We conduct research at the forefront of basic, biomedical, and translational science, and educate medical, graduate, postdoctoral and undergrad trainees in the classroom and in the laboratory.
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Researching Life's Building Blocks
The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology focuses on diverse areas of basic and translational research including DNA, RNA, epigenetics, proteostasis, protein design, and molecular mechanisms of disease ranging from neurodegenerative diseases, to infectious diseases, cancer and therapeutic target discovery.
Faculty members are recognized nationally and internationally as experts in their fields earning prestigious honors including member of the National Academy of Sciences, Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and of the American Academy of Microbiology, and President of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) among others. Our faculty publish their research in top-tier scientific journals. As such, they are often called upon to serve on journal editorial boards and grant review panels. Extramural research funding has been competitively awarded to our faculty from a range of federal, state and private agencies.
Céline Gélinas, PhD
Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Academic Programs
The department is responsible for teaching first- and second-year medical students, lecturing in many blocks within the pre-clerkship medical school curriculum including within the Cells 2 Structure, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Systems, Pulmonary and Renal Systems courses.
Our faculty also organizes and teaches core and non-core courses within the graduate programs of the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) and have been instrumental in the development of the Master of Biomedical Sciences Program in SGS at the medical school.