Course Work

Students complete the following courses in chemical biology.

An introductory course: BIOL 807: Graduate Molecular Biosciences, CHEM 720: Fundamentals and Methods of Analytical Chemistry, CHEM 760: Introduction to Chemistry in Biology, MDCM 710: Chemistry of Drug Action, MDM 766: Organic Chemistry of Biological Pathways, or PHCH 862: Pharmaceutical Equilibria

BIOL 860/ CHEM 860/ MDCM 860/ PHCH 860: Principles and Practice of Chemical Biology.  (3 hours, lecture and problems based). A survey of topics investigated by chemical biology methods including: transcription and translation, cell signaling, genetic and genomics, biochemical pathways, macromolecular structure, and the biosynthesis of peptides, carbohydrates, natural products, and nucleic acids.  Concepts of thermodynamics and kinetics, bioconjugations and bioorthogonal chemistry will also be presented​.  Prerequisite: BIOL 807 or CHEM 760 or MDCM 766 or PHCM 862 or permission of instructor.  Offered in the fall semester.

BIOL 816/ CHEM 816/ MDCM 816/ PHCH 816: Careers in the Biomedical Sciences.  (1 hour seminar; taken 2 semesters).  Advanced course examining career options open to PhD scientists, and preparation for the different career paths.  Extensive student/faculty interaction is emphasized utilizing lectures, class discussion of assigned readings of research reports, and oral presentations. Prerequisite: Concurrent or previous enrollment in BIOL 860/ CHEM 860/ MDCM 860/ PHCH 860 or permission of instructor.  Offered in the spring semester.

BIOL 817/ CHEM 817/ MDCM 817/ PHCH 817:  Rigor, Reproducibility, and the Responsible Conduct of Research.  (3 hours, lecture and problems based). This class addresses the recognized problems in rigor, reproducibility, and transparency that are plaguing modern science. Students will learn the fundamentals of hypothesis design, avoiding bias, randomization, sampling, and appropriate statistical analyses, reagent validation, among other key topics. This course also introduces principles for being an ethical, responsible, and professional research scientist. Topics include: plagiarism, fabrication and falsification of data, record keeping and data sharing, mentor/mentee and collaborative relationships, among others. The class will include a mixture of lecture, case studies and discussion.  Offered in the fall semester.

An elective in chemical biology and/or professional development: course must be in outside the student's home department. A potential list is below. The elective course should be approved by the program directors.

Potential Elective Courses

 *Departments will occasionally offer special topics courses that have the potential to count as electives.  These course numbers for potentially relevant special topics courses are as follows:  BIOL 701, CHEM 980, and JOUR 700.