Biochemistry

Gain the skills you need to conduct research that helps develop new and improved medicines, genetically engineer hardier plants, or create safer and cleaner fuels, pesticides and industrial processes.

Learn fundamental laboratory skills such as how to purify a protein, determine the structure of a lipid, or grow a culture of cells. Understand key cellular processes such as DNA replication, protein secretion, energy metabolism, and immune responses.

Senior year, you will draw on everything you’ve learned when you design and carry out your own research project. For example, you might compare a normal protein to a mutant form to understand how a difference in protein folding inhibits the binding of oxygen. Receive guidance from a professor and present your findings at a poster competition.

We encourage our students to complete an internship the summer between their junior and senior years. Typically, they work in research laboratories.

Prepare for Success

This major is a good fit if you can see yourself:

• Exploring how cells develop and communicate.
• Using your imagination and attention to detail.
• Experimenting with biological chemicals in state-of-the-art laboratories.

To prepare, you may want to:

• Take math and biology.
• Conduct your own experiments.
• Pay attention to current news involving medicine and disease.

Your First Year

Your first year, you will hone your communication skills with course work in writing. You will also take chemistry, calculus and cellular biology.

More advanced courses include organic chemistry, biochemistry, biophysical chemistry and genetics.

What You Can Do

With this degree, you may become one of the following:

• Medical researcher: Conduct studies to advance the knowledge of life processes and living organisms, including a greater understanding of immune responses to viruses, bacteria and other infectious agents.
• Agricultural biochemist: Modify and improve crops such as rice, soybeans and wheat to improve our food supply and reduce our dependence on conventional pesticides.
• Pharmaceutical scientist: Design and synthesize new drugs and delivery systems. Collect data on patients in clinical trials, monitor their reactions and analyze the results.
• Industrial biochemist: Develop cleaner production processes that create less waste and use less energy and water in the production of detergents, pulp and paper, textiles, food, energy and metals.

Opportunities

Demand for our graduates is high. They are well prepared to begin careers in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture or to work in university, industrial, or government laboratories. Competitive salaries start as high as $50,000.

You may also choose to continue your education. Many of our graduates go on to medical, nursing, dental, pharmacy, or veterinary schools or earn advanced degrees in patent law, economics, medical technology or biochemistry.

Current Research

Do research. Conduct lab procedures and collect findings for pay or credit in an on-campus laboratory. Conduct lab procedures and collect findings. You might study the ability of virus-infected cells to repair DNA, the relationship between protein flexibility and biological function, or the movements of cells.

Activities

Life Sciences Club: Teach lab techniques to school children, learn more about internships and meet experts in the field. Take trips to biotech companies, breweries, research centers and hot springs.
Pre-vet Club: Meet other students planning for vet school and volunteer at a horse sanctuary.
University of Idaho Environmental Club: See what you and others can do to live more sustainably.

Hands-On Experience

Intern. Get real-world experiences likes these:

• National Institutes of Health: Separate strands of DNA for a biomedical research project.
• Marine biological laboratory: Study how an embryo develops.
• Pharmaceutical company: Help design a drug that targets a specific enzyme to reduce cholesterol.

Study abroad. Deepen your understanding of your major—and the world—in countries like these:

• Spain: Take science classes in Spanish.
• Switzerland: Observe a different health care system.
• Mexico: Study how disease is managed in rural villages.

Volunteer. Give back and learn new things. Assist hospital medical staff as they care for patients. Treat sick pets in a veterinary clinic. Work at a clinic in a developing country.