Cell, Evolutionary and Molecular Biology

- Overview

"Rapid advances in biology have had a major impact on our society. From the production of new drugs, to revolutionary advances in our understanding of how cells work, the areas of cell and molecular biology have contributed to our lives in a number of ways. Training in these areas is essential for careers in medicine, pharmacology, biochemistry, virology, immunology, developmental biology, and in a number of the high-tech industries. From agriculture to the space program, fundamental information from these areas has had enormous impact on the changes that have occurred in our generation." -- [Duke University]

Research in this category includes cellular and molecular processes at levels ranging from single molecule to single cell to tissue and organ systems.

- Cell Biology

Cell biology is the academic discipline that studies the basic unit of living things, cells. Cells are the smallest independently functioning unit in the structure of an organism and usually consist of a nucleus surrounded by cytoplasm and enclosed by a membrane. Cell biology examines, on microscopic and molecular levels, the physiological properties, structure, organelles (such as nuclei and mitochondria), interactions, life cycle, division and death of these basic units of organisms. Cell biology research extends to both the great diversity of single-celled organisms, such as bacteria and the many specialized cells in multicellular organisms, such as animals and plants.  

The cell is the structural and functional unit of all living organisms, and is sometimes called the "building block of life." Some organisms, such as bacteria, are unicellular, consisting of a single cell. Other organisms, such as humans, are multicellular, (humans have an estimated 100 trillion cells; a typical cell size is 10 µm, a typical cell mass 1 nanogram). The largest known cell is an ostrich egg. Each cell is at least somewhat self-contained and self-maintaining: it can take in nutrients, convert these nutrients into energy, carry out specialized functions, and reproduce as necessary. Each cell stores its own set of instructions for carrying out each of these activities. There are two types of cells, eukaryotic and prokaryotic. Prokaryotic cells are usually singletons, while eukaryotic cells are usually found in multi-cellular organisms.

Cells provide six main functions. They provide structure and support, facilitate growth through mitosis, allow passive and active transport, produce energy, create metabolic reactions and aid in reproduction.

- Evolutionary Biology

Evolutionary biology is a subdiscipline of the biological sciences concerned with the origin of life and the diversification and adaptation of life forms over time.

We live in an exciting time for biology. Technological advances have made data collection easier and cheaper than we could ever have imagined just 10 years ago. We can now synthesize and analyze large data sets containing genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, and multivariate phenotypes. At the same time, society's need for the results of biological research has never been greater. Solutions to many of the world's most pressing problems - feeding a global population, coping with climate change, preserving ecosystems and biodiversity, curing and preventing genetically based diseases—will rely heavily on biologists, collaborating across disciplines.

- Molecular Biology

Molecular biology, field of science concerned with studying the chemical structures and processes of biological phenomena that involve the basic units of life, molecules. The field of molecular biology is focused especially on nucleic acids (e.g., DNA and RNA) and proteins—macromolecules that are essential to life processes—and how these molecules interact and behave within cells. Molecular biology emerged in the 1930s, having developed out of the related fields of biochemistry, genetics, and biophysics; today it remains closely associated with those fields. 

[More to come ...]