Ph.D. Program in BMBB

Graduate students in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics are trained to become independent, productive research scientists who can

1. recognize and define significant problems and design proper experiments to solve them;

2. communicate their work in seminars and journal manuscripts;

3. assess the time and effort it will take to solve problems; and

4. function as a member of a research community.

The department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology began in 1972 with the opening of the Medical School. UMD's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has twelve faculty members, including those having joint appointments with other departments (please see our faculty listings for a full description of the research interests of our faculty). Because of the department's relatively small size, faculty and students work closely throughout the students' studies.

Graduate education and training at UMD encompasses first year course work and qualifying advancement examinations. Because the primary emphasis of graduate education is original research, students work along side principal investigators. Laboratory-based exploration is complimented by journal clubs, seminars, scientific meetings, and retreats. Councelling for career development and scientific ethics are also areas of emphasis. Ph.D. graduates can immediately enter the work fource or pursue advanced post-doctoral training in either academia or industry. Financial support is available in the form of teaching or research assistantships and other sources. Further information can be obtained about the MS/PHD Program at the Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics web site.

Students may also pursue graduate work with an emphasis in Biochemistry through UMD's M.S. graduate programs in Chemistry and Integrated Biosciences, or the Ph.D. program in Toxicology.

The Medical School Duluth, where the Department of Biochemistryand Molecular Biology is housed, has modern facilities. Included are a cell culture room, a stem cell lab, microscopy (TEM, confocal, fluorescence) facilities, genomics lab, photo documentation and illustration center, videoconferencing rooms, and vivarium. Details about lab instrumentation are listed on the  Research Facilities page of this web site.

UMD has cutting edge information technology network and a state of the art library. Graduate students also have access to Biomedical literature and electronic journal subscriptions via the internet at Diehl Hall Medical Library.

The UMD faculty participants are members of the BMBB graduate faculty. Their participation is governed by the BMBB coordinating committee. You can find more information about the undergraduate program at the College of Science and Engineering web site.