Molecular Bioscience with Tracks in Biogeochemistry, Biophysics, Cell and Molecular Biology, Genetics and Genomics

All biological sciences rest on two central principles – all organisms and their characteristics are the product of evolution, and all life processes have a physical and chemical basis. Simply put, at the most fundamental level, there is a shared molecular basis of life. Despite the astonishing diversity of living organisms, from bacteria living in deep ocean hydrothermal vents to cherry trees flowering in the spring to complex modern humans shaping the world around us, many features of all organisms at the cellular and molecular levels are fundamentally similar because of shared evolutionary history. Discoveries of fundamental molecular mechanisms in one species – a bacteria or fungus or fruit fly, for example – often apply to other distantly related organisms like humans. Solving many of the most perplexing and challenging biological, agricultural, medical, societal, and environmental problems in today’s world requires a broad and deep understanding of the molecular basis of life. The highly interdisciplinary field of molecular bioscience seeks to understand at the level of atoms and molecules how living things acquire energy and chemical nutrients from their environment, how they use that energy to fuel the basic biochemical reactions and cellular functions required for life, how they use molecular information encoded in their DNA to grow, survive, and reproduce, and how their metabolic and biochemical processes transform the environment in which we all live.  

The broad goal of molecular bioscience, to understand the mechanisms of life processes at the physical, chemical, and cellular levels, requires students to integrate knowledge from several disciplines that traditionally are treated as separate realms of knowledge. Molecular bioscience is at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and physics, but most undergraduate programs require that students focus on one discipline at the exclusion of the other two. In contrast, the Molecular Bioscience major at DKU is designed to integrate fully the fields of biology, chemistry, and physics throughout the major’s course of study, so DKU students trained in molecular bioscience will be better prepared to understand and make fundamental advances on the tremendous challenges facing our current and future generations in human health, agriculture, biotechnology, and global environmental change. 

Through the required interdisciplinary introductory courses including Biochemistry, Biophysics, Genetics and Evolution, and Biomedical Ethics, all molecular bioscience students will gain core foundational knowledge and skills that uniquely will enable them to pursue one of four more specialized tracks of courses that focus some of the most exciting fields of science today.

Students who choose the Cell and Molecular Biology track, for example, will learn of stunning new discoveries of how cells work at the molecular level, and how that knowledge is critical for advances in cancer biology and medicine, pharmacology, biochemistry, virology, immunology, developmental biology, and the Biotech industries. 

The Genetics and Genomics track will provide students with deep insight into how the explosive fields of functional genomics, bioinformatics, and computational biology are revolutionizing our understanding of life. Students will learn how genomics is revealing the complex and highly orchestrated mechanisms that organisms use to regulate genes and genomes, how genomes evolve via population genomic processes, and how new methods like DNA editing promise to transform medicine, agriculture, and our understanding of basic biological processes.

The Biophysics track will allow students to apply principles of physics to biological systems at molecular, organismal, and ecological levels. These students will learn how such integrated applications of these principles are leading to the incredible breadth of advances biophysicists are making in bioelectronics, quantum biology, nanotechnology, structural biology, biomechanics, biochemistry, and cell and molecular biology.

Finally, students who choose the Biogeochemistry track will discover how the activities of biological systems and other chemical, physical, and geological processes drive the global or local cycles of chemicals like carbon and nitrogen, and ultimately lead to global environmental change.  These students, with their interdisciplinary training in molecular bioscience with a focus on ecosystem science, will be uniquely prepared to solve existential challenges like human-mediated global climate change and environmental degradation.

 

Major Requirements

(Not every course listed is offered every term, and the course list will be updated periodically. Please refer to the online Course Catalog for Courses offered in 2023-2024.)

Molecular Bioscience / Biogeochemistry

Divisional Foundation Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
Choose one from the following two Math courses
MATH 101	Introductory Calculus	4
MATH 105	Calculus	4
And complete the following courses
BIOL 110	Integrated Science – Biology	4
CHEM 110	Integrated Science – Chemistry	4
PHYS 121	Integrated Science – Physics	4

Interdisciplinary Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
CHEM 201	Organic Chemistry I	4
PHYS 303	Introduction to Biophysics	4
BIOL 305	Biochemistry	4
BIOL 320	Bioethics	4
Choose one of the two courses below
BIOL 201	Cell and Molecular Biology	4
BIOL 202	Genetics and Evolution	4

Disciplinary Courses

Course Code	Course Name		Course Credit
ENVIR 102	Dynamic Earth and Oceans: Physical and Biological Sciences for the Environment		4
BIOL 208	General Ecology		4
BIOL 311/ ENVIR 311	Biogeochemistry		4
And choose one course from the following three courses
STATS 101		Introduction to Applied Statistical Methods	4
MATH 206		Probability and Statistics	4
And choose one course from the following three courses
BIOL 212		Microbiology	4
BIOL 313/ ENVIR 313		Ecosystem Service	4
BIOL 319		Global Change Biology	4
And choose one course from the following three courses
CHEM 150		General Chemistry II	4
BIOL 312		Ecophysiology	4
ENVIR 315/ CHEM 315		Aqueous Geochemistry	4

Electives

Courses listed in the table below are recommended electives for the major. The course list reflects the most recent intellectual organization of major electives. Depending on the academic year in which you matriculated, some of the courses below may be requirements for your major. To verify required courses, always consult the requirements for the relevant class year in the bulletin of the year in which you matriculated unless you have been approved to complete the major requirements of a subsequent year.  (See Ability to Meet Major Requirements Published in Years Subsequent to Year of Matriculation.)

Course Code	Course Name		Course Credit
Methods
INTGSCI 205		Integrated Science – Research Methods and Science Communication	4
General Biology
BIOL 318	Food Web Ecology		4
BIOL 405	Microbial Ecology		4
Environmental and Chemistry
ENVIR 201	Dynamic Earth and Oceans: Physical and Biological Sciences for the Environment		4
ENVIR 202	Biodiversity and Conservation		4
ENVIR 304	Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology		4

Molecular Bioscience / Biophysics

Divisional Foundation Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
Choose one from the following two Math courses
MATH 101	Introductory Calculus	4
MATH 105	Calculus	4
And complete the following courses
BIOL 110	Integrated Science – Biology	4
CHEM 110	Integrated Science – Chemistry	4
PHYS 121	Integrated Science – Physics	4

Interdisciplinary Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
CHEM 201	Organic Chemistry I	4
PHYS 303	Introduction to Biophysics	4
BIOL 305	Biochemistry	4
BIOL 320	Bioethics	4
Choose one of the two courses below
BIOL 201	Cell and Molecular Biology	4
BIOL 202	Genetics and Evolution	4

Disciplinary Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
PHYS 122	General Physics II	4
MATH 201	Multivariable Calculus	4
PHYS 201	Optics and Modern Physics	4
MATH 202	Linear Algebra	4
PHYS 302	Thermal and Statistical Physics	4
PHYS 406	Biophysics	4
And choose two courses from the following four courses
PHYS 301	Classical Mechanics	4
PHYS 304	Electricity and Magnetism	4
PHYS 306[1]	Quantum Mechanics	4
PHYS 404	Nonlinear Dynamics	4

Electives

Courses listed in the table below are recommended electives for the major. The course list reflects the most recent intellectual organization of major electives. Depending on the academic year in which you matriculated, some of the courses below may be requirements for your major. To verify required courses, always consult the requirements for the relevant class year in the bulletin of the year in which you matriculated unless you have been approved to complete the major requirements of a subsequent year.  (See Ability to Meet Major Requirements Published in Years Subsequent to Year of Matriculation.)

Course Code	Course Name		Course Credit
Methods
INTGSCI 205		Integrated Science – Research Methods and Science Communication	4
Biomedical Sciences
BIOL 316	Quantitative Physiology		4
NEUROSCI 202	Medical Neuroscience		4
NEUROSCI 212	Cognitive Neuroscience		4
Mathematical, and Computer Sciences
MATH 303	ODE and Dynamical Systems		4
PHYS 310	Physics of Particulate Materials		4
MATH 403	Partial Differential Equations		4
MATH  410	Modeling Biological Systems		4
Chemistry
CHEM 404	Physical Biochemistry		4

Molecular Bioscience / Cell and Molecular Biology

Divisional Foundation Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
Choose one from the following two Math courses
MATH 101	Introductory Calculus	4
MATH 105	Calculus	4
And complete the following courses
BIOL 110	Integrated Science – Biology	4
CHEM 110	Integrated Science – Chemistry	4
PHYS 121	Integrated Science – Physics	4

Interdisciplinary Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
CHEM 201	Organic Chemistry I	4
BIOL 202	Genetics and Evolution	4
PHYS 303	Introduction to Biophysics	4
BIOL 305	Biochemistry	4
BIOL 320	Bioethics	4

Disciplinary Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
BIOL 201	Cell and Molecular Biology	4
BIOL 212	Microbiology	4
And choose three from the following four courses
BIOL 304	Molecular Genetic Analysis	4
BIOL 306	Cell Signaling and Diseases	4
BIOL 315	Experimental Molecular Biology	4
BIOL 321	Advanced Topics in Cellular and Molecular Biology	4
And choose one from the following courses
STATS 101	Introduction to Applied Statistical Methods	4
MATH 206	Probability and Statistics	4

Electives

Courses listed in the table below are recommended electives for the major. The course list reflects the most recent intellectual organization of major electives. Depending on the academic year in which you matriculated, some of the courses below may be requirements for your major. To verify required courses, always consult the requirements for the relevant class year in the bulletin of the year in which you matriculated unless you have been approved to complete the major requirements of a subsequent year.  (See Ability to Meet Major Requirements Published in Years Subsequent to Year of Matriculation.)

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
Methods
INTGSCI 205	Integrated Science – Research Methods and Science Communication	4
Biological Science
BIOL 203	Molecular, Behavioral and Social Evolution: Evolution of Genomes, Traits, Behaviors and Societies	4
BIOL 307	Cancer Genetics	4
BIOL 310	Developmental Biology: Development, Stem Cells, and Regeneration	4
BIOL 314	Computational Biology and Bioinformatics	4
BIOL 317	Systems Biology	4
BIOL 401	Advanced Biochemistry: Cell Metabolism	4
BIOL 409/ GLHLTH 409	Fundamental Immunology	4
BIOL 410 / GLHLTH 410	Principles of Nutrition and Disease	4
BIOL 411/ GLHLTH 411	Vaccine Development for Emerging Infectious Diseases	4
Data Science
BIOL 314	Computational Biology and Bioinformatics	4
Chemistry
CHEM 404	Physical Biochemistry	4

Molecular Bioscience / Genetics and Genomics

Divisional Foundation Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
Choose one from the following two Math courses
MATH 101	Introductory Calculus	4
MATH 105	Calculus	4
And complete the following courses
BIOL 110	Integrated Science – Biology	4
CHEM 110	Integrated Science – Chemistry	4
PHYS 121	Integrated Science – Physics	4

 

Interdisciplinary Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
CHEM 201	Organic Chemistry I	4
BIOL 202	Genetics and Evolution	4
PHYS 303	Introduction to Biophysics	4
BIOL 305	Biochemistry	4
BIOL 320	Bioethics	4

Disciplinary Courses

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
BIOL 201	Cell and Molecular Biology	4
And choose four from the following five courses
BIOL 304	Molecular Genetic Analysis	4
BIOL 314	Computational Biology and Bioinformatics	4
BIOL 321	Advanced Topics in Cellular and Molecular Biology	4
BIOL 403	Experimental Methods in Functional Genomics	4
BIOL 407	Population Genomics and Molecular Evolution	4
And choose one from the following courses
STATS 101	Introduction to Applied Statistical Methods	4
MATH 206	Probability and Statistics	4

Electives

Courses listed in the table below are recommended electives for the major. The course list reflects the most recent intellectual organization of major electives. Depending on the academic year in which you matriculated, some of the courses below may be requirements for your major. To verify required courses, always consult the requirements for the relevant class year in the bulletin of the year in which you matriculated unless you have been approved to complete the major requirements of a subsequent year.  (See Ability to Meet Major Requirements Published in Years Subsequent to Year of Matriculation.)

Course Code	Course Name	Course Credit
Methods
INTGSCI 205	Integrated Science – Research Methods and Science Communication	4
Biomedical Sciences
BIOL 203	Molecular, Behavioral and Social Evolution: Evolution of Genomes, Traits, Behaviors and Societies	4
BIOL 212	Microbiology	4
NEUROSCI 301	Research Methods in Neuroscience	4
BIOL 310	Developmental Biology: Development, Stem Cells, and Regeneration	4
BIOL 315	Experimental Molecular Biology	4
BIOL 317	Systems Biology	4
BIOL 404	Genomics of Adaptation	4
BIOL 409/ GLHLTH 409	Fundamental Immunology	4
BIOL 410  / GLHLTH 410	Principles of Nutrition and Disease	4
BIOL 411/ GLHLTH 411	Vaccine Development for Emerging Infectious Diseases	4
Data Science
BIOL 314	Computational Biology and Bioinformatics	4
Environmental Science
ENVIR 202	Biodiversity and Conservation	4

[1] This course was numbered PHYS 401 prior to fall term 2022.