About BCBP
Professor and Department Head
Chair’s Welcome
Howdy! Thank you for visiting us. Interested in undergraduate or graduate study or what the latest excitement is in biochemistry and biophysics at Texas A&M? You have come to the right place. I invite you to explore the department through these web pages. You will find information about our major programs in biochemistry and genetics, our outstanding Ph.D. program in biochemistry & biophysics, and descriptions of the latest ground-breaking research by our faculty. Our research impacts an unusually broad range of biology and human and veterinary medicine. We have incredible strength in structural biology; plant biochemistry and genetics; future century biotechnology; complex biochemical signaling and its role in disease; protein biophysics; RNA biochemistry; energy metabolism; drug discovery including small molecules and protein biologics; molecular virology of influenzas, coronaviruses and bacteriophage; among many other topics in fundamental and applied biochemistry, biophysics and molecular genetics.
Our goal is to introduce students to the wonders of biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular genetics and lay the foundation for a successful career in research or the allied professions. We strive to do this through superlative course offerings that provide a gateway to research experiences at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Come explore with us! Let’s see where you can go!
Our History
The department was founded in 1947 as home to a graduate degree program in Biochemistry and Nutrition, with our first PhD degrees awarded in 1950. In 1955, the department was expanded to include an undergraduate degree program in Biochemistry leading to the adoption of today’s title, the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics. BCBP strives to be an intellectually robust and inclusive community of scholars with a common interest in integrating chemistry, biology, mathematics, and physics to understand the molecular basis of life. In 1985, the department created an undergraduate degree program in Genetics.
The faculty is comprised of 30 primary tenured or tenure-track faculty, 8 joint faculty, 7 academic professional track faculty, and 2 research-track faculty. Teaching and research are intimately intertwined, coupling modern didactic teaching coupled with extensive research experience for undergraduate students. We seat more than 6,500 students in undergraduate Biochemistry and Genetics courses and nearly 530 undergraduates claim Biochemistry or Genetics as their major. On the graduate side, nearly 100 graduate students and PhD candidates undertake thesis research that spans a remarkable range of biochemistry and biophysics. The resources underlying this research effort are broad, with outstanding facilities for contemporary research in structural biology, drug discovery and development, metabolism, cell biochemistry and imaging, protein biophysics, plant biochemistry, agricultural biotechnology, molecular genetics and many other allied areas of our core fields. The research activities of the BCBP faculty are supported by state, federal, and private funds, including the Gates and Mathers Foundations, the NIH, the NSF, the DOE, and the DoD, with an annual research expenditure of more than $11 million.