Science, Technology and Engineering

The Department is a member of the School of Molecular Sciences in the Faculty of Science, Technology & Engineering and part of the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS).

The Department of Biochemistry has a joint mission of teaching and research. We teach Biochemistry at second and third year level in a range of Bachelor of Science degrees, Honours and post graduate degrees by research at Masters and PhD levels. We also administer the Biomedical Science degree and offer a Masters of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics coursework degree.

The Department has a very strong research culture. There are currently 17 research groups in Biochemistry, each one supported by substantial external funding, totalling more than $7 million per annum. Major research programs cover areas of protein chemistry, molecular and cell biology, biomedical science and biotechnology. Members of the Department are also part of the Cooperative Research Centre for Biomarker Translation and the Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-ray Science.

Our strength in research is demonstrated by the 2010 Excellence in Research for Australia ratings. In Biochemistry and Cell Biology, La Trobe was the only university whose research output was rated well above world standard (scoring the maximum 5).