Genetics and Molecular Biology

The area of Genetics and Molecular Biology is the study of the fundamental workings of the cell, and how cells function in the context of an organism. Areas of current research in our department cover a wide range of topics such as DNA replication and repair, gene regulation through chromatin structure, cell differentiation and cell signaling during development, and interaction of virulence factors and immune cells.

Faculty Mentors

Erik Dopman
Catherine Freudenreich
Sarah Hengel
Alfredo Hernandez

Fatima Hussain
Michael Levin
Kelly McLaughlin
Mitch McVey

Sergei Mirkin
Benjamin Wolfe

*Faculty mentors currently not accepting graduate students.

Faculty Advisor for this Concentration

Mitch McVey

Professor

DNA repair, DNA damage tolerance, molecular biology, Drosophila genetics, aging, mutagenesis

Suggested Program of Study and Appropriate Courses

Suggested Courses (*required course)
Year 1
- Bio 253, 254: Research rotation projects*
- Bio 260: Teaching Biology, Pedagogy, and Practice* (required for first year TAs)
- Bio 190: DNA: Structure to Function
- Bio 241: Advanced Genetics: DNA Repair and Genome Editing
- Other upper-level lecture or seminar courses as recommended (for example, Molecular Biology [Bio 105], Seminar in Molecular Biology and Genetics [Bio 188], or other specially offered courses)
Year 2
- Bio 243: Graduate Seminar in Molecular and Cellular Biology* (required course recommended for fall of second year)
- Bio 256: Scientific Writing
- Bio 257, Bio 258: Special Topics* (Laboratory research, Experimental design)
- Bio 259: Capstone: Research Proposal and Review*
- Bio 291: Graduate research seminar in Molecular and Developmental Biology (graded S/U, 1 SHU, research seminar presentations)
- Upper-level seminar course as recommended
Biology Department Courses
- Developmental Biology (Bio 103)
- Immunology (Bio 104)
- Molecular Biology (Bio 105)
- Microbiology (Bio 106)
- Virology (Bio 109)
- Biostatistics (Bio 132)
- Neurobiology (Bio 134)
- Computational Genomics (Bio145)
- Biochemistry and Cellular Metabolism (Bio 152)
- Biophysics of Macromolecules (Bio 156)
- Seminar in Molecular Biology and Genetics (Bio 188)
- DNA: Structure to Function (Bio 190)
- R for Biologists (Bio 173)
- Advanced Genetics and Genome Editing (Bio 241)
- Graduate Seminar in Molecular and Cellular Biology (Bio 243)*
- Scientific Writing (Bio 256)
Rotating special topics courses (Bio 196) such as:
- Genome and Modern Medicine
- Molecules, Medicines, and Markets
- Molecular Mechanisms of Disease and Therapeutics
- Applied Bioinformatics and Genome Analysis
- Infectious Disease Biology
- Career Skills for Biologists
Courses in Other Departments
- Molecular Biotechnology (Bio 264)
- Biotechnology Processing Projects Lab (Bio 168)