at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, New York. For the past two decades he has been interested in the interplay between insulin resistance and obesity, in particular the molecular mechanisms behind the regulation food intake and body weight. Recently, his published research has focused on the role that gut hormones such as ghrelin and PYY play in signaling to a number of brain regions to modulate metabolic events. To that end he and his colleagues have generated a number of genetically modified animals to study these phenotypes. Mark Sleeman was a recipient of a Juveniles Diabetes and Ruth Kirschstein Endocrine Fellowship at the University of Massachusetts in the laboratory of Dr Michael P. Czech where he studied mechanisms insulin-resistance/signaling. He received his Ph.D. from Monash University after graduating from The University of Melbourne, Australia. He has published numerous papers on Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity in journals such as Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, PNAS, Journal of Biological Chemistry and Diabetes, is a member of numerous professional societies in US and holds the academic appointment of Adjunct Professor in the Comparative Medicine Department at Yale University School of Medicine.

Linda Strausbaugh, Ph.D.
Professor of Genetics and Genomics
Director, Center for Applied Genetics and Technology
Director, Professional Science Master's Degree in Applied Genomics
Chair of the Council of Graduate Schools PSM Advisory Board
Dr. Strausbaugh recieved her B.S. from Wright State University and her Ph.D. from Wesleyan University. Dr. Strausbaugh joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut in 1980. Her research interests are in DNA identity typing for forensic and ancestry applications, and in genome evolution. She designed and obtained funding to create UConn's Center for Applied Genetics and Technology, a state-of-the-art facility supporting integrated genomics research and education. Multimillion dollar awards support her DNA typing research for crime lab improvement, and she leads collaborations with several corporate partners to develop new DNA identification methods. Professor Strausbaugh is recognized locally and nationally as an education innovator. She has developed and taught a number of genetics courses, including all three of the genetics courses for undergraduates at the University of Connecticut.  Her genetics class was named a "Best on Campus" in the Boston Globe. Dr. Strausbaugh played key roles in the creation and teaching of courses on Forensic Applications of DNA Science, Experiments in DNA Identification, and Responsible Conduct of Research. She was named a 1997 Teaching Fellow of the University of Connecticut, and is a 2010 Top Nominee for the national Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. She is active in local and national diversity initiatives and was named a 1998 NEBHE Faculty Mentor of the Year. Dr. Strausbaugh has served as mentor and research supervisor to dozens of undergraduate and graduate students.  She conceived of and directs the Professional Science Masters in Applied Genomics. PSM degrees are designed to address the national shortage of science-trained professionals, and Dr. Strausbaugh works routinely with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and several companies.

Edward Tamer, Ph.D.
Senior Manager, Head of Lead Optimization Group
CNS Therapeutic Domain
Sanofi-Aventis US, Inc.
Dr. Tamer graduated with a PhD in Biochemistry in January 1985 from University Paul-Sabatier-School of Pharmacy in Toulouse, France.  Immediately thereafter he began a career in the pharmaceutical  industry by joining UCB-Pharma in Belgium.  From 1989-1999, and while still employed by UCB Pharma, he moved to the US where he took on the responsibility of coordinating an extensive collaboration  project between UCB-Pharma and the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Illinois.  This included a Research Faculty position with participation in teaching in the pharmacology graduate program in the department.  Next he joined the Vascular Biology Group at Cornell University Weil Medical College in New York from 1999-2002. He then moved to the Orentreich Foundation for the Advancement of Science in Cold Spring, NY where led the Cell Biology group from 2002 – 2005.  Then he returned to industry and joined Sanofi-Aventis, where he held a Senior Manager position heading the lead Optimization group in the central nervous system therapeutic domain.  Currently he holds a senior position in the “Expert is platform of Biology of aging” in the newly created therapeutic strategic unit of Aging at Sanofi-Aventis.  During his professional career, Dr. Tamer’s research activity continued to focus on understanding the mechanisms of diseases with emphasis on drug discovery, applying biochemical, molecular and pharmacological approaches and techniques.

Daniel B. Yarosh,Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Basic Science Research Estee Lauder
Dr. Yarosh, is Senior Vice President, Basic Science Research, and is responsible for worldwide basic research of the Estee Lauder companies. Until 2008, he was President and Chairman of the Board, AGI Dermatics, located in Freeport, Long Island, New York. Dr. Yarosh received his BA degree in Biology from Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1976, and his Doctorate in Molecular Biology from the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona, in 1978. He served as a National Science Foundation Fellow at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, and then a Staff Fellow and Cancer Expert at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. In 1985, Dr. Yarosh founded AGI Dermatics, with an emphasis on the commercial application of DNA repair. He is the inventor of Dimericine® (T4N5 liposome lotion), which is a liposomal DNA repair enzyme for the prevention of skin cancer. AGI Dermatics is also an ingredient supplier to many major worldwide cosmetic and personal care companies. In 2006 the company launched its own Remergent® brand of skincare products, including sunscreens and prescription drugs. In 2008, AGI Dermatics was acquired by Estee Lauder Inc. Dr. Yarosh is the author of more than 100 scientific papers and two dozen patents, and serves on the Board of the Photomedicine Society. His book The New Science of Perfect Skin, about skincare technology in the cosmetic marketplace, was published by Random House in May 2008.