Biophysics Graduate Program Curriculum*

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Coursework for the Biophysics Ph.D. program at Michigan is designed for students with diverse academic backgrounds. The main focus is to offer research training in the applications of physics-based techniques to biological systems ranging in complexity from single molecules to whole cells and tissues. The coursework is flexible and is designed to give the student the opportunity to take exciting classes in the field of specialization, while providing the fundamental background knowledge necessary for putting this specialization in a broader context.

The following courses are required for Biophysics graduate students. Individual requirements may be waived based on prior coursework.

A. Biochemistry and Cell Biology (two courses)

• Cell Biology (Biology 428 or Anatomy & Cell Biology 530)
• Protein Structure and Function (Biological Chemistry 550)

B. Biophysics (two courses)

• Energetics, Interactions, and Dynamics of Biomacromolecules (Biophysics 520)
• Physical Methods for the Study of Biomacromolecules (Biophysics 521)

C. Electives (three courses)

Students without a strong foundation in the physical sciences should take appropriate advanced undergraduate courses in quantum mechanics or quantum chemistry and thermodynamics or statistical physics.  Students who have not taken a biochemistry course should also take Biochemistry 515.

Electives

The electives can be chosen from a wide range of courses offered throughout the University of Michigan.  A sampling of some of the available courses is shown below.

A student interested in Biological Physics might consider courses such as:

• Dynamical Processes in Biophysics (Physics 417)
• Physics of Complexity (Physics 413)
• Physical Chemistry of Macromolecules (Chemistry 535)
• Engineering Fundamentals in Biological Systems (Chem Eng 518)
• Introduction to Non-linear Dynamics (Complexity 541)
• Biophysical Principles of Microscopy (Biophys 608)

A student interested in Structural Biology might consider:

• Advanced X-ray crystallography (Biophysics 605)
• Multi-dimensional NMR spectroscopy (Biophysics 603)
• Methods of Computional Chemistry (Pharmaceutical Chemistry 758)
• Introduction to Probability and Statistics (Statistics 412)
• Survey in Bioinformatics (Biochemistry 526)
• Dynamical Processes in Biophysics (Physics 417)
• Signal Transduction (Biochem 576)
• Molecular Biology (Biology 427

A student with interests in Computational Biophysics or Bioinformatics might take:

• Survey in Bioinformatics (Biochemistry 526)
• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (EECS 492)
• Numerical Methods for Scientific Computing (Math 571)
• Topics in Molecular Evolution (Biology 514)
• Discrete State Stochastic Processes (Math 526)
• Statistical Models and Numerical Methods in Human Genetics (Biostatistics 666)
• Methods of Computational Chemistry (Pharmaceutical Chemistry 758)

*Complete and definitive information for the graduate program is found in the Biophysics Ph.D. Program Student Handbook