Undergraduate Programs

Major Study Requirements

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the School of Medicine is responsible for teaching Biochemistry courses and for administering the Biochemistry Major in Arts and Sciences. It is expected that students will spend at least three semesters (not including summer) completing required biochemistry courses.

Bachelor of Arts

MATH 162–163 (or 180-181)
PHYC 151–151L, 152–152L (or 160–160L, 161–161L, 262)
BIOL 201–202
CHEM 131L (or 121 and 123L); 132L (or 122 and 124L plus 253L); CHEM 301–302, or 307–308; 303L–304L; CHEM 315 (or 311–312)
BIOC 445L–446L

In addition to the core courses, the Bachelor of Arts requires: BIOC 448L or 3 credit hours from an approved advanced course in Biochemistry or a related discipline; CHEM 315; six credit hours from approved elective Biochemistry courses above Biochemistry 450 and approved courses in related disciplines to a minimum of a total of 62 credit hours. BIOC 497, 498, and 499 may not be applied to elective requirements. No minor study is required.

Bachelor of Science

In addition to the core courses listed under the Bachelor of Arts degree, the Bachelor of Sciences requires: BIOC 448L; CHEM 311–312 or CHEM 315 (or CHEM 311) and BIOC 451; six (6) credit hours from approved electiveBiochemistry courses above BIOC 450 and the minimum total of approved courses in related disciplines is 65 credit hours. MATH 264 is a required corequisite for CHEM 311–312. BIOC 497, 498, and 499 may not be applied to elective requirements. No minor study is required.

Departmental Honors

Students who will have completed 6 hours of Senior Research (Biochemistry 497–498) may submit a Senior Thesis based on their Senior Research project. The award of Honors will be based on the quality of the thesis and on an oral presentation of the research. (Note that the University requires an overall grade point average of 3.20 for Departmental Honors.)

The Chairperson of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will be responsible for the administration of the Biochemistry Major Program and will submit an Annual Report on the program to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. As with other Arts and Sciences Programs, the Biochemistry Undergraduate Major may not be significantly modified without prior advice and approval from the Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee and from the Arts and Sciences Faculty.

Keys and Symbols Reference