SCMS houses an outstanding genetic research team in the heart of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston complex, which is poised to become one of the top 25 medical research facilities in the country. Primary pursuits of the SCMS include the discovery and translation of the basic principles governing the repair and replication of genes, the regulation of transcription, and signal transduction in cells. The basic research performed by SCMS will uncover some of the critical factors that underlie human genetic disorders and that will lend themselves to wide practical application for treatments.

The SCMS aims to develop research programs of an outstanding quality commensurate with the biological challenge present in responses to the disruption of biological homeostasis by trauma, aging and disease. To that end, goals and objectives are:

• To maintain core research programs that take advantage of model systems based on yeast and mammalian DNA repair and mutagenesis. To further develop outstanding research initiatives focused on stress response processes.
• To provide the leadership and expertise necessary for the successful function of state of the art Cores in Molecular Science, Genomics, Proteomics and Synthetic Organic Chemistry.
• To provide a unique academic perspective to the educational mission of the Department of Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics and the various graduate programs associated with the SCMS Faculty.
• To participate in the UTMB-wide initiative to build seamless translational research networks that take advantage of the singular high quality of basic research present in SCMS.
• To maintain a standard of outstanding research quality, as a center of excellence within UTMB.