Biochemistry Courses in Context: A National Landscape of Undergraduate Biochemistry Instruction

Abstract Biochemistry occupies a unique position at the intersection of chemistry and biology, yet undergraduate biochemistry courses are taught within a wide variety of institutional and disciplinary contexts. Because instructors’ disciplinary preparation may influence how they conceptualize and teach foundational biochemical concepts, understanding where biochemistry is taught represents an important first step toward examining how disciplinary background may shape undergraduate biochemistry education. This article presents a national landscape of foundational biochemistry courses across the United States by examining four guiding questions: 1) which institutions should be included in this landscape? 2) what types of courses should be included? 3) which departments are teaching biochemistry courses? and 4) which textbook(s) are associated with these courses?. Using publicly available information from 692 American Chemical Society-approved institutions, we identified 1 063 foundational biochemistry courses. Although chemistry and chemistry and biochemistry departments collectively account for the majority of these courses, undergraduate biochemistry is taught across numerous departmental structures, with nearly one-third of institutions offering foundational biochemistry through multiple departments. In addition, at least 28 different textbooks were identified among courses for which textbook information was publicly available, suggesting considerable diversity in the curricular resources. Together, these findings demonstrate that undergraduate biochemistry exists within multiple disciplinary contexts rather than as a single instructional framework. This landscape provides a foundation for future research to examine how instructors’ disciplinary backgrounds influence Pedagogical Content Knowledge, curricular decisions, instructional practices, and student learning outcomes while informing broader conversations about shared learning goals for undergraduate biochemistry.