MCMP Graduate Program - Interdisciplinary Programs

Our ties to the research community elsewhere on campus are broad and deep. In addition to the formalized programs listed below, many faculty maintain active research collaborations with groups in other departments on campus.

Graduate studies in biochemistry at Purdue are offered primarily through the inter-departmentally administered Purdue University Interdisciplinary Life Science Ph.D. program (PULSe) (formerly Purdue University Biochemistry and Molecular Biology "BMB" program). The Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology participated in the founding of BMB, and many faculty are members and serve as mentors for BMB graduate students. Our involvement with BMB leads to extensive campus-wide interactions with the entire biochemistry community. BMB also conducts a first-rate seminar program.

Purdue University provides a rich environment for interdisciplinary cancer research, which is conducted in eleven departments representing five schools across the West Lafayette campus. Areas of expertise include molecular, cellular, and structural biology, biochemistry and synthetic chemistry with emphasis on cell signaling pathways and the design and synthesis of novel chemical entities. The Purdue Cancer Center, authorized and funded by the National Cancer Institute, coordinates Purdue's cancer research effort and promotes communication and research collaborations that cross the boundaries between departments and disciplines. Research is concentrated in three major areas: determination of the molecular causes of cancer, visualization of the atomic structure of cancer molecules and the design and synthesis of new anti-cancer drugs and imaging agents. Members of the MCMP faculty and their undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs are represented in all three research areas and cancer research represents a major strength in the department.

Chemical Pharmacology can be viewed as the application of chemical principles to the solution of pharmacological problems. It is an area where medicinal chemistry interfaces intimately with biological sciences and pharmacology. The focus is on the action of the drug molecule at the receptor or effector level and on how molecular structure affects this. Research in this area involves one of the departmental specializations and, in addition, a substantial pharmacology component.

The Department is a participant in the Purdue Integrative Neuroscience Program. This interdisciplinary field of study was formally initiated in 1994 and involves eleven departments in five schools on the Purdue campus. It provides a solid core of training in the fundamentals of neuroscience, as well as more specialized training options, spanning across molecular, cellular and systems levels, in three broad thematic areas: (1) molecular signaling, (2) development and plasticity, and (3) behavioral and cognitive neuroscience. Students receive a strong grounding in fundamentals and principles of integrative neuroscience through a core of courses required of all students who major in this field. Coherent training in an integrative specialty is achieved through appropriate coursework selected from the offerings and research with the laboratory of a participating mentor.

The Graduate Program in Molecular Virology is a campus-wide effort involving 20 faculty who direct virological and molecular biological research within the Departments of Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Veterinary Pathobiology, and Botany and Plant Pathology. The interdepartmental nature of the Graduate Program in Virology (GPV) allows entering students to choose from a wide variety of research programs. The stature of the faculty and the scope of their research interests, as well as the teaching excellence of the faculty, make Purdue University a leading center for virology research. The main goal of this program is to develop each student's capability for conducting independent, creative research through faculty-guided projects, supplemented with advanced coursework and seminars.

The Computational Science and Engineering Program at Purdue University is an interdisciplinary graduate program, that started in the fall of 1995. It offers specializations in Computational Science and Computational Engineering through seventeen departments across various Schools in Purdue. Specializations are offered in both M.S. and Ph.D. levels.