Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry

The area of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry 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, repair, and recombination, the genetics of complex traits, gene regulation through chromatin and subcellular structure, cell differentiation and cell signaling during development, and the molecular mechanisms of aging and disease.

Faculty Mentors

Douglas Blackiston
Erik Dopman
Catherine Freudenreich
Jaye Gardiner

Sarah Hengel
Alfredo Hernandez
Fatima Hussain
Michael Levin

Kelly McLaughlin
Mitch McVey
Sergei Mirkin
Khoa Tran
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 and/or Bio 171: Advanced Genetics: DNA Repair and Genome Editing
- Bio 191: Protein Structure and Function
- Bio 171: 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)
- R and Programming for STEM (Bio 137)
- Computational Genomics (Bio 145)
- Biochemistry and Cellular Metabolism (Bio 152)
- Biophysics of Macromolecules (Bio 156)
- Advanced Genetics and Genome Editing (Bio 171)
- Seminar in Molecular Biology and Genetics (Bio 188)
- DNA: Structure to Function (Bio 190)
- Protein Structure and Function (Bio 191)
- 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
- Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy
- Molecular Mechanisms of Disease and Therapeutics
- Applied Bioinformatics and Genome Analysis
- Wildlife Infections and Zoonoses
- Career Skills for Biologists
Courses in Other Departments
- Biotechnology Processing Projects Lab (Bio 168)
- Molecular Biotechnology (Bio 264)