NYC area Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences programs

The Tri-Institutional Ph.D. Program in Chemical Biology was established in 2001 as one of the first graduate programs in the world to focus on research and training at the interface of chemistry and biology. The program is a collaborative offering of three premier New York City institutions, Weill Cornell Medical College, The Rockefeller University, and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Located adjacent to one another in the heart of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, these three institutions combine to create a unique university environment and provide unparalleled scientific opportunities to the next generation of leaders in chemical biology.

TPCB students are actively engaged in forefront research, mentored by internationally-recognized faculty members. Students choose from a broad range of chemical biology research areas based on their skills and interests, from the organic synthesis of bioactive small molecules to mechanistic investigations of macromolecules, to dissection of cellular processes using chemical probes, to in vivo evaluation of novel therapeutics. As a result of these exceptionally rich opportunities and the program’s emphasis on laboratory research, our students maintain an impressive publication record in leading scientific journals, with an average of five papers per graduate!

At TPCB, students will find outstanding resources for all phases of their training, including state-of-the-art research laboratories, core facilities, and collaborative research centers, as well as courses and seminars created specifically for TPCB students, access to additional courses at neighboring institutions in NYC, and opportunities to attend vibrant lecture series featuring world-class scientists. The program is also supported by a prestigious NIH Chemistry-Biology Interface T32 Training Grant.

The interdisciplinary science of biochemistry draws from fundamental chemical theory and research techniques as the basis for explorations into problems of biology. Students participate in research early in their graduate work and engage actively in a broadly based seminar and colloquium program.

The Ph.D. Program in Biochemistry, established in 1967, is consortial in nature, with faculty members drawn principally from the senior CUNY colleges. All research laboratories are located on college campuses. The senior colleges that participate in the doctoral biochemistry program are Brooklyn College, City College, Hunter College, The College of Staten Island, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Lehman College, Queens College, and York College.

Lecture courses and basic seminars are given at The Graduate Center in Manhattan, whereas laboratory courses, advanced seminars, and thesis research take place on the campuses where doctoral students serve an important function as instructors of undergraduate laboratory courses in biochemistry, biology, and chemistry. Students may also specialize in Molecular Biophysics.

The Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences Program at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine prepares you with the training and tools you need to succeed as an independent researcher and also for a variety of other careers. Our program is highly personalized, allowing you to choose your own multidisciplinary training area (MTA), corresponding curriculum, and thesis research preceptor.

Students in this program can pursue cutting-edge education in six multidisciplinary training areas (MTAs). These MTAs are a core characteristic of graduate education and provide our students with the opportunity to expand their areas of study beyond the confines of one discipline.

Areas of study include Cancer Biology, Development, Regeneration and Stem Cells, Genetics and Data Science, Immunology, Microbiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics Discovery.

At the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSK) at Memorial Sloan Kettering, our mission is to train a new generation of scientists who will advance the frontiers of biomedical knowledge and bridge the gap between laboratory research and real-life clinical challenges.

Our school, which matriculated its first class in 2006, provides an interactive environment in which students train to work in research areas directly applicable to human disease — in particular, cancer. Through our innovative curriculum, students get the full benefit of the close integration of basic science, clinical research, and patient care for which Memorial Sloan Kettering is known.

The Gerstner Sloan Kettering faculty brings together more than 120 Memorial Sloan Kettering scientists who are nationally or internationally recognized leaders in their fields. Their research interests cover the full spectrum of biomedical science, including genomics, systems biology, immunology, structural biology, cancer biology, and many other fields.

The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Stevens has a long history of innovation in education and research with excellence in laboratory instruction. Our curriculum is designed to provide interdisciplinary training, rigorous theoretical instruction, and exposure to experimental methods and state-of-the-art equipment.

Chemistry areas of study include traditional ones such as analytical, inorganic, organic, physical and biochemistry. They also unique strengths in polymer chemistry, natural products, medicinal chemistry, biomedicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, and instrumental analysis. Chemical biology is the application of chemistry to the understanding and utilization of biological phenomena. Stevens pioneered this field, establishing the first undergraduate program in chemical biology in the late 1970s. The chemical biology program combines a complete education in chemistry with additional mathematics and physics training to ensure a solid foundation in quantitative physical sciences and a set of biology courses that introduce the key elements of cellular, molecular, and physiological biology.

The department is housed in a modern building with well-equipped laboratories for tissue-culture work, protein separation and analysis, and small animal studies. State-of-the-art instrumentation is also available, including confocal microscopy, PCR, radio-isotope labeling, fluorometry, double-beam spectrophotometry, Fourier-transform infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, and high-performance liquid chromatography, thermal analysis and electron tunneling microscopy.

Graduate programs at Weill Cornell Graduate School in BCMB are in Biochemistry, Structural Biology, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, and Molecular Biology are collectively known as the BCMB Allied program and operate as an alliance. Students may affiliate with any of the three BCMB programs, but they initially are admitted to and remain members of, the BCMB Allied program.

The BCMB program offers opportunities for advanced training in the application of biochemical, structural, biophysical and imaging methods, to address questions relating to biological processes and mechanisms. Program members pursue vigorous research programs in the areas of membrane-protein structure and function, membrane trafficking and synaptic transmission, protein folding, intracellular and cell-surface signaling pathways, protein modification, membrane biochemistry and biophysics, DNA replication and repair, and RNA silencing and processing.

Many of the faculty conduct collaborative research bringing together knowledge and talent from different areas to focus on human diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. In this respect, research is focused on: understanding the roles of various signaling pathways in cancer, atherosclerosis, and inflammation; the role of defective DNA repair in cancer-predisposition; and the link between defective protein folding and diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.