Graduate students who join the Sanders lab do so after they first enter Vanderbilt through either the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program (IGP), the Quantitative Chemical and Physical Biology Graduate Program (QCBP), or the Medical Scientist (MD-PhD) Training Program (MSTP). The IGP and QCBP are umbrella admissions programs that allow students to choose their PhD dissertation preceptor/lab at the end of their first academic year of study. Information on applying to those programs is found here:
Typically, biology (and related) undergraduates enter through the IGP, whereas chemistry and biochemistry undergrads enter through either the IGP or QCBP. Physicists enter through the QCBP.
Students joining the Sanders lab at the end of their first year in the IGP or QCBP then become part of either the Biochemistry Ph.D. program or the Chemical and Physical Biology Ph.D. program, a process that is essentially automatic for students in good standing. Students usually receive full tuition waiver and a supporting stipend throughout the duration of their graduate studies.