The Department of in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics is built on a foundation of innovation and excellence in biomedical research. The Department's traditional strengths in classical biochemistry and genetics are complemented by current expertise in genomics, proteomics, molecular and structural biology. Together these disciplines form the core of life science reserach at the new Anschutz Medical Campus of the University of Colorado. The Department has state of the art equipment in analyzing protein structure at the atomic level, in performing high throughput robotic screening methods, in proteomics and genome-wide "deep" DNA sequencing methods coupled with computationally-intensive bioinformatic approaches. Our faculty's varied interests are reflected in that fact that they are leading members of important interdepartmental programs including Structural Biology and Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Molecular Biology, Neuroscience, Computational Biosciences and Human Medical Genetics.
The Department offers excellent opportunities for training, leading to an advanced doctoral degree and for postdoctoral research. Many of our trainees have gone on to become senior scientists who lead academic and industrial biotechnology laboratories of their own. This includes Nobel laureate Dr. Sidney Altman, currently at Yale University. The close proximity of our faculty members to other basic science and to clinical departments provides an excellent environment for the interchange of ideas, from the most basic to those having a direct impact on clinical practice. The Department encourages interactions by sponsoring weekly seminars by invited speakers and research reports by postdocs and graduate students, followed by a social hour and reception.
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This is the time to be a biological scientist! As a result of stunning advances made over the past two decades in Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, we now know enough about the basis of life to be able to pose deep and important questions about how cells work. And we are in a position to answer many of those questions because we have at our disposal remarkable tools that allow us to conceive and perform incisive experiments. Never before have we had such opportunities to understand the mechanisms of life and the basis of disease! |
The University of Colorado School of Medicine provides an outstanding environment for posing and answering these critical questions. That’s why I chose to join the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. I sense the excitement on our beautiful campus, and the feeling that these brand new facilities are going to propel our research forward.
Like the Rocky mountains that provide the backdrop for our labs, this is clearly a place on the rise! But more important, the people here are terrific colleagues. They are at the forefront of their fields, excited to be biological researchers at this remarkable time in history. Students, postdocs, professors and staff, working together toward a common goal: to contribute to an understanding how living things work, and how disease can result when things go awry.
Spend some time on our pages and check out the people—biochemists, molecular biologists, genome scientists and geneticists—that make our Department a great place for discovery. Then consider joining us in our quest to learn and understand.
Mark Johnston, Chair