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Home Research Research Focus Areas Biosciences

Biosciences

Translating science into healthier living

Biosciences at the University of Colorado Boulder aim to understand processes underlying behavior, function, disease and health at the molecular, cellular and whole-systems levels to develop interventions that improve human health.

Understanding healthy human and animal systems

Exploring disease states and diagnoses

Treatment strategies (shifts from disease to health; maintaining and optimizing health)

Biosciences In-Depth Stories

Robert Garcea in the lab

A shot in the arm

New shelf-stable vaccines could bolster lifesaving immunization deliveries worldwide. Read more
Gut microbiota

Could a dose of good bacteria prevent PTSD?

Mounting evidence shows healthy resident bacteria can play a pivotal role in supporting physical health. Read more
Brain graphic

‘Brain signature’ discovery could yield faster diagnosis for fibromyalgia patients

More than 5 million people suffer from fibromyalgia, a syndrome characterized by chronic muscle discomfort, sleep problems, pain hypersensitivity and sometimes mood disorders. Read more
Read more Biosciences Stories
Students doing research in Yin student lab

Faculty Leaders

With over 650 faculty and students involved in interdisciplinary bioscience research, CU Boulder is home to a dynamic scientific ecosystem that is shaping tomorrow’s leaders.

Lab graphic

Impacting Humanity

Biosciences is the single greatest contributor to commercialization activity at CU Boulder. In the last two decades, at least 89 biotech startups have emerged with roots at CU.

Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building

Research Institutes

Researchers at CU Boulder are empowered to explore new areas of bioscience by leveraging resources and talents across the university’s dedicated institutes.

For Media

13

National Academy of Science members

89+

Biotech startups with roots at CU (past 20 years)

7

Distinguished Professors

8

 American Association for the Advancement of Science members

Tom Cech

RNA & DNA Discoveries

Tom Cech discovered that RNA is not only a molecule that encodes information but also a catalyst. Cech’s discovery laid the foundations for advances in molecular genetics and a growing appreciation of the biological roles of RNA. 

  • Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1989)
  • National Medal of Science (1995) 
  • Distinguished Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Faculty Leaders

Molecular graphic

Making Chemotherapy Safer

Marvin Caruthers co-founded Amgen in 1980 to apply his work with RNA synthesis, DNA synthesis and analogues. Today, Amgen’s therapies help prevent infections in patients undergoing chemotherapy.

  • Co-founder, Amgen Inc.
  • Distinguished Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Faculty Leaders  Impacting Humanity

Tin Tin Su

Fighting Cancer

Tin Tin Su’s innovative work with fruit flies led to the patenting of a compound that keeps radiation-treated cancer cells from re-growing. Her startup, SuviCa, develops cancer therapeutics that exploit a cellular mechanism critical to cancer re-growth after treatment with standard therapies.

  • Co-founder, SuviCa
  • Professor, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

Faculty Leaders  Impacting Humanity

Jogger on grassy path

Preventing Cardiovascular Disease

Doug Seals founded the Clinical Translational Research Center in 1999 to establish lifestyle and pharmacological strategies to extend “healthspan,” the period of healthy life. Now, Seals’ research focuses on slowing and preventing cardiovascular disease.

  • National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging MERIT Award
  • Professor of Distinction, Integrative Physiology

Faculty Leaders

Leslie Leinward

Leading in the Classroom

Leslie Leinwand is renowned for her study of the molecules involved in muscle contraction and heart disease. Her research opens the door to the possibility of personalized heart-disease treatment. Committed to teaching and training, Leinwand is a national influencer in shaping biomedical research policies.

  • Chief Scientific Officer, BioFrontiers Institute 
  • Distinguished Professor, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

Faculty Leaders

Virus infected cell graphic

Developing Treatments for Infectious Disease

Biologist Larry Gold, an internationally regarded DNA and RNA researcher, co-founded Synergen in 1981, when biotechnology was still an emerging field. In 1992, he founded NeXagen, now part of Gilead Sciences, which develops treatments for infectious disease. And in 2000, he founded SomaLogic with the goal of transforming how diseases are detected and diagnosed.

  • Professor, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Faculty Leaders  Impacting Humanity

Illustration of pain in a person's wrist

Pain Management

Linda Watkins strives to understand how to control pathological pain states. Her work has yielded 300-plus peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Nature, Science and Journal of Neuroscience. A co-founder of Xalud Therapeutics, she is a world-renowned authority on the neurological applications of glial attenuation, focusing on alleviating chronic pain.

  • John Liebeskind Pain Management Research Award (2010)
  • Distinguished Professor, Psychology and Neuroscience
  • Co-Chair, Xalud Therapeutics Scientific Advisory Board

Faculty Leaders  Impacting Humanity

Extraordinary Facilities and Resources

Hospital workers sharing a file

Clinical Translational Research Center

Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building

Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building

Lab researchers looking at computer monitor

Intermountain Neuroimaging Consortium

Vials being filled in a lab

Wilderness Place

Key Departments, Institutes, Centers and Entities

  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Chemistry and Biochemistry
  • Integrative Physiology

  • Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
  • Psychology and Neuroscience
  • Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

  • BioFrontiers Institute
  • Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG)
  • Institute of Cognitive Science (ICS)

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