Molecular Biophysics Course Work
Molecular Biophysics course work at Georgia Tech is available in two related tracks, a specialization in structural biophysics and biochemistry, which is a long-standing program in the department, and a molecular biophysics specialization, which was just added to the graduate program during the 2004-2005 academic year. The molecular biophysics specialization is designed with more emphasis on theoretical aspects of biophysics; the structural biophysics program emphasizes crystallography and spectroscopy.
Molecular Biophysics: CHEM 6471 (Thermodynamics) or 6481 (Statistical Mechanics) or 6482 (Kinetics and Reaction Dynamics); CHEM 6472 (Quantum Chemistry) or 6491 (Quantum Mechanics); one or two other courses chosen from: CHEM 6481 (Crystallography), 6482 (Statistical Mechanics), 6491 (Quantum Mechanics), 6492 (Molecular Spectroscopy), or a Special Topics course; one or two courses in another area or department.
Structural Biophysics: CHEM 6571 (Enzymology) and 6572 (Macromolecular Structure) and 6573 (Molecular Biochemistry); One course chosen from CHEM 6581 (Crystallography), 6582 (Biophysical Chemistry), 6583 (Drug Design and Discovery), 6584 (Contemporary Biochemistry), or a Special Topics course* or a course in another area or department; one course in another area or department.
Current Graduate Courses in Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biophysics
Core class-Laboratory Rotations in Molecular Biophysics; This course gives first year students the opportunity to do laboratory rotations in the groups of two Molecular Biophysics faculty. This class is offered in the fall semester and provides cross-disciplinary training, which is useful in choosing a Ph.D. thesis advisor.
Core class-Macromolecular Structure; Principles of protein, nucleic acid, and membrane structure. Major emphasis on protein folding, detailed description of three-dimensional structure of proteins and nucleic acids. This course is one of two core classes in the Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biophysics curricula. This course is taught in the fall semester.
Core class-Molecular Biophysics Methods; This is new team-taught graduate course will cover selected biophysical methods, which are employed to study biological macromolecules and their interactions. Examples include X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, cryo-electron microscopy, and single molecule spectroscopy. It will include lectures on the methods and then assigned readings of literature articles The articles will be presented and discussed by student groups in the class. This course is taught in the spring semester and is cross-listed in Biology and Chemistry.
Chemical Thermodynamics & Kinetics; Laws of classical thermodynamics and their chemical applications. Introduction to statistical mechanics and chemical kinetics.
Quantum Chemistry & Molecular Spectroscopy; Introduction to quantum mechanics and its application to molecular systems, atomic and molecular spectroscopy.
Statistical Mechanics; Statistical thermodynamics, lattice statistics, molecular distribution and correlation functions, the theories of liquids and solutions, phase transitions, cluster theory, and measurement.
Kinetics & Reaction Dynamics; Modern theoretical and experimental
methods for studying macroscopic and microscopic bimolecular and unimolecular
processes are discussed, as are methods for describing complex kinetic
systems.
Quantum Mechanics; Important concepts and applications of quantum
mechanics at the intermediate level, including operators, perturbation
and variational methods applied to atoms and molecules.
Molecular Spectroscopy; Study of energy of electronic transitions in molecules, selection rules, excitation processes, and laser spectroscopy.
Biochemistry I; The chemistry and biochemistry of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules.
Biochemistry II; The chemistry and biochemistry of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules.
Enzymology; Structure and chemistry of enzymes, enzyme mechanism, enzyme kinetics, enzyme inhibitors, and medicinal chemistry.
Molecular Biochemistry; Current topics in molecular biology including eukaryotic transcriptions, RNA processing, repair and recombination, immunity, viruses, DNA fingerprinting, and genome sequencing.
Crystallography; Application of crystallographic principles to the structure determination of macromolecules by molecular replacement, multiple isomorphous replacements. High-speed data collection methods and cryocrystallography.
Biophysical Chemistry; Applications of the principles and techniques of physical chemistry in biochemistry, with emphasis in the equilibrium and dynamic behavior of macromolecules in solution.
Drug Design & Discovery; Application of principles of chemistry and biology to the creation of knowledge leading to the introduction of new therapeutic agents.
Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics; Advanced graduate course focused on new techniques and developments in the study of membranes and membrane proteins.