Chemical Biology
Faculty of the Committee on Higher Degrees in Chemical Biology
Jon Clardy, Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology (Medical School) (Co-Chair)
David R. Liu, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard College Professor (Co-Chair) (on leave 2007-08)
Daniel E. Kahne, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (FAS) and Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology (Medical School)
Suzanne Walker, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (Medical School)
Other Faculty Offering Instruction in Chemical Biology
Stephen C. Blacklow, Associate Professor of Pathology (Medical School)
Eric N. Jacobsen, Sheldon Emery Professor of Chemistry, Tutor in Biochemical Sciences (on leave 2007-08)
Randy King, Associate Professor of Cell Biology (Medical School)
Peter T. Lansbury, Professor of Neurology (Medical School)
David R. Liu, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard College Professor (on leave 2007-08)
Gavin MacBeath, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Timothy J. Mitchison, Hasib Sabbagh Professor of Systems Biology (Medical School)
Andrew G. Myers, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Stuart L. Schreiber, Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry
Matthew D. Shair, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Pamela A. Silver, Professor of Systems Biology (Medical School)
Christopher T. Walsh, Hamilton Kuhn Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology (Medical School)
Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (on leave 2007-08)
Priscilla Yang, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (Medical School)
Xiaowei Zhuang, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics
The goal of the Doctoral Program in Chemical Biology is biological discovery, and its approach is the seamless integration of principles and experimental techniques drawn from both chemistry and biology. The focus of chemical biology is on biology, which distinguishes it from traditional chemistry, and it uses chemical tools, which distinguishes it from traditional biology. The field also has deep connections with medicine and pharmacology.
The program spans the current Cambridge and Boston campuses and will engage HMS faculty from the Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Microbiology and Genetics, Systems Biology, and Cell Biology Departments; FAS faculty from the Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Molecular and Cell Biology Departments; and affiliated institutions including Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Mass General Hospital, and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.
“Chemical biology” has become the shorthand way of describing a new way of thinking about science and organizing research agendas. As Arthur Kornberg (Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1987) put it so eloquently: “Much of life can be understood in rational terms if expressed in the language of chemistry. It is an international language, a language for all of time, and a language that explains where we came from, what we are, and where the physical world will allow us to go. Chemical language has great esthetic beauty and links the physical sciences to the biological sciences.”
The Chemical Biology program will equip students with the appropriate experimental and theoretical approaches to use or develop chemical tools for understanding biological processes.Each of the courses offered by the Program will emphasize concepts, unsolved (or partially solved) problems and novel technology along with an understanding how and why chemical approaches can drive new experiments and deliver novel insight. Students should leave the program better able to identify important unsolved problems in biology and with an appreciation of how to choose problems for which chemical approaches will be productive.
For more information on the doctoral program, visit the program’s website at www.gsas.harvard.edu/chembio.
Primarily for Graduates
Chemical Biology 2100 (formerly Biophysics 201). Organic Chemistry for Biologists
Catalog Number: 4030
Jon Clardy (Medical School), Suzanne Walker (Medical School), Christopher T. Walsh (Medical School), and Priscilla Yang (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 4–5:30. EXAM GROUP: 18
A treatment of the parts of organic chemistry most relevant to biology. The structures of biologically important small molecules and reaction mechanisms will be covered using both natural and therapeutic examples.
Note: Intended for first-year graduate students with an interest in chemical biology and only a modest background in organic chemistry.
Prerequisite: A basic knowledge of organic chemistry.
Chemical Biology 2101. Strategies in Chemical Biology
Catalog Number: 5212
Suzanne Walker (Medical School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 4–5:30. EXAM GROUP: 18
Successful applications of chemical techniques that address biological questions will be dealt with in a series of structured modules. Each module consists of formal lectures, discussions of recent literature, and presentations from outside speakers.
Note: Intended for first-year graduate students in the Chemical Biology program, although others will be admitted with the permission of the instructors.
Prerequisite: Chemical Biology 2100 or equivalent.
Cross-listed Courses
BCMP 200. Molecular Biology
BCMP 201. Proteins: Structure, Function and Catalysis
BCMP 207. Molecular Approaches to Drug Action, Discovery, and Design
BCMP 230. Principles and Practice of Drug Development
[Biophysics 101. Genomics and Computational Biology]
Cell Biology 201. Molecular Biology of the Cell
Chemistry 135. Experimental Synthetic Chemistry
Chemistry 163. Frontiers in Biophysics
*Chemistry 185 (formerly *Chemistry 285). Molecular Pathophysiology and Pharmacology of Human Disease
*Chemistry 206. Advanced Organic Chemistry
*Chemistry 215 (formerly Chemistry 115). Advanced Organic Chemistry: Synthesis of Complex Molecules
*Chemistry 270. Chemical Biology
[*Chemistry 280 (formerly Chemistry 180). Macromolecular Structure and Function]
Genetics 201. Principles of Genetics
[MCB 120. Cell Cycle Control and Genome Stability]
*MCB 155. Molecular Mechanisms of Gene Control
MCB 156. Structural Biology of the Flow of Information in the Cell
Microbiology 200. Molecular Microbiology and Pathogenesis
Neurobiology 200. Introduction to Neurobiology
Virology 201. Virology
Graduate Courses of Reading and Research
*Chemical Biology 350. Chemical Biology Research - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 9668
Members of the Committee
Upper level Chemical Biology students register for this course when they permanently join a lab. Students should register under the supervising PI.
*Chemical Biology 3000. Introduction to Laboratory Research
Catalog Number: 1888
Jon Clardy (Medical School) 4667 and members of the Committee
Introductory lectures by associated Chemical Biology faculty members.
Note: Lectures are accompanied by three periods of instruction in laboratories of structural molecular biology, cell and membrane biophysics, molecular genetics and development, neurobiology, bioinformatics, and physical biochemistry. Students normally spend each laboratory period in a different field.