70+
PARTICIPATING FACULTY MEMBERS
16
COOPERATING DEPARTMENTS
10
RESEARCH FACILITIES
Mission & Vision
The mission of the Graduate Program in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology (CMDB) is to prepare students for successful research careers in the life sciences, leading to awarding of M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Our curriculum emphasizes comprehensive and interdisciplinary training in experimental biology at the molecular, cellular and organismal levels, coupled with acquisition of the laboratory skills necessary to generate new knowledge as a research scientist.
Our Research
The Interdepartmental Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology Graduate Program offers both Doctoral and Masters of Science degrees with a heavy dose of research in basic, applied, agricultural, and biomedical sciences. Our life sciences researchers have access to a genomics institute (with facilities of nucleotide and peptide synthesis, DNA sequencing and cell transformation), cutting-edge microscopy, and a bioinformatics core. Be it bioethics, proteomics or plant cell pathology, the partnerships between faculty and students at CMDB keep them at the forefront of their fields.
Science News
May 23, 2023
Prescribed burns encourage foul-smelling invaders
Though prescribed burns reduce wildfire threats and even improve habitat for some animals, new research shows these fires also spread stinknet, an aptly named weed currently invading superblooms across the Southwestern U.S.

May 17, 2023
Are Earth and Venus the only volcanic planets? Not anymore.
Imagine an Earth-sized planet that’s not at all Earth-like. Half this world is locked in permanent daytime, the other half in permanent night, and it’s carpeted with active volcanoes. Astronomers have discovered that planet.

May 09, 2023
Earth’s first animals had particular taste in real estate
Even without body parts that allowed for movement, new UC Riverside research shows — for the first time — that some of Earth’s earliest animals managed to be picky about where they lived.

April 26, 2023
Australian fossil goldmine opens permanently
Land where a UC Riverside paleontology professor unearthed whole communities of Earth’s oldest animals is opening today to the public as a new national park in the Australian Outback.