Major Requirements

There are 48 credits required for this major fulfilled by Biology, Chemistry, and BMB courses: Students will need to take at least two courses from these requirements each semester for adequate progress in the major.  The major requirements are:

Foundation Courses

Chemistry: 16 credits

  • CHM111+111L: College Chemistry 1
  • CHM122 and 122L: Organic Chemistry 1
    OR CHM 123 and 123L: Honors Organic Chemistry
  • CHM223+223L: Organic Chemistry
  • CHM280+280L: College Chemistry 2

Biology: 11 credits

  • BIO150 +150L: Biology 1
  • BIO160 +160L: Biology 2
  • BIO265: Cellular and Molecular Biology

 

These foundational courses should be completed by the end of the sophomore year.  Although CHM111 is offered both semesters, seats are limited in the spring.  Thus, students should enroll in this course during the fall semester of their first year or plan to take chemistry courses off sequence or in the summer.  All biology courses are offered each semester during the academic year, but are infrequently taught in the summer. Please note that BIO265, CHM223, and CHM280 are prerequisites for upper level courses listed below.

Upper-level Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Requirements: (15 credits)

— Three semesters of Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology lecture courses fulfilled by:

  1. BMB/BIO/CHM370: Biochemistry I: Macromolecules and Metabolism – 3 credits
  2. BMB372/BIO372 AND BMB373/CHM373 
    1. BMB372/BIO372: Advanced Molecular Biology – 3 credits
    2. BMB373/CHM373: Biochemistry II – 3 credits

— Two laboratory courses fulfilled by:

  1. BMB/BIO/CHM371L: Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory-1.5 credits
  2. BMB372L/BIO372L: Molecular Biology Laboratory-1.5 credits
    OR BIO388: Methods in Molecular Genetics – 4 credits

— BMB388: Senior Seminar in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology – 1 credit

— BMB395: Senior Research Project – 2 credits

Research Experience Requirements:

— Two semesters or summers of research fulfilled with either:

BMB391/BIO391/CHM391 + BMB392/BIO392/CHM392, 0.5-2 credits each)

OR BMB390 (Off campus research experience), 0-2 credits

Co-requisites:

MST112: Calculus with Analytical Geometry II and PHY113 and PHY114: General Physics I and II

Two elective courses (some of which are taught infrequently):

Concentration in Molecular Biology: Choose any two courses from among the list of electives below.

Concentration in Biochemistry: Choose EITHER BMB376 OR CHM341 and one additional elective course.

Elective Courses:

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology courses (BMB)

  • 301: Special Topics in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (3h)
  • 376: Biophysical Chemistry (3h) (also listed as CHM376)
  • 381: Epigenetics (3h) (also listed as BIO381)
  • 382: Molecular Signaling (3h) (also listed as BIO382)

Biology courses (BIO)

  • 317/318: Plant Physiology and Development (3h/4h)
  • 336/337: Development (3h/4h)
  • 343: Molecular Neuroscience (3h)
  • 351: Vertebrate Physiology (4h)
  • 362: Immunology (3h)
  • 365: Biology of the Cell (3h)
  • 367: Virology (3h)
  • 368/369: Cell Biological Basis of Disease (3h/4h)
  • 373: Cancer Biology (3h)
  • 374: Neuropharmacology. (3 h)
  • 383: Genomics (3h)(also listed as BMB383)
  • 384: Molecular Evolution (3h)

Chemistry courses (CHM)

  • 324: Medicinal Chemistry (3h)
  • 334: Chemical Analysis (4h)
  • 341: Physical Chemistry (3h)

Computer Science courses (CSC)

  • 385: Bioinformatics (3h)(also listed as BIO385)
  • 387: Computational Systems Biology (3h)(also listed as BIO387)

Physics courses (PHY)

  • 307: Biophysics (3h)(also listed as BIO307)
  • 320: Physics of Biological Macromolecules (3h)