The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) makes two major contributions to The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, namely, research and education. The Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences is rooted in the BMB department.

Medical and graduate students benefit from our educational activities. First-year medical students and graduate students enjoy the comprehensive and contemporary course on biochemistry and molecular biology, which strongly emphasizes the relevance of the various topics to health and diseases. The course covers human biochemistry in sufficient but limited detail to help students appreciate its importance to medical education. Program faculty members provide extra help to the students during small group conferences throughout the duration of the course. Entering medical students may enroll in the summer pre-entry course designed to prepare them for the comprehensive biochemistry course. The department offers a remedial course to medical students who receive a marginal pass in the biochemistry course.

BMB faculty members also teach a problem-based learning course that is taken by second-year medical students. BMB faculty members invest heavily in the education and research training aspects of graduate students. The medical biochemistry course, above, provides graduate students a solid foundation for their future careers in biomedical research. Members of the BMB faculty teach several courses designed specifically for graduate students, which attract numerous students from various programs of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. The courses include "Topics in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology", "Current Methods in Molecular Research," and "Seminars and Literature Study." The weekly seminar series provides students the opportunity to listen to, learn from, and meet with prominent scientists from around the world. Weekly research workshops provide important training to program students and postdoctoral fellows. During the workshops, trainees communicate their research findings and receive critical feedback, which helps guide their research activities.

A large effort is extended by BMB faculty in the area of basic science research. BMB faculty members are engaged in well-funded biomedical research activities of high significance. These research activities provide an atmosphere of discovery and learning that energizes graduate, medical, and summer students alike. Research findings of the faculty and their trainees are published in peer-reviewed high-impact journals.

The department is home to two centers. Faculty members associated with the Structural Biology Research Center investigate the structural basis for function in biological molecules using sophisticated methods such as X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and cryo-electron microscopy. These methods allow the determination of three-dimensional structures of macromolecules, such as proteins or macromolecular assemblies. Faculty members associated with the Center for Membrane Biology utilize multidisciplinary approaches to elucidate the molecular structure, function, and roles of biological membranes in normal and diseased cells.

 
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