Home | Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Welcome to the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

As one of the first departments of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the nation, we are proud of our strong tradition of combining cutting-edge technology with impactful biology. We continue to leverage this interdisciplinary approach to yield break-through discoveries in biomedicine.

Our faculty of over 30 primary and secondary members cover a broad range of research areas, with particular strengths in structural biology, chemical biology, gene regulation and protein folding.

We are also the proud home of the Eldridge Reeves Johnson Research Foundation which offers advanced physical instrumentation and instruction to researchers across campus.

We are actively growing, with several recent hires, and our faculty are broadly engaged across campus with many joint appointments in other departments, institutes and centers.

We welcome you to learn more about our department in the following pages or contact us.

Titan Krios...
Installation Phase One

News & Publications

Garcia, Black, and Englander labs in Structure
November 2018
The Garcia, Black and Englander labs combine forces to achieve a high-resolution view of histone tail dynamics during nucleosome assembly
Sellmyer received NIH award
October 2018
Mark Sellmyer received NIH Director's Early Independence Award for developing small molecule tools for molecular-imaging
Black in Developmental Cell
October 2018
Ben Black and colleagues determine how centromeres are maintained through DNA replication
Kohli in Nature Biotechnology
October 2018
Rahul Kohli & colleagues develop a new method for sequencing modified DNA

Seminars & Events

Raiziss Rounds | Bruce Spiegelman, PhD
Thursday, December 6, 2018 • 12:00 noon
Thermogenic adipose function: Basic biology and therapeutic opportunities
Johnson Foundation Distinguished Lecture
Monday, Dec 10, 2018 | 4:00 pm
Reinhard Lührmann

Faculty Spotlight

Ben Garcia, PhD

Ben Garcia is the John McCrea Dickson M.D. Presidential Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, as well as vice-chair of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Graduate Group and Director of the Quantitative Proteomics Resource Center. The Garcia Lab utilizes high-resolution mass spectrometry to explore cellular signaling, epigenetic mechanisms and chromatin regulation; with particular interest in understanding how protein and nucleic acid modifications regulate nuclear processes. Recent discoveries include understanding the structural dynamics of histone tails, uncovering connections between histone acetylation in metabolism, and identifying lncRNAs in ant brains. The Garcia lab also is a leader in the development of mass spectrometry methods, enabling new applications of mass spectrometry throughout the scientific community.