BS in Biochemistry

Biochemistry is an interdepartmental major for students interests in the chemistry of living systems, and is offered jointly by the Department of Biology and the Department of Chemistry.

Program Requirements and Policies

• Seventeen courses of 3 semester-hour credits (SHUs) or more are required to complete the major.
• No major course may be taken Pass/Fail.
• If you have more than one major, please see Bulletin for rules on double-counting courses across majors.
• If you have a minor, no more than two courses (regardless of Units) used toward the minor may be used toward foundation, distribution, major, or other minor requirements.

Course Requirements

There are seventeen courses required. These include the following:

• Biology 13: Cells and Organisms*
• Biology 15: Cells and Organisms Lab*
• Biology 41: General Genetics
• Biology 105: Molecular Biology
   
• Biology 50: Experiments in Molecular Biology OR Biology 54: Molecular Genetics Project Lab OR Chemical & Biological Engineering 163: Recombinant DNA Technology *
• Chemistry 1: Chemical Fundamentals w/lab OR Chemistry 11: General Chemistry OR Chemistry 16: Chemistry of Materials
   
• Chemistry 2: Chemical Principles w/lab OR Chemistry 12: General Chemistry
• Chemistry 51: Organic Chemistry I
• Chemistry 52: Organic Chemistry II
• Chemistry 53: Organic Chemistry I w/lab
• Chemistry 54: Organic Chemistry II w/lab
• Chemistry 31: Physical Chemistry I **
• Chemistry 42: Quantitative Analysis OR Chemistry 43: Bioanalytical Chemistry
• Chemistry 171: Biochemistry I
• Chemistry 172: Biochemistry II
• Math 34: Calculus II **
• Physics 2: Introductory Physics II w/lab OR Physics 12: General Physics II w/lab **

Notes:

*As of Fall 2023, A&S students taking Biology 13 must take both BIO 13 (lecture) and BIO 15 (lab) in the same semester, as they are linked courses. A&S students must add both courses to their SIS cart when enrolling in BIO 13 + 15. Students who took BIO 13 before 2023 already have lab automatically included in Bio 13.  Engineering students should note that the requirement to take the lab differs by major.

* The Bio 50 requirement can be fulfilled with Bio 50, Bio 54, ChBE 163, or a graded independent research course. Bio 50 is offered during the Fall semester of academic year. ChBE 163 is a summer course. Bio 54 is offered in the Spring semester of the academic year. Bio 54 will be limited to freshman, sophomores and juniors starting 2024. Therefore, seniors should not plan on taking it spring of their senior year to fulfill the Biochemistry lab requirement.

To fulfill the Bio 50 requirement, independent research must 1) include a graded research-for-credit course such as Bio193 and Chem82 (but not Chem81), 2) involve molecular or cellular biology, and 3) be pre-approved. For questions about pre-approval, please email Prof. Mace at Charles.Mace@tufts.edu.

To apply for the substitution, please prepare a one-page document with the following information:

• A summary of the research project and progress made (or expected to be made) during the graded semester(s) (no more than 200 words). 
• A list of the research course(s) taken, grade(s) received, number of weeks worked each semester of graded research, and an average hours per week worked.  If you are registering for research-for-credit for an upcoming semester, list the course number and the expected number of hours per week.
• A bulleted list of techniques/procedures you personally performed (or will perform) as part of this research.  No details are necessary, just list the names of the different methods. Note that you can list all techniques you have performed over the course of this research project, not just the ones you performed (or will perform) in the graded semester.

Please send the document to your Principal Investigator.  The PI should read the document and provide feedback if necessary. Once the PI approves of the document, the PI should send it to Prof. Mace with their approval that the statement is accurate.  You are encouraged to send this document before the semester in which you are doing research, in order to get pre-approval that your planned course of research indeed qualifies for the Bio50 substitution.  

** Chem 31 (Physical Chemistry) has Math 34 and Phys 2 prerequisites. Thus, the timing for completion of Math 32, Math 34, Phys 1 and Phys 2 (or their equivalents, such as AP credit) is flexible, but must be completed in the first three years.

Suggested Course Sequences for Biochemistry Majors

Option 1

Year	Fall	Spring
1	Chem 1 or 11 Math 32	Chem 2 or 12 Math 34
2	Chem 51/53 Bio 13 & 15	Chem 52/54 Chem 171
3	Chem 43 Chem 171 Phys 1 or 11	Bio 41 Phys 2 or 12
4	Chem 31 Bio 50* Bio 105

Option 2

Year	Fall	Spring
1	Bio 13 & 15 Math 32	Bio 41 Math 34
2	Chem 1 or 11 Bio 50* Phys 1 or 11	Chem 2 or 12 Phys 2 or 12
3	Chem 51/53 Bio 105	Chem 52/54 Chem 171
4	Chem 31 Chem 43 Chem 172

Option 3

Year	Fall	Spring
1	Chem 1 or 11 Bio 13 & 15	Chem 2 or 12 Math 32
2	Chem 51/53 Phys 1 or 11 Math 34	Chem 52/54 Chem 171 Phys 2 or 12
3	Chem 172 Chem 43 (or 42 in Spring)	Bio 41
4	Chem 31 Bio 50* Bio 105

Note: Students who deviate from the proposed course sequences should check for class time overlap. For example, BIO 41 (Genetics) and Chem 52 (Organic Chemistry 2) are typically offered in the same time block in the Spring semester.