Van Andel Institute

Van Andel Institute is an independent biomedical research institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jay and Betty Van Andel founded it in 1996. It is not a comprehensive university; it is a research campus devoted to cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and related cell biology, with a small graduate school added in 2007.

Research is organized in departments and centers for cancer biology, neurodegeneration, epigenetics, and metabolism. The Van Andel Institute Graduate School offers doctoral training in molecular and cellular biology. Students work in institute laboratories and through clinical links in Grand Rapids, including Michigan State University's medical campus.

The graduate school enrolls on the order of 50 doctoral students. Faculty are principal investigators numbering several dozen. International students are a regular part of that small cohort. Alumni work as postdoctoral researchers and in biotechnology and academic labs.

The degree is a research PhD with little taught coursework beyond a core in molecular and cellular biology. Supervision is laboratory-based year-round. Students are typically funded by institute stipends. Grand Rapids is a mid-sized city; the institute sits in the medical mile district downtown. Daily life is that of a research institute rather than a college town.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, Van Andel Institute lists 1 doctoral program, in biology.