Program Curricula

All elective courses (including laboratory and lecture courses) can be found at the "Course Checklist" link.

Major

Students majoring in cell and molecular biology must complete a minimum of eleven courses in the biology components, totaling at least 23 credits; 16 credits in chemistry (one year of both general chemistry with laboratories 1070/1075; 1080/1085; or H1090/H1095; H1100/H1105 and organic chemistry with laboratories 2410/2415; 2420/2425; or H2450/H2470; H2460/H2480); and eight credits of physics with laboratories (1210, 1220 or 1310, 1320). Students must also complete Calculus I (MATH 1210 or 1310, or both MATH 1150 and 1160) and Statistics for Scientists (MATH 1230) to satisfy the major and B.S. requirements.

To fulfill the biology core component, students must complete CELL 1010, CELL 2050, CELL 3030, and CELL 3750 lectures. And beginning in Fall 2018, the CELL 2115 lab will also become a core requirement. Students must take one biochemistry course, either CELL 4010 or CENG 4450 +CENG 4460 or CHEM 3830 + 3840. Students must also take either CELL 3755 or CELL 3035, and one additional 3 or 4 credit CELL lecture or lecture/lab course. Note: Cell & Molecular will no longer give AP or IB credit for CELL 1030 & 1035 (Heredity and Society lecture and lab). A score of 5 on the AP exam, 7 on the IB High Level exam or 17 on the French Baccalaureate exam will earn either credit for CELL 1010 (Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology) or 4 hours of credit for CELL 1500 + CELL 1505. A score of 4 on the AP exam, 7 on the IB Standard Level exam, 5 on the IB High Level exam or 14 on the French Baccalaureate exam will earn 3 hours of credit for CELL 1500. CELL 1500 or CELL 1505 credit does not count as electives for the CELL major or minor. No more than 4 hours of credit can be earned from AP, IB or French Baccalaureate testing.

Those students who wish to attend medical school are advised that many medical schools only allow courses taken in accredited biology and chemistry departments to count toward their prerequisites for admission and do not accept AP or IB credit.

An additional three elective courses are required, and at least two of the three must be laboratory courses. Students may use approved courses from other departments to fulfill the elective component. One course involving independent laboratory research (4910, 4920, H4990 or H5000) may be used as a laboratory course.

Students must complete one approved capstone course within the biology components. The capstone requirement can be fulfilled by CELL 3400, Regenerative Biology; CELL 4250, Principles of Immunology; CELL 4260, Biomedical Writing; CELL 4440, Advanced Molecular Biology; CELL 4450, Genome Biology; CELL 4910/4920, Research Independent Studies or CELL 4990/5000, Honors Thesis.

Our Major Requirements Checklist is a tool that helps students monitor their progress towards completion of the major, and determine what courses will satisfy a particular requirement.

 

Minor

All students, with the exception of Neuroscience majors, wishing to minor in cell and molecular biology must complete CELL 1010, CELL 2050, CELL 3030, and CELL 3750; two additional electives in biology; and 16 credits in chemistry (one year of both general and organic chemistry and their respective laboratories). Neuroscience students looking to minor in cell and molecular biology must complete CELL 3030, CELL 3750, and CELL 4010; two additional electives in biology (CELL 4200 can not be used as a minor elective if NSCI 4200 is used as a major elective); and 16 credits in chemistry (one year of both general and organic chemistry and their respective laboratories). Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the biological chemistry major, students in this program may not minor in cell and molecular biology. In accordance with Tulane's undergraduate catalog, students completing a minor must complete at least 24 credits in the major which do not overlap with the minor.