About the Program

Our Master of Laboratory Animal Science (MLAS) is a two-year graduate program designed to prepare you for advanced careers in biomedical research. The customizable curriculum focuses on animal modeling, biomethodology, facility design, regulatory compliance, and animal welfare, allowing you to tailor your research to your professional goals. This program prepares you for impactful roles in biotech, pharmaceutical companies, government, and academia, or provides a strong stepping stone into top medical, veterinary, and doctoral programs.

What You’ll Study

What you will study at the graduate level depends on your particular degree, academic interests, and professional goals. Key features of our program offerings include:

• All students complete coursework in animal modeling, medical terminology, experimental design and statistics, animal anatomy and histology, professional development, and participate in journal club.

• Thesis track students complete an approximately year-long research project under the mentorship of a faculty advisor, and write a thesis describing their experiments, results, analysis, and impact of their work.

• Non-thesis track students complete several quarter-long practical projects at Stanford or with local partner organizations (including pharmaceutical companies, CROs, and nonprofits).