The pace of discovery in biology is accelerating as we enter the 21st century. We now have in hand a complete draft of the human genome and with it the genetic instruction book for human existence -- an accomplishment unimaginable when the structure of DNA was solved less than 50 years ago. These unprecedented results, together with other rapid advances in biology, will unalterably change how we can ameliorate the human condition and control our environment. As this influence increases, the community of highly trained biologists will need to increase to fill ever expanding roles in academia, industry, business, law, government, journalism, education, and ethics. To meet this challenge, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory established in 1998 a new graduate school -- the Watson School of Biological Sciences -- to prepare highly trained biologists to help lead us in the times ahead. This proposal is for a National Research Service Award in Cellular, Biochemical, and Molecular Sciences to train two predoctoral students per year in the context of an eventual annual class size of 10 to 12 students for the Ph.D. degree in the Watson School. The Watson School has designed an innovative Ph.D. curriculum to train future leaders in the biological sciences. In designing the curriculum, the School has set out seven ambitious goals: (i) to offer a doctoral education that takes approximately four years; (ii) to provide a broad education in the biological sciences that demonstrates the interrelationship of biological discoveries; (iii) to provide students with extensive mentoring; (iv) to focus course instruction on teaching students how to think about biology, independently and critically; (v) to offer students an outstanding research experience while emphasizing that learning is a lifelong process; (vi) to educate biologists who can communicate effectively; and (vii) to educate scientists that appreciate the ethical challenges that will confront biologists in this century. The program provides broad training in the biological sciences including genetics, cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry and biophysics, structural biology, developmental biology, cancer, neuroscience, virology, protein chemistry, cell cycle regulation, plant genetics, electrophysiology, behavior, imaging, bioinformatics, and genomics. The doctoral program that the School has developed to meet its goals is intense and is designed for students with exceptional ability and a deep commitment to their graduate education.