Graduate studies in the Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences can lead to an M.P.S., M.S. or Ph.D. degree. Students may choose from research areas in plant molecular biology, physical biochemistry, biophysics, and cell regulatory systems. Financial aid is available on a competitive basis, primarily in the form of graduate teaching assistantships. Research assistantships and University fellowships are also available.

All of the faculty are actively involved in research that is supported at the federal level. Students admitted to the graduate program in Biochemistry may also carry out their research with faculty listed under Microbiology in this catalog, in a number of laboratories in other departments at the University, the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Portland, or through cooperative institutional arrangements and Associate faculty or staff.

The Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is awarded for significant and original contributions to basic knowledge through research. A Ph.D. degree in Functional Genomics http://gsbs.umaine.edu/programs/genomics  may also be obtained through the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program. The department also participates in the Ph.D. program in Biomedical Sciences. The curriculum plan is variable and will take into account each student’s goals for graduate study and the content and quality of his or her undergraduate preparation.

The Master’s program prepares students for further studies toward the Ph.D., or medical degrees, as well as for careers in academic or industrial research, or teaching. The M.P.S., Master of Professional Studies, is a non-thesis Master’s degree.

The Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences is housed in Hitchner Hall which is well equipped to do modern research in bacteriology, animal virology, molecular biology, and immunology. Equipment available for research includes preparative and analytical ultracentrifuges, liquid scintillation radioisotope counters, high speed refrigerated centrifuges, biohazard chambers, tissue culture facilities, density gradient equipment, flow cytometers, electrophoresis equipment, a gas chromatograph, fermentors, phase, confocal, and fluorescent microscopes, and transmission and scanning electron microscopes. Excellent facilities are available for holding and breeding small animals including both fresh and salt water fishes, including zebrafish.

Prerequisite for admission to these programs is the completion of undergraduate work in chemistry, mathematics, and physics substantially equivalent to that required of undergraduate students at this institution whose major is Biochemistry.

Graduate Faculty

Robert E. Gundersen, Ph.D. (University of Texas-Austin, 1983), Chair and Associate Professor. The role of signal transduction during growth and development in eukaryotes.

Sharon L. Ashworth, Ph.D. (Purdue University, 1998), Assistant Professor. Biochemical and microscopic analysis of the dynamic interactions between the actin cytoskeleton and actin-associated proteins during kidney failure using cell culture, rat, mouse and zebrafish model systems.

Dorothy E. Croall, Ph.D. (University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 1979) Professor. Biochemistry of proteins and enzymes with focus on calcium dependent proteases (calpains) and their diverse biological roles.

Julie A. Gosse, Ph.D. (Cornell, 2005), Assistant Professor.  Biochemical, molecular, and cellular toxicology to aid in human environmental health risk assessment.

Keith W. Hutchison, Ph.D. (Wisconsin-Madison, 1974) Professor. Genome reprogramming and gene expression in early vertebrate development.

Carol H. Kim, Ph.D. (Cornell, 1992), Associate Professor. Viral pathogens and vaccine development in a zebrafish model system.

Charles E. Moody, Ph.D. (Rhode Island, 1976), Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator. Developmental and comparative immunology.

Mary E. Rumpho, Ph.D. (Washington State, 1982), Professor. Symbiosis and horizontal gene transfer. Photosynthesis and chloroplast biochemistry. Anticancer compounds from molluscs and algae.

John T. Singer, Ph.D. (Georgia, 1983), Professor . Molecular genetics and microbial physiology.

Rebecca J. Van Beneden, Ph.D. (The Johns Hopkins University, 1983), Professor. Molecular oncology and aquatic toxicology; the role of cellular oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in response to environmental toxicants; regulation of gene expression; molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis in non-mammalian models.

Robert T. Wheeler, PhD (Stanford, 2000), Assistant Professor. Genetics, genomics, biochemistry and cell biology of fungal pathogens with mammalian hosts.

Associate Faculty at Jackson Laboratory

Gragory A. Cox, Ph.D. (University of Michigan, 1994).

Thomas Gridley, Ph.D. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985). Mouse developmental genetics and models for human disease.

Derry C. Roopenian, Ph.D. (University of Minnesota, 1984). Autoimmunity, molecular phenotyping, transplantation genetics.

David V. Serreze, Ph.D. (University of Maine, 1990). Mouse models of insulin-dependent diabetes; the genetic basis for immune tolerance to endogenous proteins.

Lindsay S. Shopland, Ph.D. (Cornell, 1996), Research Assistant Professor. Genome organization and chromosome structure within the cell nucleus.

Leonard D. Shultz, Ph.D. (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1972). Mechanisms of immunodeficiency and autoimmunity.

John P. Sundberg, D.V.M. (Purdue University 1977), Ph.D. (University of Connecticut, 1981), Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (specialist in anatomic pathology, 1982), Senior Staff Scientist (The Jackson Laboratory). Genetics and mechanisms of skin diseases and general pathology of genetically engineered laboratory mice.

Associate Faculty at Maine Medical Center Research Institute

Robert E. Friesel, Ph.D. (George Washington University, 1989). Growth factors (FGFs).

Volkhard Lindner, M.D., Ph.D. (University of Tubingen, 1991). Blood vessels and the factors that control the growth of cells in the vessel wall.

Leif Oxburgh, Ph.D., D.V.M. (Swedish University, 1989. Characterization and differentiation of nephron precursors.

Igor A. Prudovsky, Ph.D. (Russian Academy of Sciences, 1979). Molecular mechanisms of regulation of anglogenesis and inflammation by fibroblast growth factors.

Douglas Spicer, Ph.D. (Boston University, 1992). Regulation of growth and differentiation of muscle, bone, and endothelial cells.

Zack Wang, Ph.D. (Boston University, 1998). Hematopoietic and endothelial differentiation of embryonic stem cells.