Chemical Biology graduate courses

The Chemical Biology Program offers a number of unique courses that are designed to foster interdisciplinary and independent learning. All courses are taught in the inquiry style and focus heavily on the examination of the current literature at the interface of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biology. Whenever possible, courses are administered by a minimum of two faculty members from different departments involved in the program in an effort to provide complementary viewpoints on a given topic. The Chemical Biology courses are open also to students from other programs with the permission of the instructor.

All incoming Chemical Biology graduate students are required to take the CHEMBIO 700 course (or CHBY700), ‘Topics in Chemical Biology’, which is an introduction to graduate school and chemical biology.  This course is worth three credit units and is split into two modules, CHBY700A and CHBY700B, each worth 1.5 units. CHBY700A is usually in the Fall and is essentially an introduction to graduate school and scientific communication, while CHBY700B is typically offered in the Winter term and focuses on current topics in chemical biology.

The CHBY700A module combines an initial orientation with additional content on equity-diversity and inclusion (EDI) as well as general communication in science, while the CHBY700B module sets the tone more specifically for the Chemical Biology graduate program. The CHBY700B module uses topics from the current literature to provide an overview of Chemical Biology and will demonstrate the integration of chemical, biochemical and biological approaches to solve current problems of relevance to medicine, the environment, and drug design. The focus of this course varies from year to year, but the integrative approach to chemical biology remains the goal each year.

Besides CHBY700A/B, Chemical Biology graduate students are required to participate in our Colloquium either through CHBY701 or CHBY702. CHBY701 is a non-credit course option in which students prepare and present a seminar concerning a detailed examination of their own area of research. Participants are required to provide a suitable background to the work and critically discuss salient aspects of the field. A question period will follow in order to provide a forum for discussion of the material presented.

CHBY702 is a three-unit credit course option to participate in the Colloquium. CHBY702 students present a seminar concerning a detailed examination of their own area of research, similar to what described for CHBY701, but they also write a review article describing the current state of their field. The review must provide a suitable background to the area, the current state of the research within the field, and an appraisal of possible future trends and directions. Students are encouraged to provide a critical assessment of the material presented and use the format employed by the journal “Trends in Biochemical Sciences” or “Accounts of Chemical Research”.

Students who take CHBY700 and opt for the CHBY702 colloquium option will have met all the course requirements of the Chemical Biology graduate program. Students who take CHBY700 and opt for the CHBY701 colloquium option will need three additional credit units to meet all the course requirements of the Chemical Biology graduate program.  These additional credits can be earned by taking relevant courses or modules offered by the participating departments.  Hence, a wide range of options is available to Chemical Biology graduate students to choose from, with permission from their supervisor and the instructor.