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Welcome to Penn State Hershey Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Faculty members in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Penn State Hershey College of Medicine offer excellent training for careers in basic or medical sciences. The tremendous advances in the life sciences in the last two decades have transformed investigations in biochemistry and molecular biology. Our teaching and research reflect the excitement and potential for discovery in fundamental and applied aspects of these disciplines. Research in the departmental laboratories includes investigations of the structure and function of macromolecules and macromolecular complexes, regulation of gene expression and post-transcriptional events using the approaches of molecular and cell biology, biophysics and molecular genetics. Areas of specialization focus on cell surface components and membrane enzymes, protein folding and oligomerization,, motor proteins and intracellular trafficking, signaling pathways, regulation of gene expression and organization, the X chromosome, chromatin remodeling and silencing, metabolomics, proteomics, regulation of proteolysis, enzyme biochemistry, and glycoconjugates. These areas relate to the control of growth and cancer, mechanisms of anesthesia actions, neuropathology, kidney and intestinal diseases, diabetes and malaria Faculty maintain individual research projects, and participate in collaborative and interdisciplinary projects. Faculty in the Department are members of several graduate programs and options. Moststudents enter departmental laboratories through Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, with its Options in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Translational Therapeutics, and Virology and Immunology. Additionally, some students enter through the Genetics, Integrative Biosciences – Bioinformatics and Genomics, Integrative Biosciences – Chemical Biology, Molecular Medicine, or the M.D./Ph.D. Program. Students in each of these programs receive a stipend as a research assistant, as well as tuition. Because of the favorable student/faculty ratio, close personal contact between students and professors is a tradition in the department. | |
