The study of viruses and virus-like agents: their structure, classification and evolution, their ways to infect and exploit cells for virus reproduction, the diseases they cause and the techniques to isolate and culture them, and their use in research and therapy. Students seeking an M.S. or Ph.D. degree in core areas of animal and human health can do so through the UW School of Veterinary Medicine's Comparative Biomedical Sciences (CBMS) Graduate Program. This highly ranked program integrates faculty from a wide variety of departments throughout the school and the UW-Madison campus and offers a unique research training experience for its students.