The Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) offers graduate training leading to the Ph.D. degree. The Program promotes excellence in the scientific pursuits by providing graduate education in an environment that fosters interactions between students and faculty. Our goal is to develop researchers who have a broad awareness of the content and problems of the biomedical sciences and can apply their experiences to produce new knowledge in the arenas of academia and industry.

The Program began in 1979 and became the first official Program within GSBS at UT-Houston in 1982. GSBS has granted the Program special autonomy allowing Program students to satisfy GSBS area requirements by taking core Program courses. The BMB-Program offers courses in fundamental and current topics in biochemistry and molecular biology, research workshops, invited speaker seminars, and opportunities for interactions at conferences as well as with scientists at nearby institutions.

The strength of any academic program is rooted in the quality of its faculty. The faculty in the Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology are drawn from the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pathology, Microbiology, Medicine, the Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Center for Membrane Biology and the Structural Biology Research Center.

These faculty provide students with an ideal mix of senior and junior investigators, who are extremely well funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health as well as numerous other national and state agencies. The quality of our faculty is evidenced by numerous prestigious research and teaching awards including endowed professorships, Merit Awards (NIH), Career Research Development Awards (NIH), Established Investigator Awards (AHA), and Pew and Ellison Foundation Scholarships.

Program faculty have broad research interests in rapidly expanding areas of biochemistry and molecular biology including, Cell and Molecular Biology, Structural Biology and Molecular Genetics. This synergistic blend of research activities offers students the opportunity to train in specific areas while gaining exposure to a broad range of disciplines.

Program laboratories are located in the spacious UT-Houston Medical School building and the Institute of Molecular Medicine. An open and collegial environment allows students, faculty and postdoctoral fellows to benefit from the intellectual and technical expertise available in the individual laboratories.

The Medical School and the Institute for Molecular Medicine provide a complete complement of common equipment and core facilities for modern research in biochemistry and molecular biology including transgenic mouse core facilities. The newly established Structural Biology Research Center in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is the only facility in the Texas Medical Center that offers students both high field NMR and X-ray crystallography for the study of protein and nucleic acid structure. The Center for Membrane Biology, also within the Department, is dedicated to advancing our understanding of the structure, function, evolution, and roles of biological membranes in cells and organelles.

The Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology offers a flexible curriculum that allows students to effectively pursue their individual scientific interests. In addition to lecture courses, the Program organizes student research workshops and a visiting speaker seminar series. An annual overnight Program retreat at a conference center in the rolling hills north of Houston gives students the opportunity to present their work as preparation for national and international scientific meetings. These activities provide students with a well-rounded graduate experience and prepare them in the art of communicating their data to other scientists.

The Program core curriculum consists of three courses covering molecular biology, biochemistry, and biochemical techniques. Students choose additional elective courses in areas such as cell biology, developmental biology, virology, structural biology, cell membrane biology, immunology or genetics according to their research interests. Students usually begin research in earnest on their thesis topics in the summer of the first year, and continue their research while completing course work during the second year. The candidacy examination should be taken at the end of the second year of study. However, this schedule is flexible, and allows students with more background to have an accelerated program, while giving others time to overcome deficiencies.

• Three 10-week research rotations in faculty laboratories
• Courses which ensure a depth of knowledge in biochemistry and molecular biology
• Candidacy exam
• Original and independent dissertation research project
• Public seminar and final examination covering the dissertation research

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