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Biochemistry &
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Centre's program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) provides the opportunity to explore living systems at their molecular and cellular levels. The fundamentals of cell function, from gene expression to cellular metabolism, are studied, as well as timely topics such as genetic engineering, drug development, and cell signaling. Through classroom and hands-on laboratory experiences, our program prepares students for graduate training in biochemistry, cell biology, and molecular genetics, for preparatory training in the health professions (medicine, dentistry, or other fields of the health sciences), and for employment in areas such as the pharmaceutical industry and biomedical research. |
When the major program in biochemistry and molecular biology began at Centre College in 1967, it was one of the very few such undergraduate programs in the country. Now over a quarter century later, there are many. Our own program has changed and grown in many ways, but two things have remained constant:
1. We provide a solid, broad introduction to biochemistry and molecular biology, one with as much depth, span, and currency as can be found in any undergraduate program.
2. We develop close relations with our students. They are an exceptionally talented group, and we attempt to give them the individual attention necessary not only for getting the most out of their current studies but also for selecting and planning their careers.
Our program begins with the basics: a series of courses in biology, chemistry, and physics. These courses, along with your general college requirements, will occupy most of your first two years.
Although you will get an overview of the whole field of biochemistry and molecular biology in BMB 210 at the end of your sophomore year, in your junior and senior years you will cover the same territory once again-this time more slowly and systematically. You will take a series of four BMB courses carefully designed to develop in finer detail our broad concept of how the cell operates on a molecular level.
First you will use your recently acquired organic chemistry background to study the intricacies of biological macromolecules, especially proteins and enzymes. That will lead to a study of cellular metabolism: the pathways by which your cells harness energy and build the things they need. Your senior year will begin with the world of the gene: the molecular nitty-gritty of what genes are, what they do; how they are controlled, how they have evolved, and, now, how they may be engineered. Finally, the last course of your BMB major is about cells. Here we incorporate the biochemistry and molecular genetics that you have mastered into a discussion of how cells function individually and how they interact with one another. At the same time, we link this cellular view of life to broader organismic concerns, such as development, nervous system function, and cancer. Running along with these four upper-level BMB courses are labs in which you get hands-on experience using modern equipment (see below), not only demonstrating some of the concepts we talk about in class, but also developing practical skills and experience necessary to function effectively in a biochemistry or molecular biology lab.
One aspect of the senior year of which we are especially proud is our BMB 500: Senior Seminar. This seminar meets twice a week throughout the spring term. In it you learn to read, understand, and present information from actual research literature. We concentrate on the work of only three laboratories each for about a month, and then a speaker from these labs (in many cases a former Centre BMB major) returns to discuss her or his work and to dine with our group. In the spring each of the students gives a formal presentation, open to the public, of a special literature research project that he or she has developed throughout the year. We believe that developing in our students not only a critical familiarity with actual current research, but also the ability to digest and present this material in a seminar setting, is one of our most important tasks. Our students who have gone on to graduate and professional schools tell us that it is one of the rarest and most appreciated acquisitions from their undergraduate training.
The BMB laboratories are housed in Young Hall, which was built in 1970 and remodeled in 1991. Among the instruments used by our students are an image analysis system consisting of a fluorescence microscope connected via a video camera to a computer capture card, a scanning electron microscope, cryostat, cell culture facilities (laminar flow hood, tissue culture incubator, inverted phase-contrast microscope), computerized spectrophotometer, numerous electrophoresis apparatuses, nucleic acid sequencer and equipment for recombinant DNA work, ultrasonicator, a liquid scintillation counter, ultrafreezer, lyophilizer, cold room, dark room and copystand equipment, superspeed and ultracentrifuges, high performance liquid chromatograph, and fraction collectors, as well as numerous balances, pH meters, and other routine equipment.
last updated 03/09/04