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Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Contact: Patricia M Kane, PhD, Chair
Location: 4257 Weiskotten Hall, 766 Irving Ave., Syracuse, NY 13210
Phone: 315 464-5127
Email: biochem@upstate.edu
Website: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program

This program awards:

  • PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • MS in Biochemistry
BioChem

The department boasts a robust record of extramural funding, primarily from the NIH. Departmental research is published in top scientific journals, often with graduate students as co-authors. Experts in X-ray crystallography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and electron microscopy, who approach basic biological problems at a structural level, have been brought onto the faculty. Several faculty members also share interests in modern genetics and genomic technologies.

Robotics are available to screen large collections of mutants, generated as a result of genome sequencing, for novel phenotypes. Transgenic frogs used in the study of the visual system were first developed here. This has provided invaluable information about mechanisms underlying light transduction and the cellular defects linked to certain inherited degenerative diseases of the eye.

Visit the Department: BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

What's the
SUNY Upstate Difference?

students

Heba Diab and Sheena Claire Li, PhD students in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, use the yeast model system to study basic cell functions. Yeast enzymes are similar to human enzymes, which makes yeast a popular tool among researchers.

SUNY Upstate's Biochemistry and Molecular Biology students have a time-consuming advantage—the Virtek pinning robot that transfers individual yeast mutants from one plate to another to test their responses. "It's a nice way to get a lot of data quickly, so you can spend time addressing the major question behind the experiment," said Deb, who studies oxidative stress in cells.

Biochemistry students are at the front end of translational research, conducting the basic science that can lead to treatments for diseases such as osteoporosis and cancer, said Department Chair Patricia Kane, Ph.D.