2025 Biochemistry Department - A Year in Review
from Biochemistry Chair Jim Goodrich, Ph.D.
As we enter our final month in 2025, we reflect on this busy and eventful year and I pause to reflect on how quickly it has gone and describe how our department is dealing with our current federal funding and policy environment. There is so much to look at in our 2025 calendar year and also general concern about where science research, especially in the biological and human health-oriented fields in the higher education realm, will go moving forward.
While the higher education environment continues to shift and flex in response to our national and global environments,our department remains hopeful. This year has offered our researchers, generally, limited disruption to committed funding from federal sources. Our department has seen a continued interest from young people in pursuing a degree that will help them to provide their own impact on all things biochemistry related. We are excited about Boulder’s continuous outreach to young people through programs like S.C.O.P.E. [Science Community Outreach Program and Education], which was also supported this Fall by individuals who consider outreach at the middle school level, especially by college students, a path toward college consideration. It was also supported by an Honorable volunteer, Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett. We thank him for his support in increasing science awareness and education for Boulder and more broadly for Boulder County residents!
We continue to see our Boulder Biochemistry Department family and friends who are: alumni, donors, advocates, and interested community members, stepping in with their vote of confidence and a message of support, to help continue the vital activities of the department.
THANK YOU! To all of you who have engaged with us over this past year, offering your time and talent to share experiences with our current students and of course, your gifts to support our students and activities. In 2026, we will continue to look to expand our engagement of our community and friends. If you are interested, please let us know how you’d like to be involved.
As we close out the 2025 calendar year, we can’t help but look toward 2026 and pause to reflect back on our decades of providing an ever-changing group of hopeful undergraduate and graduate students with an education centered around access to ongoing, and recognized, world-class biochemistry interdisciplinary research; education delivered by faculty who are top of their field and are passionate about the impact they are creating within their lab research and their connection to educating our inspired young people; and a training environment that prepares our community to adapt to new discoveries, technologies, methods and changes that will continue to come.
We are looking forward to 2026, which will allow us to celebrate our world-class interdisciplinary research, education, and training environment in the majestic place we are fortunate to call home.
We are grateful to have so many in our community. You are all part of our Biochemistry Community, and we thank you.Please reach out to me directly if you have thoughts you'd like to share!
Best regards,
Jim
Professor and Chair
Department of Biochemistry
University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder Biochemistry Department - At A Glance
The Boulder Biochemistry Department is renowned for its research and its impact on scientific advancements - especially in the areas of nucleic acids, structural biology, and signal transduction/gene signaling.
The faculty include aNobel Laureate, 5members of the National Academy of Sciences, 3 Howard Hughes Investigators, and many other esteemed and award winning scientists who have established themselves as research leaders. The department is supported by:
- Over 200 researchers, including: 21 tenure-trackfaculty, 1 research faculty, 3 teaching professors
- ~400 undergraduate majors, 158 undergraduate minors, and ~71 Ph.D. students
- ~42 postdocs and scientists
- ~19 technical and 7 administrative staff
2025 Biochemistry Grants + Fundraising
In 2025, despite the vast and significant changes in federal grant funding, the biochemistry department continued to perform well in continued grants, proposals submitted and awarded grants. And, we continued to see generous charitable contributions, which were all essential to supporting the ongoing work of our faculty and students. We expect 2026 could bring a slower pace for grant research funding and our faculty continue to plan alternate avenues for research funding.
We are proud to share that Biochemistry continues to rank among one of the highest performing departments at Boulder in terms of overall funding. *Funds from HHMI are not reflected in the research awards or expenditures listed in the figure to the right.
T32 Training Grants - Holding Strong in Number of Students Supported
For nearly 25 years, our students have benefited from two NIH T32 Institutional Research Training Grants housed in the Biochemistry Department and generally administered by Eric Rohlinger in partnership with the Biochemistry faculty PIs associated with each grant. During this time, over 240 graduate students have received NIH funding for stipends, tuition & fees, certain living cost support, educational and training opportunities, including conference travel through the Molecular Biophysics and the Signaling & Cellular Regulation Training Programs.
Each program provides an interdisciplinary approach with other departments at to increase the breadth of scientific training. Additionally, the training grants provide funding for program activities and bring seminar speakers to Boulder. The combined NIH support for these two programs exceeds $1M annually.
Training grants in Biochemistry have remained consistent for the past five years – both in total dollars available and the number of annual awardees.
2025 Biochemistry People News
2025 Biochemistry Faculty Awards and News
2025 Faculty Awards and Honors
In 2025, the department continued to see its faculty receive prestigious recognition through various industry, University, and charitable foundation awards. This continues the past years’ successes, and we anticipate that the groundbreaking research in the department will continue to generate these levels of honor and recognition in 2026 and beyond.
2025 Faculty Published Papers
- (88) papers were published by our (22) faculty
*source: PubMed NIH
2025 New Faculty Arrivals
I have never felt more energized or in love with my work. I joined the Department of Biochemistry with the goal of changing how students experience challenging courses like Organic Chemistry. Over the past year, I have implemented a mastery-based approach that assesses students on clearly defined learning outcomes rather than relying on traditional high-stakes exams or curving. Students have shared that this approach significantly reduced their exam anxiety, knowing that if they struggle with a topic on the first attempt, they will have another opportunity to demonstrate their understanding. This approach supports my teaching philosophy that learning is not linear. I look forward to continuing to develop this approach while supporting more students in building confidence and, most importantly, mastery in chemistry.Teaching Assistant Professor, Dr. Novella Keeling Ph.D., reflecting on her first year with Boulder Biochemistry
2025 Biochemistry Staff Awards
Each year, the faculty nominate biochemistry staff who have provided exceptional service to the department to receive a bonus for the outstanding work they do in support of the faculty, students, staff and the community overall. These individuals create relationships with other departments and even colleges, as well as members of the Boulder community which provide and functional centers throughout Boulder
Our 2025 recipients each have significant history with the department and also have made an important impact with the work they do.
Theresa Nahreini
Cell Culture and Flow Cytometry Manager
Theresa manages a world class and unique shared Cell Culture Facility in the Department of Biochemistry. She has shown great care and dedication to maintaining this essential resource that benefits over 18 labs and 110 researchers!
Annette Erbse
Director, Shared Instruments Pool and Macromolecular X-ray Crystallography Core
Annette established and runs a shared facility that includes a pool of many instruments spread through the building and is critical for the research of many labs on campus. She not only keeps all of the instruments in top shape, but she trains researchers in the use of the instruments and helps them with their experiments and data interpretation.
Natalia Johnston
Undergraduate Student Coordinator
Natalia oversees our Undergraduate BA program, and provides advice and assistance to the students as they work toward their degree.Recently, she single handedly established a successful tutoring program for Biochemistry students taking General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry courses and labs, which is now helping many students.
Total 2025 Biochemistry Student Enrollment
Undergraduate
In Fall 2025, the department hit an all-time high in the past five years, in both newly enrolled undergraduate students and the overall undergraduate student body count. In addition, this year marks a 46% increase in 1st generation students and transfer students combined!
The continued consensus among new enrollees and continuing students is that a biochemistry degree will allow them to influence life-impacting developments in human health, along with other areas in environmental issues, building materials, and more. Most of our undergraduates go on to careers in industry – whether in bench science in biotech companies, environmentally-focused scientific roles, scientific writing, patent law, or other areas where the biochemistry degree is seen as a valuable asset.
New Update! All undergraduates graduating in and after December 2026 will receive a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry! This allows our department to fall in line with other biochemistry departments across the country.
In addition to those who have declared Biochemistry as their major, we also welcome 158 students who have declared Biochemistry as their minor. There is power with a Biochemistry affiliation, and we welcome and support this path!
Graduate (Ph.D. + MS)
Fall 2025 welcomed 15 new students.
Department of Biochemistry Spring 2025 Commencement
2025 Biochemistry Spring Commencement
Biochemistry Spring 2025 Commencement Details
Every spring, the Biochemistry Department commencement celebration provides a very personal and important ceremony to honor those who are graduating – and to welcome their families! We celebrate the time bound traditions of recognition, celebration, and the successful closing of one chapter, while a new one opens.
This year was no different as we continued the path of asking notable biochemistry influencers to share their own journey within biochemistry and offer words of encouragement to the graduating class as they move out and onward. This year’s notable speaker was Dr. Thomas Cech, a Nobel Laureate and Distinguished Professor at Boulder.
2025 Graduating Class by the Numbers
In academic year 2024/2025, the Department of Biochemistry congratulated 13 students receiving a Ph.D. degree, 2 students receiving an M.S., and 72 students receiving BA degrees, with nearly 30% of those receiving Honors, and in some cases, multiple honors of distinction. This represents an increase in both degree categories over the AY2023/2024 graduating class.
2025 Student Successes
2025 Undergraduate Scholarships
Undergraduate scholarships are crucial for our department as they allow us to recognize outstanding student achievements and let our students know that they are appreciated. In recent conversations, we found that these scholarships provide a bit of breathing room so students can get involved with extracurricular opportunities and be more social with their classmates. Increased unrestricted donations have allowed the department to recognize additional, merit-worthy students who may not fit the specific scholarship criteria.
In 2025, Biochemistry recognized one new scholarship – the Kathryn Resing Scholarship supported by friends of Biochemistry who sought to honor Kathryn’s memory and contributions to higher education.
2025 Biochemistry Scholarships - Recognizing Students and Making a Difference
2025 Graduate Awards
Curci Scholars Awards: With the generous gift from the Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation, the Curci Scholars program was first established in 2022 at Boulder and overseen by the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology department (MCDB).Since the program's inauguration, every year six scholars receive full scholarships and living expenses for the first two years of their Ph.D. programs in various life-science fields. In 2025, three of the Curci awards were given to Biochemistry students including: Spandan Basu (India), Jenny Nguyen (Viet Nam), and Dave Wang (China).
Boulder Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship: The Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship supports promising researchers and educators whose work and life experiences strengthen academic excellence and contribute to a more inclusive, engaged scholarly community. Two fellowships are awarded annually and provide base salary and benefits, health insurance, professional development support, and more in conjunction with the recipient's department. A Chancellor's Fellowship was awarded to one Biochemistry postdoc - Anjali Kalagiri, who is the first Biochemistry recipient!
2025 Undergraduate Scholarship Dinner
John Lacher and Lacher Scholarship recipient, Asher Ferreira, deep in conversation at the 2025 Scholarship Appreciation Dinner
Biochemistry and Chemistry honoring scholarship recipients alongside their benefactors
2025 New Biochemistry Programs
Internship Course for Credit (BCHM 4906)
Biochemistry is now offering students the opportunity to participate in an internship while also receiving credit toward their degree. Students can earn 1 credit for every 45 hours they intern. A maximum of six internship credits may be accrued toward the minimum number of 30 credits needed for the BCHM major.
This program will not be successful without life sciences companies getting more involved and offering their opportunities to Boulder undergraduate students. We are continuing to build partnerships with life sciences companies to provide more options for students and will feature these industry partners on the Biochemistry website in conjunction with this internship program. If you are interested, or want to get your company involved, please connect with Kristen Roy (kristen.roy@colorado.edu), Director for the Biochemistry Teaching Labs, for more information.
Exclusive LinkedIn Group for Biochemistry Alumni & Friends
If you are a Boulder Biochemistry alumnus (or even a Chemistry alumnus from the time before the departments separated), check out the exclusive Site. We are building the Boulder Biochemistry Alumni LinkedIn group as a place where you can connect with fellow alumni, share your experiences beyond Boulder, and offer important insights for all – especially those who might need guidance navigating today's life sciences fields or academic career paths.
Biochemistry Events
2025 Annual Science Research Department Retreat
The 2025 annual retreat was a great success and was held at Snow Mountain YMCA, Granby CO on September 12 and 13, 2025. This event gives the department faculty, graduate students and staff a chance to come together outside of the “academic walls” and learn about important research occurring in the department – directly from graduate students and faculty with time to interact in discussion. Please see the link to get a sense of the overall areas covered in this year’s retreat and even scan prior year's programs!
Biochemistry department at the 2025 Science Research Retreat
Forward Looking... 2026 Spring S.C.O.P.E. Connection Event!
City of Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett volunteers with the Boulder S.C.O.P.E. student volunteers to provide science lessons at Manhattan Middle School of Arts.
S.C.O.P.E. (Science Community Outreach Program and Education) is planning a spring event, expected in middle to late May, to showcase important science from Boulder Biochemists to the community and to showcase their success in providing scientific lessons in local middle schools. This event is planned to build additional funding for the program to ensure its lasting success and impact so plan to attend. The date has not yet been set so check back on the Biochemistry website in early 2026 for more details!
S.C.O.P.E. student volunteer Asher Ferreira providing a science demonstration for Boulder middle school students - Fall 2025.
Boulder Biochemistry Giving + Engagement - YOU Make a Difference!
Boulder Biochemistry is investing in you – our community – and would like to feature news and other information about our alumni and friends directly on the website!
If you have news you’d like to share or would be willing to be featured in one of our profiles or want to suggest fellow alumni who should be featured, reach out to bchmundergrad@colorado.edu.
We hope all of our alumni and friends will continue to be involved and even consider supporting us in a way that is meaningful to you. All levels of support are helpful, and we have new options to support students, faculty and the department!