<p>The title explains it all. Is chemistry a better major for the drug design and synthesis industry? How much work do biomolecular engineers do in actual discovery of new drugs and research, rather than just development? Also, I'm talking about an undergraduate degree. Is an undergraduate Chemical/Biomolecular Engineering degree valuable experience in this field (I'm planning to double major in Ch/BioM Eng. and Biology by the way, but I may change BioE to pure chemistry)?</p>
<p>A ChemE/BiochemE major and a major in chemistry would be best to do. Most biology programs place an emphasis too much on non-molecular studies that really detract from the knowledge that you need.</p>
<p>Everything biology here is molecular. Most of my biology courses will be biochemistry, immunology, and disease-related courses. The only thing I feel I’m missing out from not doing a chemistry are several very good synthesis lab (I can still take a few of them, but most are day-long labs that it’s simply impossible to take all of them and do a double major elsewhere). There’s really no doubt I want to do a biology major, but is the engineering background as useful as a strong classroom laboratory background in synthetic chemistry (given that I will still 3.5 years of research experience in chemical biology related labs regardless of what path I take)?</p>
<p>Biology is worthless. It is not engineering or chemistry; it is not a physical science; it is not quantitative. Take it from someone that has a biology degree. Chemists and chemical engineers are hired over biologists in the pharmaceutical industry.</p>
<p>Chemical Engineering is biology. The human body is a slightly more complicated chemical plant. It has porous pipes, a pump and some reaction chambers. In those reaction chambers things get decomposed, the useful things diffuse across a separation system into the pipes, and are then transported to the output areas. All of these require significant calculations that would make the heads of most biology majors spin.</p>
<p>Chemical Engineering is NOT biology…</p>
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<p>Is it just me or every single sentence in this paragraph is hilarious?</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, the chemical engineering department at my school offers an elective on just that: Organ Transport Systems.</p>
<p>Take a look at the job listings for big biopharma/pharma companies. Your Genetechs and Gileads look for people with BS’s in Bio and Biochem for biopharma research and a BS in Chem for small molecule drug research. They do not typically look for engineers to fill those positions. I do think you would get a foot in the door if you had a BS in BioE, but a ChemE would have a difficult time unless they have a minor in Biochem. I think your best bet would be to double in Bio and Chem since the lab courses for each will prep you for a research career.</p>