Molecular Biophysics Graduate Program
Students and faculty associated with Florida State University’s Molecular Biophysics Graduate Program (MOB) use the language and tools of physics, biochemistry, mathematics, physical chemistry, and molecular and cellular biology to understand biological phenomena at the molecular level. Molecular Biophysics involves exciting, highly interdisciplinary research, and the graduate training at FSU reflects the best in the areas that comprise biophysics.
The MOB Graduate Program is independent from the graduate programs in other departments. Because our faculty is drawn from several departments, MOB students have the opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary group of faculty and access to resources in several departments. Applicants must specify that they are applying to one of the MOB Program track: Molecular Biophysics/Structural Biology. See more information on the Curriculum page. Applications to MOB are separate and different from applications to Chemistry, Physics, Biology or other departments. See our Admissions page. The application deadline is January 15th.
MOB Students
Successful students in our program come from many different scientific backgrounds and our curriculum is designed with the flexibility to meet their individual goals. Our program is small enough that MOB students receive individual attention and yet large enough to offer the students a wealth of research opportunities. Our graduates are employed in academia, industry, and government. We have graduates in patent law and those who have founded their own start-up companies. Our students are a diverse group who come to us from all over the world. Students studying molecular biophysics at Florida State are a close-knit group and gather once a week during Fall and Spring semesters for pizza and the chance to help each other hone their presentation skills.
MOB Faculty
We have approximately 33 faculty associated with the MOB program, drawn from several Departments in three Colleges at FSU, including Chemistry and Biochemistry, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Biomedical Sciences, and Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. Faculty research interests cover a wide range of areas from quantum and statistical mechanical modeling of biopolymers to biochemical and biophysical studies of development and gene expression to designing bioreactors to culture stem cells. Current areas of research strength include Structural Biology & Computational Biophysics, as well as Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry.
Facilities
Outstanding research facilities allow our students to directly use sophisticated and state-of-the-art equipment. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is the largest and highest-powered magnet laboratory in the world and has been located in Tallahassee since 1989. FSU is also home to one of the world’s most advanced robotic electron microscopes, the FEI Titan Krios. A University-wide shared High Performance Computing Facility with nearly 7,000 cores and advanced visualization capabilities supports computational research. FSU is also a member of SER-CAT at the Advanced Photon Source in Argonne, IL with access to third generation synchrotron beam lines at the world’s second most powerful x-ray source. A range of Core Common Facilities in IMB are available to MOB students to pursue their research. Facilities in other departments in the Science Complex can also offer the MOB student access to an even wider variety of advanced equipment.
