Four new life sciences departments showcase USC Dornsife’s strengths in biology

The new departments reflect the breadth of modern life sciences research, from genes and cells to ecosystems and human behavior. (Composite: Rhiannon Montelius.)

Four new life sciences departments showcase USC Dornsife’s strengths in biology

USC Dornsife has given four longstanding fields clearer academic identities, increasing their visibility in research and graduate education.

ByUSC Dornsife News September 18, 2026

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• USC Dornsife has established four new departments from former sections of Biological Sciences: Human and Evolutionary Biology, Marine and Environmental Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, and Neurobiology.
• Departmental status gives each a clearer identity and greater visibility among prospective graduate students and faculty, collaborators and research funders.
• The Biological Sciences undergraduate major remains interdepartmental and spans the four new departments.

At the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, biologists study life at vastly different scales. Some focus on molecules and cells, others on the brain, human evolution or the organisms that shape marine ecosystems.

To give four longstanding areas of expertise greater visibility in research and graduate education, USC Dornsife has elevated them from sections within Biological Sciences to departments: Human and Evolutionary Biology, Marine and Environmental Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, and Neurobiology.

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