Division of Mathematical, Life and Physical Sciences
2703 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805) 893-2290
Admission Inquiries Email: zeng@lifesci.ucsb.edu
General Program Inquiries Email: skhah@ucsb.edu
Website: www.bmse.ucsb.edu
Program Director: Cristina Marchetti
Overview
The interdepartmental graduate program in Biomolecular Science and Engineering (BMSE) offers studies leading to the Ph.D. degree. The program is administered by faculty with joint appointments in the following departments: Chemical Engineering, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Computer Science, Ecology, Evolution, & Marine Biology, Materials, Mechanical & Environmental Engineering, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology (MCDB), and Physics. BMSE provides unique opportunities for intensive research training at the interface between the physical and life sciences and engineering disciplines in highly interactive and collaborative laboratories. The diverse group of program faculty provides students with an exceptionally broad range of challenging opportunities for multidisciplinary research in biomolecular structure, function, and engineering. Research areas currently under active investigation on campus include kinetics and regulation of enzyme catalysis, chromosome structure and cell cycle regulation, the cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix, mechanisms regulating signal transduction and cellular differentiation, protein structure and structure-function relationships, protein-nucleic acid interactions, biomolecular materials (biominerals and adhesives), biosensors and biomolecular electronics, biomimetics, biophysics, molecular neurobiology, plant molecular biology, bacterial pathogenesis, and molecular virology and immunology. A complete listing of research interests of the participating faculty can be obtained by writing to the above address, or from the BMSE website at www.bmse.ucsb.edu/.
The program accommodates students with a diversity of backgrounds and career goals who are interested in multidisciplinary research training. Qualified students with undergraduate degrees in one of the life or physical sciences or engineering disciplines are accepted into the program. In addition to specific program requirements, candidates for graduate degrees must meet all university degree requirements found in the chapter “Graduate Education at UCSB.” Highly individualized programs of instruction can be undertaken by a student enrolled in the program after consultation with and approval by the graduate committee and a research mentor. Approximately 40 faculty members from the affiliated departments are available to direct approved research projects under the auspices of the BMSE program.
BMSE Adjunct Faculty
Lois Jovanovic, MD, Director & Chief Scientific Officer, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute, Santa Barbara, CA
Faculty
Cherie Briggs, PhD, UC Santa Barbara, Professor (theoretical ecology and systems biology) Joint appointment with: EEMB
Dennis Clegg, PhD, UC Berkeley, Professor (molecular and cellular neurobiology; stem cell biology and engineering; ocular disease) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Zvonimir Dogic, PhD, Brandeis University, Professor (Experimental soft matter physics) Joint appointment with: PHYS
Deborah Fygenson, PhD, Princeton University, Professor (experimental biophysics) Joint appointment with: PHYS
Brandon Greene, PhD, Emory University, Assistant Professor (redox biology, enzymology, and bioenergy) Joint appointment with: CHEM
Christopher Hayes, PhD, University of Connecticut, Professor (molecular biology of inter-bacterial competition, type V and VI secretion systems, biochemistry of toxin-immunity protein pairs) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Luc Jaeger, PhD, University Louis Pasteur, Professor (nucleic acid nanotechnology, synthetic biology, nano-biotechnology, RNA structures, RNA evolution, biomaterials, nanomedicine) Joint appointment with: CHEM
Kenneth Kosik, MA, MD, Medical College of Pennsylvania, Professor (neurodegeneration, biophysics of neuroconnectivity, stem cells, synaptic plasticity, microRNAs, evolution of the nervous system) Joint appointment with: MCDB
John Lew, PhD, University of Calgary, Associate Professor (biochemistry, molecular biology, enzymology) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Matthieu Louis, PhD, University of Cambridge, Associate Professor (systems biology, systems neuroscience, behavioral neurogenetics) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Michael Mahan, PhD, University of Utah, Professor (microbial pathogenesis; molecular mechanisms of infectious disease, antibiotic resistance; sepsis; vaccine development) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Cristina Marchetti, PhD, University of Florida, Professor (Theoretical soft matter and biological physics) Joint appointment with: PHYS
Denise Montell, PhD, Stanford University, Professor (biomedical sciences; developmental & stem cell biology) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Craig Montell, PhD, UC Los Angeles, Professor (biomedical sciences; neuroscience) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Beth Pruitt, PhD, Stanford University, Professor (Mechanobiology, microfabrication, engineering and science, engineering microsystems, and biointerfaces for quantitative mechanobiology.) Joint appointment with: ME BIOE
Norbert Reich, PhD, UC San Francisco, Professor (theoretical biophysical chemistry) Joint appointment with: CHEM
Joel Rothman, PhD, University of Oregon, Professor (biochemical and genetic studies of cellular differentiation and reprogramming; regulation of cell signaling, proliferation, and death) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Omar Saleh, PhD, Princeton University, Professor (single-molecule biophysics, motor proteins, DNA-protein interactions) Joint appointment with: MATRL PHYS
Ambuj Singh, PhD, University of Texas, Professor (machine learning and data mining, network science, social networks, databases, bioinformatics, chemoinformatics) Joint appointment with: CMPSC
William Smith, PhD, UC Santa Cruz, Professor (developmental biology of marine invertebrate chordates) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Sebastian Streichan, PhD, University of Saarland, Associate Professor (Biophysics) Joint appointment with: PHYS
Niels Volkmann, Professor Joint appointment with: BIOE ECE
Herbert Waite, PhD, Duke University, Professor (comparative biochemistry, marine biomolecular materials, micro and nanomechanics, bioadhesion) Joint appointment with: MCDB CHEM
Emeriti Faculty
John Carbon, PhD, Northwestern University (biochemistry) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Louise Clarke, PhD, UC Santa Barbara (biochemistry, genetics) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Jim Cooper, PhD, Washington University Joint appointment with: MCDB
John Gerig, PhD, Brown University Joint appointment with: CHEM
David Low, PhD, UC Irvine Joint appointment with: MCDB
Dan Morse, PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (molecular biology, bio-nanotechnology, biomolecular materials, marine biotechnology, biophotonics) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Stanley Parsons, PhD, California Institute of Technology Joint appointment with: CHEM
Charles Samuel, PhD, UC Berkeley Joint appointment with: MCDB
Duane Sears, PhD, Columbia University Joint appointment with: MCDB
Carol Vandenberg, PhD, UC San Diego Joint appointment with: MCDB
Leslie Wilson, PhD, Tufts University (microtubule dynamics, functions, and anticancer drug mechanisms) Joint appointment with: MCDB
Affiliated Faculty
Frank Brown, PhD
Alison Butler, PhD
Rick Dahlquist, PhD
Everett Lipman, PhD
Cyrus Safinya, PhD
Joan-Emma Shea, PhD
Boris Shraiman, PhD
Galen Stucky, PhD