The Department of Biochemistry began as a semi-independent Division within聽the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1986, and became a separate聽Department in 2018. The Biochemistry Department is located on the east聽campus in the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building and current聽research in the Department spans a wide range of fields from biophysical聽chemistry to cellular and molecular biology.
Specific areas of focus in the聽Biochemistry Department are: (1) nucleic acid biochemistry, including RNA聽structure and function and mechanisms of transcription and replication, (2)聽signal聽transduction and cell cycle regulation, and (3) structural biology, including X-ray聽and electron microscopy, as well as proteomics and bioinformatics. One notable聽feature of research in the Department is the interactive and collaborative nature of聽the research, which has a broader effect on the whole university community.
Biochemistry By the Numbers
Biochemistry has over 140 researchers, currently consisting of:
21 tenure track聽faculty
1 research faculty
2 teaching professors
~75 Ph.D. students
~42 postdocs and scientists
~29聽technical staff
7 administrative staff
~400 undergraduate Biochemistry聽majors, many of which perform undergraduate research and some graduate with聽Honors by completing an Honors thesis
The Biochemistry faculty include:
a Nobel Laureate
five members of the National聽Academy of Sciences
three Howard Hughes Investigators
Faculty Awards through the Years:
NIH MERIT Award
NIH Career聽Development Award
NSF CAREER Award
NIH Pioneer Award
骋耻驳驳别苍丑别颈尘听贵别濒濒辞飞蝉丑颈辫
Pew Scholar
Beckman Young Investigator
Searle Scholar
University Distinguished Professor
2010-2016 members of the Biochemistry Department published over 800 articles聽in scholarly journals.聽Overwhelmingly these papers include graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and undergraduate students聽as coauthors.
The Biochemistry Department has a聽vibrant graduate program and also has two NIH-funded pre-doctoral training聽programs 鈥� one in Signal and Cellular Regulation and a second in Molecular聽Biophysics. Approximately 60% of the recent Ph.D.s in the Department go on to聽perform postdoctoral research and most graduates end up with a position in聽academia or in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry.
The Division also聽participates in community education and science outreach programs, examples include:聽Science Community Outreach Program and Education (S.C.O.P.E.) and聽Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC).
The largest source of funding is聽the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences/NIH/DHHS. Past and current funding sources include, but are not limited to:
Howard聽Hughes Medical Institute
National Science Foundation
American Cancer Society
American Heart Association
Beckman Foundation
Boettcher Foundation
Pew Charitable Trusts
W. M.聽Keck Foundation
Individual faculty also collaborate聽with industry partners to support research in Biochemistry.聽
