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Ph.D in Biochemistry
Seventeen faculty members in Biochemistry and affiliate faculty offer the Ph.D. program in Biochemistry. Students may also work with faculty members in Chemistry who have biochemical interests. Graduate students in Biochemistry are part of a close-knit and supportive community, but all the resources of a large research department and university are available. We provide rigorous graduate course work in biochemical and biophysical principles and techniques as well as in molecular biology, genomics and proteomics, and systems biology. Graduate research focuses on fostering independence and expertise in answering cutting-edge biochemistry questions. Research programs fall into the general areas of biophysical chemistry, nucleic acid biochemistry, molecular biophysics, structural biology, bioorganic chemistry/chemical biology, and enzymes and molecular machines. Our students go on to successful academic, industrial, and government careers in today’s hi-tech world of biochemistry and biotechnology.
Faculty research programs in Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park emphasize fundamental approaches to molecular aspects of how biological systems work. Biophysical chemistry/molecular biophysics is a particular strength, including biomolecular NMR (Fushman, Tugarinov, Dayie, Orban), fluorescence (Kahn, Beckett), and X-ray crystallography (LaRonde-LeBlanc, Paukstelis, Herzberg). Several groups work on molecular nanomachines involved in protein folding (Lorimer), transcription and regulation (Kahn, Beckett), RNA processing (Paukstelis), translation (LaRonde-LeBlanc, Dinman), DNA recombination and repair (Julin) and cofactor biosynthesis (Gerratana). Membrane channels are studied by the Colombini and Sukharev research groups. Chemical biology and bioorganic chemistry benefit from the environment of a chemistry department with active research in enzymology (Gerratana, Rokita), nucleic acid biochemistry (Rokita, Kahn, LaRonde-LeBlanc, Dayie), synthetic biology (Cropp, Sintim), and proteomics/metabolomics (Fenselau, Edwards, Li). Most projects are carried out by one or few graduate students, undergraduates, and postdoctoral researchers, so there is constant contact among faculty and students. Biochemistry groups benefit from connections with many other programs on campus, including Chemical Physics, Biophysics, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Bioengineering.
