By majoring in biochemistry at Illinois students are well-prepared to enter positions in the biotechnology, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries.

Biochemistry at Illinois is an advanced, interdisciplinary field that encompasses the biological and chemical sciences. Our department is part of the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology and has close ties with the School of Chemical Sciences, the Institute for Genomic Biology, the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, the Neuroscience Program, the Medical Scholars Program, and other interdisciplinary groups.

Biochemists deal with the chemical composition of living matter and the molecular nature of the processes of living systems. We seek to learn the chemical structure of biological molecules and to define chemical principles underlying biological functions.