Research at the College of Chemical and Life Sciences

The research of faculty, students and staff in the College of Chemical and Life Sciences is focused in the basic biological sciences and chemistry:

• biochemistry and biophysics; molecular, cell and developmental biology; ecology and evolution; neuroscience and behavior
• analytical, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry
• conservation biology, microbiology, entomology, plant biology and zoology

The College received $28M in external funding for research in FY07 from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and Environmental Protection Agency, as well as corporations and foundations.

The College currently has several multi-investigator and training grants including an NSF training grant in the Biology of Small Populations, NIH training grants in the Neurosciences and Neuroethology, an EPA Supersite Grant and a cooperative agreement with the Food and Drug Administration which funds the Joint Institute in Food Safety and Nutrition. It also holds an HHMI grant for undergraduate education in the biological sciences.

The major research initiatives of the College are in biodiversity; bioengineering; cellular basis of development; computational biology and bioinformatics; molecular machines and nanoscience, neuroscience; protein structure and function; molecular and population genetics; physiology; and virology.

The college's new Bioscience Research Building, $70M building which will house 35 faculty-led research groups in 68,000 net square feet of modern laboratory space, includes sophisticated core instrumentation facilities and two Biosafety Level-3 (BSL- 3) containment facilities, which allow researchers to work safely with pathogens. In addition, the building has a state-of-the-art 500-seat teaching auditorium, and outstanding seminar and conference rooms. These resources will enable the College to advance three major research initiatives—genomics, pathogenesis, and sensory neuroscience and to build the Maryland Pathogen Research Institute (MPRI) and Center for the Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing. The building will also provide outstanding research training opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows.