• A baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited institution.
• A minimum GPA of 3.0 or a 3.0 on the last 60 hours attempted.
• Completion of prerequisite courses with letter grades C or better.
• Completion of an interview with program faculty may be required.
• Complete the UAB medical history questionnaire and physical, provide proof of required immunizations, and receive satisfactory screening by the UAB Student Health Services (if accepted to program.)

• Pre-calculus Algebra (or higher) - 3 hours
• General Chemistry I - 4 hours
• General Chemistry II - 4 hours
• Introductory Biology* - 4 hours
• Genetics* - 3 hours

*Courses equivalent or higher may be accepted for substitution at the discretion of the Program Director.

International Students must submit a transcript evaluation from World Education Services, Educational Credential Evaluators, or Josef Silny and Associates, Inc.

The Graduate School now monitors English proficiency to make sure applicants meet our minimum scores which are listed below.

• IELTS – 6.5
• TOEFL – 80
• PTEA – 53

Other requirements include a financial affidavit of support and immigration documentation (if currently residing in the United States).

In order to successfully complete the degree requirements for the Master’s Degree in Biotechnology, students must complete the academic and clinical practice requirements. Students must also meet the essential requirements in addition to the academic requirements. “Essential requirements are those physical abilities, mental abilities, skills, attitudes, and behaviors the students must evidence or perform at each stage of their education.” The absence of an essential requirement would fundamentally alter the program goals. The essential requirements include categories of observation, movement, communication, intellect, and behavior.

Observation

The student must be able to:

1. Observe laboratory demonstrations in which biological (i.e., body fluids, culture samples, tissue sections, and cellular samples) specimens are tested for their biochemical, hematological, immunological, microbiological, and histochemical components.
2. Characterize the color, odor, clarity, and viscosity of biologicals, reagents, or chemical reaction products.
3. Employ a clinical grade binocular microscope to discriminate among fine structural and color (hue, shading, and intensity) differences of microscopic specimens.
4. Read and comprehend text, numbers, illustrations, and graphs displayed in print, on a projection screen, and on a video monitor.

Movement

The student must be able to:

1. Move freely and safely about a laboratory.
2. Reach laboratory bench tops and shelves, patients lying in hospital beds or patients seated in specimen collection furniture.
3. Travel to numerous clinical laboratory sites for practical experience.
4. Perform moderately taxing continuous physical work, often requiring prolonged sitting, in confined spaces, over several hours.
5. Maneuver phlebotomy and culture acquisition equipment to safely collect valid laboratory specimens from patients.
6. Control laboratory equipment (i.e. pipettes, inoculating loops, test tubes) and adjust instruments to perform laboratory procedures.
7. Use an electronic keyboard (i.e. 101-key IBM computer keyboard) to operate laboratory instruments and to calculate, record, evaluate, and transmit laboratory information.

Communication

The student must be able to:

1. Read and comprehend technical and professional materials (i.e. textbooks, magazine and journal articles, handbooks, and instruction manuals).
2. Follow verbal and written instructions in order to correctly perform laboratory test procedures.
3. Clearly instruct patients prior to specimen collection (if applicable).
4. Effectively, confidentially, and sensitively converse with patients regarding laboratory tests (if applicable).
5. Communicate with faculty members, fellow students, staff, and other health care professionals verbally and in a recorded format (writing, typing, graphics, or telecommunication).
6. Prepare papers, prepare laboratory reports, and take examinations within specified times.

Intellect

The student must:

1. Possess these intellectual skills: comprehension, measurement, mathematical calculation, reasoning, integration, analysis, comparison, self-expression, and criticism.
2. Be able to exercise sufficient judgment to recognize and correct performance deviations.

Behavior

The student must:

1. Be able to manage the use of time and be able to systematize actions in order to complete professional and technical tasks within faculty-defined time limits.
2. Possess the emotional health necessary to effectively employ intellect and exercise appropriate judgment.
3. Be able to provide professional and technical services while experiencing the stresses of task-related uncertainty (i.e. ambiguous test ordering, ambivalent test interpretation), emergent demands (i.e. “stat” test orders), and a distracting environment (i.e. high noise levels, crowding, complex visual stimuli).
4. Be flexible and creative and adapt to professional and technical change.
5. Recognize potentially hazardous materials, equipment, and situations and proceed safely in order to minimize risk of injury to patients, self, and nearby individuals.
6. Adapt to working with unpleasant biologicals.
7. Support and promote the activities of fellow students and of health care professionals. Promotion of peers helps furnish a team approach to learning, task completion, problem solving, and patient care.
8. Be honest, compassionate, ethical, and responsible. The student must be forthright about errors or uncertainty. The student must be able to critically evaluate her or his own performance, accept constructive criticism, and look for ways to improve (i.e. participate in enriched educational activities). The student must be able to evaluate the performance of fellow students and tactfully offer constructive comments.