OVERVIEW OF THE MSIG PROGRAM

The program is designed to provide students with technical skills and foundational knowledge in a research area currently in high demand. We teach a systems-wide approach and incorporate natural history and an organism's environment to understand the organization and expression of its many genes and gene products.

Areas of emphasis include:

• Genome comparisons
• Structure and function in communities
• Life history patterns
• Stress responses
• Recent advances in the field of genomics.

Major outcome competencies include:

• Using equipment associated with:
  • Gene discovery
  • Sequencing genomes
  • Transcript profiling
• Working knowledge of:
  • Molecular
  • Statistical
  • Database tools for genomic analyses. 
• Data analysis and critical thinking skills
• Oral and written communication skills
• Working as part of a research team.

 A Master of Science degree in Integrative Genomics is a relatively new area of biological research that seeks to place the functional significance of an organism’s many genes into an ecological and evolutionary context. Integrative Genomics allows scientists to understand the success story that each species represents.

Black Hills State University's MSIG program provides many unique opportunities.

Location: 

We are situated in the Black Hills, which provides a natural laboratory for Integrative Genomics. We are also close to the Deep Underground Science and Engineering SURF research facility at the former Homestake Mine, allowing for collaboration with other major universities (to study, for example, the meta-genomics of the unique microbial communities found in extreme environments).

Faculty: 

Our faculty encompass a variety of professional areas and interests: 

• 1 evolution and genetics
• ecological genetics
• conservation biology 
• plant and animal physiology
• molecular biology
• molecular ecology
• functional ecology
• signal transduction
• statistical genetics
• microbiology
• transcript profiling
• behavior genetic analysis
• Facilities: Our state-of-the-art Ecological Genomics and Conservation Genetics laboratories and the Western South Dakota DNA Core Facility are among the modern laboratories that exist on our campus.
• Research: Research at BHSU involves various collaborations with major institutions.