About Us

Duke Biology is one of the few broad Biology Departments in the country, providing students, faculty, and staff with the opportunity to learn and perform research in a highly integrative and interactive setting. Our department hosts over 50 faculty, studying areas spanning developmental biology, cell biology, molecular biology, ecology, evolution, organismal biology, and genomics. 

Our undergraduates benefit from having these world experts present the topics of their research in the classroom, exposing them to both the fundamental principles and the latest results or controversies. Our Ph.D. students join research teams either through our own extremely flexible graduate program in Biology or through a diverse array of interdisciplinary programs, such as those spanning the Nicholas School of Earth and Ocean Sciences or the Medical School. The department interacts heavily among the diverse disciplines represented within it, with other Duke University departments, and with programs at the many other nearby universities. 

By the Numbers

  • 54 Regular Rank Faculty
  • $15M in external research funding per year
  • 90 Graduate students
  • 170 Undergraduate majors graduated per year
  • 75% of undergraduates conduct independent research