Biochemistry

Master of Arts
Doctor of Philosophy

For More Information

Campus address: Robert A. Welch Hall (WEL) 2.204, phone (512) 471-3890, fax (512) 475-8839; campus mail code: A5300

Mailing address: The University of Texas at Austin, Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 105 East 24th Street A5300, Austin TX 78712-0165

E-mail: bhamblen@cm.utexas.edu

URL: http://www.cm.utexas.edu/

Facilities for Graduate Work

Research in biochemistry is carried out in the Biochemical Institute and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The Mallet Chemistry Library is the largest academic chemistry library in the country. In addition to extensive print-based collections in all areas of chemistry and chemical engineering, the library provides access to major database resources such as SciFinder (Chemical Abstracts), Reaxys, Web of Science, Science of Synthesis, and Design Institute for Physical Properties, as well as hundreds of electronic scholarly journals and thousands of e-books. These resources are available through the University Libraries Web site, http://www.lib.utexas.edu/ .

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry maintains suitably-equipped and well-staffed shops for glassblowing, machine work, and electronics maintenance and design. There are service laboratories equipped for organic analysis and for work in spectrophotometry; spectropolarimetry; photoelectron, nuclear magnetic, and electron spin resonance; X-ray diffraction; and mass spectrometry. Other specialized equipment is available in various laboratories. The facilities of Information Technology Services are used in numerous research programs.

Areas of Study

Graduate study in biochemistry is offered in a wide range of areas including drug metabolism; nutritive aspects of human disease; metabolic regulation; structure and function of enzymes, toxins, and contractile proteins; mechanism and regulation of protein biosynthesis; cloning, sequencing, and site-directed mutagenesis of enzyme-coding genes; enzymology of DNA repair and replication; and biochemical taxonomy. Details are available from the graduate adviser.

Graduate Studies Committee

The following faculty members served on the Graduate Studies Committee in the spring semester 2013.

Hal S Alper Eric V Anslyn Dean R Appling Allen J Bard Jeffrey E Barrick Christopher W Bielawski Jennifer S Brodbelt Karen S Browning Alan Campion James R Chelikowsky Lydia Maria Contreras Alan H Cowley Richard M Crooks Kevin N Dalby Ananth Dodabalapur Guangbin Dong Ron Elber Andrew Ellington Walter L Fast Ilya J Finkelstein Richard H Finnell George Georgiou John B Goodenough Marvin L Hackert Graeme A Henkelman David W Hoffman James A Holcombe Bradley J Holliday Jon M Huibregtse Simon M Humphrey Brent L Iverson Kenneth Johnson Richard A Jones Adrian T Keatinge-Clay Sean M Kerwin Michael J Krische Robert M Krug Alan Lambowitz

David A Laude Seongmin Lee Hung-Wen Liu Philip D Magnus Dmitrii E Makarov Edward M Marcotte Stephen F Martin Andreas T Matouschek Mikhail V Matz Jennifer A Maynard Edward M Mills Charles B Mullins Tanya T Paull Pengyu Ren Austen F Riggs II Jon D Robertus Michael Rose Peter J Rossky Krishnendu Roy Rick Russell Christine E Schmidt Jonathan L Sessler Jason B Shear Dionicio R Siegel Greg O Sitz John F Stanton Scott W Stevens Keith J Stevenson Christopher S Sullivan David A Vandenbout Lauren J Webb Marvin Whiteley Christian P Whitman Claus O Wilke Katherine A Willets Carlton G Willson Yan Zhang

Admission Requirements

Students seeking a graduate degree in biochemistry must have a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in a cognate area, such as chemistry, biology, physics, or microbiology with the following preparation: mathematics through one year of calculus; chemistry, including organic chemistry, biochemistry, and physical chemistry; general physics; and biology, including cell biology. Deficiencies in undergraduate courses, if not too extensive, may be corrected during the student’s first two semesters in the graduate program. These courses are usually not counted toward graduate degrees.