The Weill Cornell Graduate School (WCGS) programs in Biochemistry & Structural Biology, Cell & Developmental Biology, and Molecular Biology are collectively known as the BCMB Allied program and operate as an alliance. Students may affiliate with any of the three BCMB programs, but they initially are admitted to, and remain members of, the BCMB Allied program.
The Molecular Biology program offers opportunities to develop research training in the molecular pathways involved in control of cell growth. Regulation of cell growth is remarkably intricate, tying together nearly all the fundamental processes of cellular metabolism. For example, the products of oncogenes and tumor-suppressing and tumor-enhancing genes have been discovered to participate in pathways as seemingly diverse as signal transduction, repair of damaged DNA, regulation of gene expression, and control of the cell cycle.