Department Mission

The mission of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics is to teach and create new knowledge with the theme of integrating the life sciences from molecules to organism. The department continues to approach this mission with vigorous and successful programs in teaching and research. Hallmarks of the department include productive interactions with clinical departments; willingness to serve the department, college and university; a committed and professional departmental staff and assistant to the head; and a congenial, interactive atmosphere.

Exceptional educational programs funded by extra-mural grants provide innovative teaching of physiology and biophysics to professional students, and in depth teaching of research to pre- and post-doctoral trainees including clinical scientists. Nationally recognized and well funded research areas interact strongly with clinical departments in the following thematic centers and research programs: Neurosciences, Gastroenterology, Women's Health and Reproductive Sciences, and Cardiovascular Research and Integrative Cardiac Metabolism.

The future for scientists trained in integrative or systems biology is bright. Integrative biology, the essence of physiology, is a buzzword at NIH and the core of the NIH Research Roadmap ( http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/ ). Leaders in research agree that the genome is now behind us, with the "proteome", and "physionome" as the next frontiers. Our departmental research spans the spectrum from atoms to organs, and thus we are positioned well to train a new generation of systems oriented biologists investigating molecular mechanisms and translating these mechanisms to the organ, organism, and patient.