Introduction

Molecular Biophysics is situated at the intersection of molecular biology, chemistry, and physics and defines an interdisciplinary vantage point from which many new and important advances are being made in life science research. Molecular biophysics, as a field of endeavor, is distinguished by analytical and quantitative research inquiry based on molecular and macromolecular structure and spectroscopy, biophysical chemistry, functional bioenergetics, statistical thermodynamics, and molecular dynamics. Opportunities in molecular biophysics are open to students with strong interests and and a solid undergraduate background in chemistry, physics and mathematics.

Protein structures and folding,molecular models of enzyme mechanisms, DNA fine structure and curvature, molecular recognition and the nature of gene expression and regulation are some of the many topics of active research interest in molecular biophysics. Both experimental and theoretical research methods are utilized. In addition to standard biochemical and biophysical techniques, optical and magnetic resonance spectroscopies, x-ray crystallography, microcalorimetry, transient kinetic techniques, statistical mechanics, computer simulations and molecular modeling are included in the repertoire of molecular biophysics researchers. As a consequence of recent advances stemming from the human genome project, the field of bioinformatics finds an increasingly important emphasis in our program.

At Wesleyan University, molecular biophysics is an interdepartmental program in the Division of Natural Science and Mathematics, and offers research training opportunities at the graduate and postdoctoral levels, an undergraduate concentration open to Wesleyan Science majors, and a BA/MA program. Extensive modern research instrumentation and computing facilities are readily available to participants in the program. Students have the opportunity to select projects with varying degrees of emphasis on biophysics, biochemistry, biological chemistry and molecular biology. The common element among participants is an emphasis on a molecular biophysics mode of inquiry in research design, and participation in a weekly meetings of the molecular biophysics journal club in which research papers from the current literature are critically considered .