How is Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology (BCMB) Different from Biology or Chemistry?

Since our name includes the words 'chemistry' and 'biology', some find it confusing to distinguish between BCMB and these other disciplines.

The best way to understand what a field is like is to examine national expectations of graduates in those fields.

Many disciplines have professional organizations that guide these expected educational outcomes. For Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, our professional organization is the ASBMB (American Society of Biochemists and Molecular Biologists).

Further, many graduate schools use GRE scores to judge student undergraduate preparation for their respective subject areas. We can thus use GRE exams for.more guidance about defining the national expectations for persons graduating from corresponding undergraduate programs.

Below are the GRE content areas in Biology, BCMB and Chemistry: More information can be found at http://www.gre.org/subjtest.html

When you look at these materials, you will clearly see that

1. The topic areas are different. The biology graduate is expected to know more about organismal biology and ecology (constituting 2/3 of the exam). Conversely, the biochemistry molecular biology student is expected to know more about biochemistry (absent from Biology GRE), as well as more depth in cell and molecular biology. Though chemistry is an important part of learning the bcmb subjects, the subject areas in chemistry are totally different from bcmb.
2. The BCMB student uses chemistry and biology to inform their study of life process on the molecular level, but it has emerged into its own field that is distinct from its parent fields of biology and chemistry..

The Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology GRE

1. BIOCHEMISTRY (36%)

   1. Chemical & Physical Foundations
   2. Biomolecules: Structure, Assembly
   3. Major Metabolic Pathways
   4. Bioenergetics
   5. Regulation & Integration of Metabolism
   6. Methodology

2. CELL BIOLOGY (28%)

   1. Cellular Compartments of Prokaryotes & Eukaryotes: Organization, Dynamics & Functions
   2. Cell Surface & Communication
   3. Cytoskeleton, Motility, & Shape
   4. Protein Synthesis & Processing
   5. Cell Division, Differentiation, & Development

3. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS (36%)

   1. Genetic Foundations
   2. Chromatin & Chromosomes
   3. Genomics
   4. Genome Maintenance
   5. Gene Expression
   6. Gene Regulation in Prokaryotes
   7. Gene Regulation in Eukaryotes
   8. Bacteriophages & Animal & Plant Viruses
   9. Methodology 

    

The Biology GRE

1. CELLULAR & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (33-34%)
   1. Cellular Structure & Functioin (16-17%)
   2. Genetics & Molecular Biology (16-17%)
2. ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY (33-34%)
   1. Animal Structure, Function, & Organization (9-10%)
   2. Animal Reproduction & Development (5-6%
   3. Plant Structure, Function, & Organization, with Emphasis on Flowering Plants (6-7%)
   4. Plant Reproduction, Growth, & Development, with Emphasis on Flowering Plants (4-5%)
   5. Diversity of Life (6-7%)
3. ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION (33-34%)
   1. Ecology (16-17%)
   2. Evolution (16-17%)

The Chemistry GRE
 

1. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY (15%)
   1. Data Acquisition & Use of Statistics
   2. Solutions & Standardization
   3. Homogenous Equilbiria
   4. Instrumental Applicaitons
   5. Radiochemical Methods
2. INORGANIC CHEMISTRY (25%)
   1. General Chemistry
   2. Ionic Substances
   3. Covalent Molecular Substances
   4. Metals & Semiconductors
   5. Concepts of Acids & Bases
   6. Chemistry of the Main Group Elements
   7. Chemistry of the Transition Elements
   8. Special Topics
3. ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
   1. Structure, Bonding, & Nomenclature
   2. Functional Groups
   3. Reaction Mechanisms
   4. Reactive Intermediates
   5. Organometallics
   6. Special Topics
4. PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY (30%)
   1. Thermodynamics
   2. Quantum Chemistry & Applications to Spectroscopy
   3. Dynamics

Also for your reference, below is the list of outcomes suggested by ASBMB for undergraduate BCMB programs. Not that they correlate well with GRE expectations.