{"id":61517,"date":"2013-10-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-expands-molecular-biology-program-to-serve-wider-range-of-students\/"},"modified":"2013-10-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-23T00:00:00","slug":"uri-expands-molecular-biology-program-to-serve-wider-range-of-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/10\/uri-expands-molecular-biology-program-to-serve-wider-range-of-students\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 expands molecular biology program to serve wider range of students"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 October 23, 2013 — The 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology is expanding its offerings to appeal to a wider variety of students by providing them with the option of focusing their studies on microbiology, biochemistry or biotechnology.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWe reexamined our major to see if it appealed to the students we want to serve, and we found that we would be much more successful in attracting students if we offered a biochemistry track instead of just microbiology,\u201d said Gongqin Sun, chair of the department. \u201cAt other New England universities, biochemistry is a very popular option.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe three tracks in the revamped new major in cell and molecular biology share a core in the molecular basis of biological processes, while each has a different emphasis. Sun said that microbiology focuses primarily on \u201cthe world of microbes,\u201d like bacteria and viruses. Biochemistry, on the other hand, examines all organisms, with an emphasis on higher organisms, such as humans. Biotechnology focuses on the applications of biological tools and knowledge.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cBiochemists study the molecular processes that are the basis of life,\u201d Sun said. \u201cSo it appeals to students who are interested in the biochemical changes that turn normal cells into cancer cells, for instance, or the biochemical processes that lead to obesity. The photosynthesis of plants is biochemistry, too.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe expansion of the program was approved by the Rhode Island Board of Education earlier this year. The program historically has had about 80 undergraduate students enrolled, with 25 to 30 graduating each year. Due in part to the realignment, this year\u2019s freshman class is the largest in recent memory, with 31 enrolled.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMost high school students interested in biology don\u2019t know about the various areas within biology, so we tend to get more students transferring into the department after they take a couple of our courses and decide they like it,\u201d said Sun.<\/p>\n


\n\tAccording to the 溏心vlog免费B站 professor, students in his department typically follow one of three career paths: they go to medical school to become a doctor, continue on to graduate school to become a researcher in academia, industry or hospitals, or they enter the workforce after completing a bachelor\u2019s degree to work in the pharmaceutical industry, government agencies, or environmental protection. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThose who want to go to med school have to take the MCAT entry exam, and much of the content of that exam is covered in the courses in our major \u2013 immunology, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology,\u201d Sun said. <\/p>\n


\nThe program\u2019s graduates have had great success in recent years in being accepted to prominent medical schools. All four from the department who applied to medical school last year were admitted, including Sun\u2019s son Kevin and sophomore Shayla Minteer, who was accepted through Brown\u2019s Early Identification Program. Of the four medical students now enrolled at Brown Medical School from 溏心vlog免费B站, three are from the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. <\/p>\n


\n\tKathleen Maher, chair of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Health Professions Advisory Committee, which provides guidance to students who apply to medical school, agrees. “While pre-medical students may select from the full range of available majors on campus, the biochemistry track of the new cell and molecular biology degree is clearly the most biomedically relevant program of study on campus. It provides an excellent foundation for medical school training, as well as a robust preparation for the required MCAT, which is unveiling new exam content in 2015 to reflect recent changes in medical education. The major is also an ideal match for students wishing to pursue a career in biomedical research.”<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cJust as cell and molecular biology grew out of biochemistry and microbiology, our field continues to evolve,\u201d added Sun. \u201cBiomedical research is still in its infancy; we\u2019re just beginning to understand the basis of many diseases, with many new medicines being developed. And we\u2019re at the core of Rhode Island\u2019s knowledge-based economy. We\u2019re serving a growing market.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 October 23, 2013 — The 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology is expanding its offerings to appeal to a wider variety of students by providing them with the option of focusing their studies on microbiology, biochemistry or biotechnology. \u201cWe reexamined our major to see if it appealed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}