Established in 2025 as a hub for basic research excellence, the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics brings together scientists from three departments at Weill Cornell Medicine: Biochemistry, Physiology and Biophysics, and Cell and Developmental Biology.
Led by inaugural chair Dr. Samara Reck-Peterson, the department is dedicated to uncovering fundamental molecular mechanisms that underlie biological processes. Our work spans multiple scales, from cells to tissue and organism, bridging disciplines to answer biology’s most pressing questions.
Our faculty are leaders in diverse fields, including membrane biology, signaling, cytoskeletal dynamics, metabolism, and neuroscience. We are at the forefront of deploying cutting-edge technologies, such as cryo-electron microscopy, live-cell imaging, and proteomics. This collaborative, multidisciplinary environment is at the heart of our mission: to drive scientific discoveries that impact human health.
Dr. Samara Reck-Peterson
Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
"The next decade of biomedical science will be defined by connecting molecular and cellular mechanisms to tissue biology. By integrating these scales through experimentation and AI, we will develop new therapies for both established and emerging health challenges, while deepening our understanding of therapeutic side effects." - Samara Reck-Peterson, PhD
Samara Reck-Peterson, PhD
Dr. Samara Reck-Peterson joined Weill Cornell Medicine in 2025 as the inaugural Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. She was previously a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology at UC San Diego, and an Associate Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. She has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2018 and is a Fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology.
Dr. Reck-Peterson is a mechanistic cell biologist whose research focuses on how cellular contents are organized. Her lab has revealed how the molecular motor dynein works and is currently investigating the molecular basis of Parkinson’s Disease. Dr. Reck-Peterson is passionate about training and mentoring the next generation of scientists and making cutting-edge technology available to the broader research community.
View Dr. Reck-Peterson's CV here.
Our History
Founded in 1913 under the chairmanship of Dr. Stanley R. Benedict, the department began as part of Physiological Chemistry & Chemical Pathology and was renamed Biochemistry in 1932. Under Nobel laureate Vincent du Vigneaud (chair from 1938 -1967) and later leaders including Drs. Peter Reichard, Alton Meister, and Frederick Maxfield, the Department of Biochemistry built a tradition of innovation and excellence. For more than a century, our scientists have advanced enzymology, protein interactions, and structural biology, with discoveries shaping modern biochemistry and biophysics.