The School of Science is adding a new Ph.D. program, Biochemistry and Biophysics (BCBP), to its 20 other graduate programs. The BCBP doctorate is part of the Institute-wide commitment to the development of programs in bioscience and biotechnology.

BCBP have been available as an undergraduate degree since 1991. It has become a very popular program with many students (as a major, minor, or concentration) interested in careers in research or in the health profession. About 15-20 undergraduates join the program each year with a 1:1 ratio of male to female. About 20 percent of these students are non-white. The program has also been available as a master’s degree for nearly ten years.  

A Unique and Rare Philosophy

BCBP is jointly administered by faculty of the Biology and the Chemistry and Chemical Biology departments. Biochemistry and Biophysics courses in many instances are taught jointly by a biologist and a chemist, who contribute differing perspectives and expertise to the educational dialogue.

According to the Biophysical Society, only 60 different research universities offer graduate programs in biophysics, and many of these don’t have biophysics in the title. Biochemistry programs are more common, but programs combining the two areas are rare. Rensselaer ’s program shares a philosophical base with those of MIT and CalTech.

Curriculum and Research

Being interdisciplinary in nature, the Biochemistry and Biophysics curriculum includes broad grounding in the mathematical, chemical, physical, and biological sciences.

Biophysical research at Rensselaer includes the study of areas as diverse as focusing processes of the eye, electrical impedance assays of cell motility, photosynthesis, bioenergetics of Na+ transport, myosin mechanics, cellular bioengineering, biofluid mechanics.

Biochemical research includes the application of chromatography to large-scale purification of biological macromolecules, biosensors, prebiotic chemistry, biochemical signaling, bioanalytical chemistry, glycobiology, DNA aptamers, and the catalysis and mechanisms of protein folding.

Faculty

Jane F. Koretz, is the Director of the Biochemistry & Biophysics Graduate Program and will become the acting chair of the Biology department on September 1.

Other faculty members associated with program include:

• Joyce Diwan, Professor of Biology and Director of Undergraduate Biochemistry and Biophysics Program
• Harry Roy, Professor of Biology
• John Salerno, Professor of Biology
• Linda McGown, William Weightman Walker Chair of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
• Georges Belfort , Russell Sage Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
• Curt Breneman, Professor of Chemistry
• Steven Cramer, Professor of Chemical Engineering
• Natacha DePaola, Professor & Department Head, Biomedical Engineering
• David Isaacson, Professor of Mathematics
• Robert Palazzo, Professor of Biology
• Mark Wentlang, Professor of Chemistry
• Xi-Cheng Zhang, Professor of Physics
• Michael Zuker, Professor of Mathematical Sciences
• Jonathan Dordick, Howard P. Isermann Professor
• Robert Linhardt, Ann and John H. Broadbent, Jr. ’59 Senior Constellation Professor of Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering
• Christopher Bystroff, Associate Professor of Biology
• Wilfredo Colón, Associate Professor of Chemistry
• Julie Stenken, Associate Professor of Chemistry
• Deepak Vashishth, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• Yvonne Akpalu, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
• Blanca Barquera, Assistant Professor of Biology
• Anurag Sharma, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science
• Douglas Swank, Assistant Professor of Biology
• Chunyu Wang, Assistant Professor of Biology
• Ingrid Wilke, Assistant Professor of Physics

Published August 4, 2006