The joint graduate program in biochemistry at Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry
of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School provides high-quality
graduate training in biochemistry. There are two appropriate
undergraduate routes that prepare a student well for graduate study in
biochemistry. The most obvious is an undergraduate concentration in
biochemistry itself. Alternatively, a student could major in either
biology (particularly molecular biology, cell biology, or
microbiology) or chemistry (particularly organic chemistry or physical
chemistry). Whichever major the student declares in this second route
should be accompanied by a minor in the other discipline. Applicants
also are expected to have studied mathematics through calculus, and to
have completed one year of physics, and analytical and physical
chemistry. Those who lack one or two of these prerequisites may
complete them without graduate credit after admission to graduate
school. Applicants also are required to take the general and subject
tests of the Graduate Record Examination.*
This program
involves several departments and more than one institution. It covers a
variety of research areas in biochemistry and molecular biology that
include regulation of DNA replication and transcription, virus gene
expression, gene expression in development and differentiation, tumor
biology, molecular genetics, structural biochemistry, plant molecular
biology, signal transduction and molecular targeting, cell cycle
control, membrane biochemistry, protein chemistry, muscle biochemistry,
and enzymology. Faculty members are drawn from the departments of
molecular biology and biochemistry, chemistry, cell biology and
neuroscience, and applied microbiology and plant physiology, the
Waksman Institute of Microbiology, and the Biotechnology Center for
Agriculture and the Environment at Rutgers. Other faculty members come
from the departments of biochemistry, neuroscience and cell biology,
pathology, physiology, pharmacology, and microbiology and molecular
genetics at UMDNJ. Additional faculty members are drawn from the Center
for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, a joint center operated by
Rutgers and UMDNJ.
The Ph.D. program has been updated to
address the recent remarkable developments in molecular biology and
biochemistry. It requires a minimum of 30 credits of coursework and 42
credits of advanced research. Ph.D. students take a common first-year
core curriculum as described under the molecular biosciences heading
within this chapter. The course requirements for the Ph.D. include
16:115:501 Biochemistry (3 credits); 16:115:502 Biochemistry (Molecular
Biology) (3 credits); 16:115:613,614 Seminar in Biochemistry (2
credits); 16:160:537 Biophysical Chemistry I (3 credits), or its
equivalent; 16:695:601 Advanced Cell Biology (3 credits);
16:695:615,616 Laboratory Rotation in Molecular and Cell Biology I,II
(6 credits); and electives (6 credits). The above requirements may be
coordinated with the requirements of the first-year core curriculum for
the consolidated programs in molecular biosciences. The Ph.D. program
also requires a minimum of one year of full-time research in residence.
Joint Ph.D. degrees are available in this program. See the Degree Programs Available chapter.
