These investigations are enriched through a broad range of collaborative studies with laboratories at the nearby National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Defense, and the private sector in the Washington metropolitan area. This allows access to an extremely wide spectrum of expertise and state-of-the-art technologies. The department prepares students for successful careers as independent investigators in biomedical sciences and the biotechnology industry and for other advanced degrees in science and medicine. Both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology are offered. While the Ph.D. program has traditionally trained students for academic research positions and continues to do so, we are now pleased to offer a new Ph.D. program, designed in collaboration with industry, to train scientists for careers in biotechnology.