University of Calgary

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Degrees and Specializations Offered

The Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Science (MSc) thesis-based and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees. Faculty members in the department are affiliated with one or more of the Faculty of Medicine's Institutes and Centres. In addition, faculty research is grouped according to research streams: Molecular and Developmental Genetics, Molecular Biology of Disease, Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics and Cell Signalling and Structure. All students will have the specialization "Biochemistry and Molecular Biology." All Master's Thesis and Doctoral students are considered full-time. In exceptional circumstances part-time status may be considered and must be approved. Combined MD/Master's and MD/PhD programs are offered under the title "Leaders in Medicine."

Admission Requirements:

In addition to Faculty of Graduate Studies requirements, the Department requires a minimum admission grade point average of 3.2 on a four point scale. For applicants required to provide proof of proficiency in English, a minimum TOEFL score of 600 (written), 250 (computer-based) or 100 (internet-based) or an IELTS score of 7.50.  International applicants are required to submit scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).A competitive GRE score has usually been in the 90th percentile.

Application Deadlines

Deadlines for submission of complete applications for students with international transcripts:

  • 15 April for September admission
  • 15 August for January admission
  • 15 December for May admission

Deadlines for submission of complete applications for students with Canadian or U.S. transcripts:

  • 15 June for September admission
  • 15 October for January admission
  • 15 March for May admission

Students applying to the MD/Master's or MD/PhD program must also apply to the Leaders in Medicine program by completing a supplementary application.

Advanced Credit

Advanced credit requests must be made by the applicant as part of the admission process. Any credit to be given for courses completed will be included in the departmental letter recommending the student's admission to the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Program/Course Requirements

In addition to Faculty requirements, an interim supervisory committee will determine the courses required for each student, based on the student's previous academic background and proposed area of research. In general, Master's students will be required to take at least two graduate level half-courses and doctoral students will be required to take at least three graduate level half-courses.

Additional Requirements

Each student is required to participate regularly in journal club and work-in-progress seminar programs administered by the Research Group to which the student and his/her supervisor belong, and the student will present at least one journal club seminar and one work-in-progress presentation per year. Attendance at a Research Integrity Day workshop is required for all graduate students. Refer to the program website for details.

Credit for Undergraduate Courses

Courses at the 500-level are not usually considered graduate courses. Students should register in 500-level courses only upon the recommendation of their supervisory committee. Credit will be given for 500-level courses appropriate to a student's program as long as an equal or greater number of courses at the 600-level or above is included in the program.

Time Limit

Maximum completion time is four years for the Master of Science degree and six years for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Leaders in Medicine - Maximum completion time is six years for the MD/Master's program, and eight years for the MD/PhD program. 

Supervisory Assignments 

The Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program has an optional rotation program that may last up to six months. This allows the graduate student and the potential supervisor to learn more about each other's research interests and available research projects. The student will spend two months in each laboratory of up to three faculty members. After the rotation program, the student will select a permanent supervisor. Alternatively, a student may begin the program with a permanent supervisor, if such arrangements have been made prior to arrival.

Supervisory committees are required for both Master's and doctoral students in the BMB Graduate Program. A permanent supervisory committee must be in place no later 3 months after the appointment of the supervisor. Students in the Leaders in Medicine program must have a supervisory committee constituted according to the regulations of the graduate program. In addition, these students are monitored by a Joint Liaison Committee of the Leaders in Medicine.  

Required Examinations

The doctoral candidacy examination has both a written and an oral component and is designed to test general and specific knowledge about various aspects of biochemistry and molecular biology. Four examination questions will be given to the student four weeks before the oral examination. The student will prepare a written paper for two of the examination questions and submit the two papers to all examiners one week before the oral examination. The supervisor is a non-voting observer at the doctoral candidacy examination. Doctoral students are required to present a public thesis seminar immediately before the thesis defense.

Research Proposal Requirements

Each student must prepare a research proposal within twelve months of initial registration (sixteen months for rotation students). The research proposal will be presented and defended before the supervisory committee.

Financial Assistance

All students who are accepted into the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program will receive a minimum stipend [$20,000 for MSc students and $22,000 for doctoral students (fourth year postcandidacy PhD students will receive $23,000/yr).] Students are encouraged to apply to external agencies for financial assistance from scholarships or studentships. Some of these awards provide stipends in excess of the program minimum. Information on awards can be obtained from the office of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program. Students applying for University scholarships must submit their applications to the Department by 1 February.

Course Information  

All Biochemistry and Molecular Biology graduate students are required to take either the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology core course MDSC 721; or Advanced Genetics, MDSC 641.01 as part of their course work requirement. Descriptions of courses with biochemistry and molecular biology content at the University of Calgary are included under Biochemistry (BCEM), Cellular, Molecular and Microbial Biology (CMMB) and Medical Science (MDSC) listings elsewhere in the Calendar. Relevant courses for the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology graduate program include:

500-level Courses - Courses at the 500-level are not usually considered graduate courses. Students should register in 500-level courses only upon the recommendation of their supervisory committee.

Graduate-level Courses

For further information on graduate program application and admission, and faculty research interests, consult the department website at: http://www.ucalgary.ca/bmb/

  • BCEM 731 Protein and Metabolic Engineering
  • MDSC 603 Biology of Laboratory Animals (BIOL 603)
  • MDSC 604 Integrative Human Physiology
  • MDSC 605 Information Storage and Processing in Biological Systems (CPSC 605)
  • MDSC 609.02 Genes and Development
  • MDSC 613.05 Regulation of Gene Expression in Bacteria
  • MDSC 619.01 Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
  • MDSC 619.03 Developmental Neuroscience
  • MDSC 621.01 Basic Principles of Pharmacology
  • MDSC 631 Muscle Physiology
  • MDSC 639.01 Principles of Immunology
  • MDSC 639.02 Cellular and Molecular Immunology
  • MDSC 641.01 Advanced Genetics I
  • MDSC 641.04 Genomics
  • MDSC 643 Biostatistics I and II
  • MDSC 671 Techniques in Medical Science
  • MDSC 675 Bioinformatics Resources for the Biologist
  • MDSC 683.01 Cancer Pathology, Epidemiology and Therapy
  • MDSC 683.02 Molecular Mechanisms of Cancer
  • MDSC 683.04 Cell Biology of Cancer
  • MDSC 717 Functional Genomics Technologies
  • MDSC 721 Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • MDSC 751.02 Cellular and Molecular Pathogenic Mechanisms of Diabetes
  • MDSC 751.09 Ion Channel Diseases
Faculty Members/Research Interests 

Research interests of the Groups can be found on the department website at http://www.ucalgary.ca/bmb

Contact Information

Ashleigh Ford
Tel: (403) 220-8306
Fax: (403) 210-8109
E-mail: bmbgrad@ucalgary.ca
Web: http://www.ucalgary.ca/bmb/

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