Program Overview

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Overview

The Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program provides advanced, research-based education that will prepare students for a career in academic, industrial, or professional positions in British Columbia and beyond. The Program offers MSc and PhD degrees, with the option to transfer from the MSc into the PhD track during the second year. The bulk of the program is research-intensive and assessed by examination of a dissertation, although students starting in the MSc program are required to take six formal course credits, which are usually completed within the first two academic terms. Course topics include protein structure and function, gene regulation, epigenetics, membrane structure and function, cellular regulation, and bioinformatics. Students also present a departmental research seminar in each year of their program, contribute to peer-reviewed publications, and present their work at local, national, or international meetings.

What makes the program unique?

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is home to more than thirty, highly funded, well-equipped, research groups, that seek to understand the molecular basis of multiples diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, retinal degenerative diseases, bacterial and viral infections, including COVID-19. The Department has a rich history and on-going record of exceptional academic and research excellence. The Department was home to Nobel Laureate, Michael Smith, and current members hold research chairs, Killam awards and are members of the Royal Society of Canada. While the majority of our research laboratories are located in the Life Sciences Institute and Michael Smith Laboratories on the Point Grey Campus, member labs are also found in the BC Cancer Research Centre, the Centre for Brain Health, the Centre for Blood Research, and the Child and Family Health Research Institute. Thus, our program offers trainees a broad range of research topics, world-class mentorship, and diverse training environments.

Quick Facts

• Faculty: Faculty of Medicine
• Academic Unit: Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
• Specialization: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Mode of delivery: In person at UBC Vancouver
• Program Components: Dissertation
• Tuition (First Year): Domestic: 5,626.02 | International: 9,883.98
• Median Funding: 50% of students receive $44,619 or more funding per year in the first 4 years, before tuition and fees

Admission Information & Requirements

1) Check Eligibility

Minimum Academic Requirements

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies establishes the minimum admission requirements common to all applicants, usually a minimum overall average in the B+ range (76% at UBC). The graduate program that you are applying to may have additional requirements. Please review the specific requirements for applicants with credentials from institutions in:

• Canada or the United States
• International countries other than the United States Each program may set higher academic minimum requirements. Please review the program website carefully to understand the program requirements. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission as it is a competitive process.

English Language Test

Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must provide results of an English language proficiency examination as part of their application. Tests must have been taken within the last 24 months at the time of submission of your application. Minimum requirements for the two most common English language proficiency tests to apply to this program are listed below:

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language - internet-based

Overall score requirement : 106 Reading: 27 Writing: 29 Speaking: 24 Listening: 27

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

Overall score requirement : 7.5 Reading: 7.0 Writing: 7.0 Speaking: 7.0 Listening: 7.0

Other Test Scores

Some programs require additional test scores such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Graduate Management Test (GMAT). The requirements for this program are: The GRE is required by some applicants. Please check the program website.

2) Meet Deadlines

See the graduate degree program listing for additional deadline details. Program Name: Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) Intake: September 2026 Canadian Applicant Deadline: 15 January 2026 International Applicant Deadline: 15 January 2026

3) Prepare Application

Transcripts

All applicants have to submit transcripts from all past post-secondary study. Document submission requirements depend on whether your institution of study is within Canada or outside of Canada.

Letters of reference

Applicants have to submit 2 references to apply to this graduate program. Please review our general information on reference letters, including the types of references (e.g. academic, professional) that you may be asked for and how the references will be collected. Additionally, you can view short videos on how to identify and approach reference writers.

Statement of Interest

Many programs require a statement of interest, sometimes called a "statement of intent", "description of research interests" or something similar.

Supervision

Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members. Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program: Applicants should browse faculty profiles and indicate in their application who they are interested in working with. No commitment from a supervisor prior to applying is necessary, but contacting faculty members is encouraged.

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

Fees| Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat| International
---|---|---
Application Fee| $118.50| $168.25
Tuition *
Installments per year| 3| 3
Tuition per installment| $1,875.34| $3,294.66
Tuition per year
(plus annual increase, usually 2%-5%)| $5,626.02| $9,883.98
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible)| | $3,200.00 (-)
Other Fees and Costs
Student Fees (yearly)| $1,144.10 (approx.)
Costs of living| Estimate your costs of living with our interactive tool in order to start developing a financial plan for your graduate studies.

Financial Support

Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.

Program Funding Packages

Successful applicants to this program will be provided with a base funding package of at least $34,000/year for each of the first two years of an MSc or four years of a PhD program. Students awarded major (i.e. greater than $15,000 per year), merit-based (for example: NSERC/CIHR CGSM, NSERC PGSD, or UBC Four-Year Fellowships) awards will receive a minimum of $37,000/year financial support. PhD students, except those who have their tuition paid by an external sponsor, will additionally receive the Presidents Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award, PAEIPA. Additionally, with the exception of Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship or Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship recipients, tuition for the first four years of a PhD will be partially covered by either UBC or a BMB Graduate Tuition Award. These minimum support packages can be further supplemented by TAships, and overall, the average support package for graduate students exceeds $36,250 per annum.

Funding Statistics

Based on the criteria outlined below, 35 students within this program were included in this study because they received funding through UBC in the form of teaching, research, academic assistantships or internal or external awards with a mean of $44,496 and a median of$44,619. This results in a net balance (any funding provided to the student minus tuition and fees) mean of $37,103 and median of$37,197.

• 17 students received Teaching Assistantships. Median TA funding based on 17 students was $4,111.
• 32 students received Research Assistantships. Median RA funding based on 32 students was $24,000.
• 13 students received Academic Assistantships. Median AA funding based on 13 students was $166.
• 35 students received internal awards. Median internal award funding based on 35 students was $6,419.
• 16 students received external awards. Median external award funding based on 16 students was $24,167.

Career Outcomes

66 students graduated between 2005 and 2013: 2 are in non-salaried situations; for 6 we have no data (based on research conducted between Feb-May 2016). For the remaining 58 graduates:

• RI (Research-Intensive) Faculty: typically tenure-track faculty positions (equivalent of the North American Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor positions) in PhD-granting institutions
• TI (Teaching-Intensive) Faculty: typically full-time faculty positions in colleges or in institutions not granting PhDs, and teaching faculty at PhD-granting institutions
• Term Faculty: faculty in term appointments (e.g. sessional lecturers, visiting assistant professors, etc.)

Sample Employers in Higher Education

• University of British Columbia (8)
• Harvard University (2)
• University of Toronto (2)
• Oregon Health and Science University
• University of Alberta
• Washington University in St Louis
• University of Ottawa
• University of Washington
• Southeast University
• Johns Hopkins University

Sample Employers Outside Higher Education

• BC Cancer Agency (2)
• Centre for Drug Research and Development (2)
• STEMCELL Technologies (2)
• Samsung Bioepis
• McGivney Global Advisors
• Inception Sciences Canada
• Arbutus Biopharma
• Boreal Genomics
• Renaissance BioScience
• Criterion Bioscience Capital Advisory Group

Sample Job Titles Outside Higher Education

• Research Scientist (3)
• Postdoctoral Fellow (2)
• Associate (2)
• Senior Scientific Researcher
• Consultant
• Owner, designer
• Group Scientific Director
• Scientist
• Physician
• Head of Research

PhD Career Outcome Survey

You may view the full report on career outcomes of UBC PhD graduates on outcomes.grad.ubc.ca.

Disclaimer

These data represent historical employment information and do not guarantee future employment prospects for graduates of this program. They are for informational purposes only. Data were collected through either alumni surveys or internet research.

Career Options

During the past year we undertook a detailed survey of all graduates who completed their graduate programs in the period from . Of the total of 138 graduates, we have tracked the career progress of more than 120 so far. Of this total, 35 have completed further training in graduate and postdoctoral positions, 20 have entered a professional program (mostly in Law or Medicine), 11 have progressed to a tenure-stream faculty position and 32 have full-time research positions in academia (8), industry (21) or government departments (3). Others have established careers in technical writing or management and the most recent cohort (13) are still at a very early stage of career development. Although we need to continue to track and refine our understanding of career outcomes, it is very clear that our programs enable our graduates to achieve career success in a number of academic, professional and commercial areas.

Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats

These statistics show data for the Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD). Data are separated for each degree program combination. You may view data for other degree options in the respective program profile.

ENROLMENT DATA

| 2023| 2022| 2021| 2020| 2019
---|---|---|---|---|---
Applications| 14| 21| 26| 15| 22
Offers| 2| 6| 7| 1| 3
New Enrolment| 1| 3| 6| 1| 3
Total Enrolment| 52| 50| 44| 45| 50

Completion Rates & Times

This program has a graduation rate of 90% based on 31 students admitted between 2011 - 2014. Based on 28 graduating students from the 2011 - 2014 admissions cohort the minimum time to completion is 3.29 years and the maximum time is 7.4 years with an average of 5.56 years of study. All calculations exclude leave times.

Research Supervisors

Supervision

Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members. Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program: Applicants should browse faculty profiles and indicate in their application who they are interested in working with. No commitment from a supervisor prior to applying is necessary, but contacting faculty members is encouraged.

Sample Thesis Submissions

• Structural characterization of novel bactericidal and virulence targets in gram-positive bacteria of actinomycetia
• Characterization of the interaction between Ty1 integrase and RNA polymerase III for Ty1 retrotransposon insertion into the yeast genome
• Protease regulation of disease : SARS-CoV-2 3CLᴾʳº is secreted and cleaves interferon-lambdas, and MMP12 regulates substrates in age-related fatty liver disease
• Investigating the assembly and function of the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli type 3 secretion system
• Investigating the roles of viral and host proteins in regulation of HIV-1 latency
• Development of genetically modified platelets for therapeutic and research applications
• Discovery and engineering of enzymes for the manipulation of glycoproteins
• Biochemical and structural characterization of the human autophagy factor and Vici syndrome protein EPG5
• Epigenetic underpinnings of pediatric immune system development
• Characterizing the function of ATP8A2 and its role in neurodegenerative disease
• Investigating the effect of ribosome perturbation on the translational regulation of the interferon response
• Characterization of membrane proteomes from prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells using peptidiscs
• Fertility costs of covert viral infections in honey bee queens
• Optimizing systems to enable genetic engineering of transfusable platelets
• The role of STAC proteins in regulation of calcium channels and skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling
• Structural and functional characterization of key proteins essential to the lifecycle of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
• Modulating clot stability by regulating lysis with lipid nanoparticle-delivered siRNA
• Exploring the interactome of the bacterial Sec translocon
• Structural insights into calmodulin regulation and dysregulation of the L-type voltage-gated calcium channel
• Mechanisms of eukaryotic transcription in mouse embryonic stem cells
• TBP and its diversified role in transcription initiation
• Improving detection and quantification of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-presented immunopeptides for vaccine development
• Molecular mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 variant spike proteins
• Age drives changes in the composition of detergent-insoluble protein aggregates in brain tissue
• Structural and functional studies of lipid nanoparticles

Related Programs

Same specialization

• Master of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (MSc)

At the UBC Okanagan Campus

• Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD)

Further Information

Specialization

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Possible areas of research in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology include: control of gene expression in eukaryotes and bacteria; structure and function of genes; systems biology; blood proteins; the mechanism of the action of insulin; membrane and membrane protein structure and function; protein trafficking; cell-surface receptors, signal transduction, and cell-growth control; neural and retinal photoreceptor membranes; lipid-based targeted delivery systems; macromolecular crystallography and X-ray diffraction techniques for the characterization of enzymes and protein complexes; metalloprotein structure and function; mechanisms of enzyme activity; mechanism of hemoprotein electron transfer; structural analysis of proteins by nuclear magnetic resonance; mechanisms of multi-drug resistance; and cancer.