Curriculum
The curriculum assumes that entering students are well-grounded in the physical sciences, for example, having taken courses in thermodynamics and in quantum and statistical mechanics. In practice, the curriculum is flexible, allowing students room to explore. The first year is built around an intense three-Quarter practical course in Molecular Biology and Biophysics, referred to as 'the lab course.' The first Quarter of this course is compressed into a four week full-time immersion that begins Monday, August 24th (for the class of '09), before the start of Fall Quarter.
Standard First Year Curriculum:
| BRI | Fall | Winter | Spring |
|---|---|---|---|
Lab (40+hr/week): Biological Research Immersion: |
Lab (20hr/week): From Production to Measurement I: |
Lab (20hr/week): From Production to Measurement II: Systems & Simulations | Rotations: Begin to confirm dual mentor choices with lab trials. Rotations continue through the summer, if necessary. |
8/24 - 9/18 (class of 2009) |
Cell Biology (MGCB31600) |
Biological Selective: Molecular Biology, Developmental Genetics, Cell Bio II, or Systems Biology |
Properties of Biomolecules (BPHS3100): The physics of biopolymers |
PSD Course from selected list. |
PSD Course from selected list. |
PSD Course from selected list. |
|
Seminar-based discussion course |
Seminar-based discussion course |
Seminar-based discussion course or Biological Sciences Elective |
Unlike other degrees at The University of Chicago, the Ph.D. in Biophysical Sciences is granted by both the Biological and Physical Science Faculties. Students are required to take courses in both Divisions. The requirements from the Biolgy side include new courses developed for this graduate program that are designed to rapidly teach the fundamental biology necessary to enter a laboratory and begin serious interdisciplinary research. These courses are open to students in other programs as well. To build upon students’ strengths in the physical sciences, the first year includes three courses chosen from a list of graduate courses offered in Chemistry or Physics.
Selected Courses in the Physical Sciences:
Students are strongly encouraged to take Thermodynamics in the Fall and Statistical Mechanics in either the Winter or Spring, depending on which other electives are desired.
| Fall | Winter | Spring | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example 1 | Chem 364 Chem. Thermo. |
Chem 363 Stat/Mech |
|
| Example 2 | Chem 364 Chem. Thermo. |
|
Phys 352 Stat/Mech |
Students have some flexibility in designing a rigorous physical sciences series that appeals to their interests, with the approval of our program’s curriculum committee. While not required, we anticipate that many students will take additional electives in subsequent years to gain in-depth training in their specialized research area.
Interdisciplinary Practical Training. One of the unique advantages of the program in Biophysical Sciences is the year-long laboratory course: From Production to Measurement and Analysis. In this intense 20 hour a week course students deeply explore a series of important current instruments and techniques while carrying out the systematic characterization of several genes and their expressed proteins. The genes are chosen by the students from the long list of ‘uncharacterized ORFs’ – Open reading frames that have been predicted by genome sequencing projects, but have never been examined further.
This extensive laboratory course is managed by a full-time course director (Dr. Hammond) who works closely with the students to help provide experimental and intellectual continuity. The laboratory course covers (1) sample preparation (e.g. engineering, expression, synthesis, and labeling of proteins and nucleic acid) and high throughput selection methods (phage display, in vitro selection); (2) measurement (spectroscopy and imaging including single molecule methods, NMR, xray diffraction, and mass spectrometry, etc.); and (3) computational approaches (extracting information from large data sets, bioinformatics, simulation and modeling). Although it is impossible to cover all biophysical methods, the process of mastering a subset of the important techniques gives students the confidence and foundation to build in any direction.
As a group, students also participate in two large projects during the year - building an advanced optical instrument from basic components, and writing a Computational Biology software package to explore a student-chosen question.
Collaboration. Some good interdisciplinary research occurs entirely within one laboratory, and yet even within these environments it is the easy exchange of half-formed ideas that drives ingenuity forward. The program in Biophysical Sciences is an inherently collaborative training program, and the foundation of collaboration is the ability to coherently express complex ideas. As part of the laboratory course, students will give frequent presentations, both oral and written: Analysis of recent papers, background preparation before research seminars, Overviews of upcoming experimental techniques, Experimental proposals, and Presentations of results.