UTMB

BSCB Curriculum

Information on the BSCB Core Courses

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Fourth Year

Program Overview

Core Courses by Year

Year 1

Fall Term

  • Research (HBCG 6097; Credit Hours Vary) – (Laboratory Rotation 1/3)
  • Molecular Biophysics I (HBCG 6332; 3 Credit Hours) – Introduction to principles, methods, and approaches employed in the study of energetics, structure, function of biological macromolecules. Topics include solution and statistical thermodynamics, kinetics, theory of ligand binding, conformational equilibria, and calorimetry. This course will introduce the student to the use of Mathematica as a tool for problem solving, simulation, and programming. This tool will be used throughout the entire curriculum.
    • Instructor: Iwahara
    • Term Offered: I
    • Year Offered: Annually
    • Hours per week:1.5, 15 week course
    • Syllabus
  • Physical Basis of Macromolecular Structure (HBCG 6336; 3 Credit Hours) – Physical Basis of Macromolecular Structure: Introduction to proteins and nucleic acids, with emphasis on physical underpinnings. Topics include primary, secondary, and tertiary structure, sequence analysis, energetics and predictive methods.
    • Instructor: Bujalowski
    • Term Offered: I
    • Year Offered: Annually
    • Hours per week: 1.5, 15 week course
    • Syllabus
  • Special Topics Course: Classic Studies in Biophysics (HBCX 6000; Call # 75859; 3 Credit Hours) – The goal of the course is to synthesize the experimental and theoretical approaches learned in the core curriculum and apply them to classical studies in molecular biophysics.  The course will target protein engineering, signaling pathway engineering, synthetic biology, mechanical molecular motors, phage motors and nucleic acid polymerases.  The class will meet Tuesday and Thursdays for 1.5 hrs per day.  Each meeting will involve periods for lecture material and student presentation and discussion of papers.  The students will be evaluated based on their class presentations, homework assignments, and a written final exam. 
    • Instructor: Fox, Epstein, Choi, Morais
    • Term Offered: I
    • Tuesday’s and Thursday’s from 1:00pm to 3:30pm
    • First day of class September 1, 2009
    • Syllabus

Spring Term

  • Research (HBCG 6097; Credit Hours Vary) – (Laboratory Rotation 2/3)
  • Molecular Biophysics II (HBCG 6334; 3 Credit Hours) – Molecular Biophysics II: Introduction to principles, methods, and approaches employed in the study of energetics, structure, function of biological macromolecules. Topics include NMR, optical spectroscopy, transport methods, X-ray diffraction, and other scattering and diffraction methods. This course will use Mathematica as a tool for problem solving, simulation, and programming.
    Syllabus
    • Instructor: Watowich
    • Term Offered: II
    • Year Offered: Annually
    • Hours per week: 1.5, 15 week course
  • Computer Modeling of Macromolecular Structure and Function (HBCG 6338; 3 Credit Hours) – Introduction to computational modeling methods for protein and nucleic acid structure and function. Topics include molecular dynamics, homology modeling, and sequence and genomic analysis methods.
    Syllabus
    • Instructor: Braun
    • Term Offered: II
    • Year Offered: Annually
    • Hours per week: 1.5, 15 week course

Summer Term

  • Research (HBCG 6097; Credit Hours Vary) – (Laboratory Rotation 3/3)
  • Electives

Year 2

Fall Term

  • Research (HBCG 6097; Credit Hours Vary)
  • Electives

Spring Term

  • Research (HBCG 6097; Credit Hours Vary)
  • Seminar (HBCG 6195; 1 Credit Hour) – Students must register for the Seminar course (BMB 6195) in years 2, 3 and 4 (three consecutive years after they enter into the BMB graduate program).  Each student will attend student seminars regularly and, in addition, each student will present one seminar per year in their third and fourth years.
    • Instructor: Sastry
    • Term Offered: II
    • Year Offered: Annually
    • Hours per week: 1
  • DNA Repair, Mutagenesis, Replication, and Environmental Toxicology (HBCG 6209; 2 Credit Hours) – This course deals with various aspects of DNA repair and replication, mutagenesis, and environmental toxicology.  A particular focus point will be the interrelationships among repair processes and other important cellular functions. Syllabus
    • Instructor: L. Prakash
    • Term Offered: II
    • Year Offered: Annually
    • Hours per week: 2, 10 week course
  • Qualifying Examination – See our definition and guidelines of the qualitying examination.

Summer Term

  • Research/Dissertation (HBCG 6097/6099; Credit Hours Vary)
  • Electives – 8 additional credit hours prior to graduation (BBSC classes exempt)

Year 3

Fall Term

  • Research/Dissertation (HBCG 6097/6099; Credit Hours Vary)
  • Electives – 8 additional credit hours prior to graduation (BBSC classes exempt)

Spring Term

  • Research/Dissertation (HBCG 6097/6099; Credit Hours Vary)
  • Electives – 8 additional credit hours prior to graduation (BBSC classes exempt)
  • Seminar (HBCG 6195; 1 Credit Hour) – Students must register for the Seminar course (BMB 6195) in years 2, 3 and 4 (three consecutive years after they enter into the BMB graduate program).  Each student will attend student seminars regularly and, in addition, each student will present one seminar per year in their third and fourth years.
    • Instructor: Sastry
    • Term Offered: II
    • Year Offered: Annually
    • Hours per week: 1

Summer Term

  • Research/Dissertation (HBCG 6097/6099; Credit Hours Vary)
  • Electives – 8 additional credit hours prior to graduation (BBSC classes exempt)

Year 4

Fall Term

  • Research/Dissertation (HBCG 6097/6099; Credit Hours Vary)
  • Electives – 8 additional credit hours prior to graduation (BBSC classes exempt)

Spring Term

  • Research/Dissertation (HBCG 6097/6099; Credit Hours Vary)
  • Electives – 8 additional credit hours prior to graduation (BBSC classes exempt)
  • Seminar (HBCG 6195; 1 Credit Hour) – Students must register for the Seminar course (BMB 6195) in years 2, 3 and 4 (three consecutive years after they enter into the BMB graduate program).  Each student will attend student seminars regularly and, in addition, each student will present one seminar per year in their third and fourth years.
    • Instructor: Sastry
    • Term Offered: II
    • Year Offered: Annually
    • Hours per week: 1

Summer Term

  • Research/Dissertation (HBCG 6097/6099; Credit Hours Vary)
  • Electives – 8 additional credit hours prior to graduation (BBSC classes exempt)