Welcome to the Duke Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.
The Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Cell Biology have united to form a single department, bringing together two closely aligned scientific communities with a shared commitment to discovery, education, and service. This union reflects how our fields have converged over the past several decades. Questions once separated by scale or method are now approached with a common set of tools and a common vocabulary, and our faculty have long collaborated across the boundary between them. As one department, we are organized around how science is carried out today and prepared for the changes ahead.
Our roots reach back to the founding of the Duke University School of Medicine in 1930. Biochemistry was established that year as one of the School’s original basic science departments. Cell Biology traces its origins to the Department of Anatomy, founded the same year, and took its current name and focus in 1988. Together, we carry a tradition of scientific excellence that includes Nobel Prize-winning discoveries and internationally recognized research programs.
Today, Duke BCB brings together world-class researchers studying life from molecules to organisms. Our work spans molecular structure and mechanism, cellular organization and signaling, and the behavior of tissues and whole organisms. Bringing these areas together in one department makes it easier for a structural question to become a cellular one, and for a cellular observation to be pursued down to the level of mechanism.
People are at the center of our mission. People are at the center of our mission. Our faculty lead research programs that advance discovery across the life sciences, and they are dedicated teachers and mentors who invest in the next generation of scientists. We are equally committed to the training, mentorship, and professional growth of our graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and staff, and we share a culture that values creative thinking, collaboration, and innovation.
Duke BCB is an exceptional place to discover, learn, and grow. I invite you to explore our research, meet our people, and see what our training programs have to offer.
Scott Soderling, PhD
Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology