Molecular Biology, BS

Biological Sciences courses

Majors must complete a minimum of 36-38 credits of Biological Sciences coursework as described below.

Co-requisite courses

• CHEM 0110 - GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1
• CHEM 0120 - GENERAL CHEMISTRY 2

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• CHEM 0310 - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 1 * or
• CHEM 0350 - PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY *  

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• MATH 0220 - ANALYTIC GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS 1
• STAT 1000 - APPLIED STATISTICAL METHODS

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  Choose one STEM co-requisite lecture course (minimum 3 credits) and lab course (minimum 1 credit) from the following options:

• CHEM 0250 - INTRODUCTION TO ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY and  
• CHEM 0260 - INTRODUCTION TO ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY LAB

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• CHEM 0320 - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 2 * and
• CHEM 0345 - ORGANIC LABORATORY

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• CMPINF 0401 - INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMING (satisfies lecture and lab)
• CS 0011 - INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING FOR SCIENTISTS (satisfies lecture and lab)

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• PHYS 0110 - INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICS 1 * and
• PHYS 0111 - INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICS 2 * and
• PHYS 0212 - INTRODUCTION TO LABORATORY PHYSICS *

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• PHYS 0174 - BASIC PHYSICS FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1 * and
• PHYS 0175 - BASIC PHYSICS FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 2 * and
• PHYS 0219 - BASIC LABORATORY PHYSICS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING *

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• or choose:

• CHEM 0330 - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LABORATORY 1 * and any other previously listed STEM co-requisite lecture course or any of the following stand-alone lecture courses:
• MATH 0230 - ANALYTIC GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS 2
• MATH 0280 - INTRO TO MATRICES & LINEAR ALG
• STAT 1201 - APPLIED NONPARAMETRIC STATISTICS
• STAT 1211 - APPLIED CATEGORICAL DATA ANLYSIS
• STAT 1221 - APPLIED REGRESSION
• STAT 1231 - APPLIED EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
• STAT 1241 - APPLIED SAMPLING
• STAT 1261 - PRINCIPLES OF DATA SCIENCE
• STAT 1281 - DATA SCIENCE WITH PYTHON
• STAT 1301 - STATISTICAL PACKAGES

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  *Note: Students planning to apply to medical, dental, optometry, or some veterinary schools or other pre-professional health programs, or who intend to pursue graduate study in certain scientific disciplines, should complete the two-semester organic chemistry lecture and laboratory sequence CHEM 0310/ 0320/ 0345 (8 credits) and the two-semester introductory physics lecture and laboratory sequence, either PHYS 0110/ 0111/ 0112 (algebra-based; 8 credits) or PHYS 0174/ 0175/ 0219 (calculus-based; 10 credits).

Restrictions

• All BIOSC courses at the 0800-level are designed for non-majors and do not count toward the major.
• Undergraduate teaching assistant (BIOSC 1690), independent study (BIOSC 1901), and undergraduate research credits (e.g., BIOSC 1903) do not count toward the major, although the department encourages students to pursue these opportunities.
• Anatomy lecture and lab courses do not count toward the major.
• Only one physiology course can be used for the major.
• The following courses are considered as course repeats, and students cannot earn credit for both:
  • BIOSC 1000 BIOCHEMISTRY   and BIOSC 1810 MACROMOLECULAR STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION  
• Students must complete at least two upper-level BIOSC labs for the major, and at least one of them must be taken at the Pittsburgh campus. Online labs cannot be used for the Molecular Biology major.

Grade requirements

• All biology core courses, seminar course, writing course, and electives must be completed with a grade of C or better.
• A minimum GPA of 2.0 in all departmental courses taken is required for graduation. If a C- or lower is earned in an elective course for the major but is not repeated, the course will be used to calculate the departmental GPA but will not be counted toward the 36-38 credits required for the major.
• Students must also earn a minimum GPA of 2.0 in the co-requisite courses. A passing grade of C- or lower in a co-requisite course can be accepted if balanced by a higher grade in another co-requisite course so that the co-requisite GPA is 2.0 or higher. Exceptions: CHEM 0110 and CHEM 0120 require a C or better to declare the major; PHYS 0110/0174 require a C or better to enroll in PHYS 0111/0175; MATH 0220 requires a C or better to enroll in MATH 0230.
• Only one BIOSC course may be taken on a Satisfactory/No Credit (S/NC) basis.

David C. Frederick Honors College equivalent courses may be substituted for required or elective courses