Welcome to the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University. The department is home to a large and energetic contingent of faculty, staff and students involved in a variety of activities and programs in research and education. Our faculty members run internationally competitive research programs of high productivity and impact. These investigators are likewise providing first rate and innovative training for the next generation of life scientists.

The Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences is home to a sizeable undergraduate program in Biochemistry and another undergraduate program launched in 2008 in Biomedical Sciences. These curricula are administered in the Faculties of Science and Health Science, respectively, and reflect the broad expertise of our faculty in life sciences research. The Department is also home to two graduate programs, one in Biochemistry and another in Chemical Biology where the latter is jointly administered with the department of Chemistry.

Advanced training in our department includes, undergraduate thesis posts, graduate studies and post-doctoral positions on research projects in cancer and stem cell biology, infectious disease as well as membrane and structural biology. The work spans molecular biology, genetics, mechanistic biochemistry, genomics, evolution and systems biology.

Our research laboratories are served by state of the art facilities. These include the Biophotonics Laboratory for microscopy and molecular imaging as well as the McMaster High Throughput Screening Laboratory for small molecule screening and the new Centre for Microbial Chemical Biology. We are also well-served with facilities for mass spectrometry, electron microscopy, molecular biology, physical biochemistry and structural biology. Thus we are well-positioned to study life and disease using high-throughput biology and modern drug discovery methods that are truly at the forefront of modern biomedical research in the world.

So do browse our web pages to learn more about the exciting research environment that we enjoy. Feel free also to visit with us to meet our faculty and tour the laboratories in person. If you are a prospective graduate student you may want to attend our annual open house. In any case feel free to contact us at any time with questions, comments or to arrange a visit.

Eric Brown, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair