molecular biology

American  

noun

1. the branch of biology that deals with the nature of biological phenomena at the molecular level through the study of DNA and RNA, proteins, and other macromolecules involved in genetic information and cell function, characteristically making use of advanced tools and techniques of separation, manipulation, imaging, and analysis.

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molecular biology British  

noun

1. the study of biological phenomena at the molecular level

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molecular biology Scientific  

/ mə-lĕk′yə-lər /

1. The branch of biology that deals with the formation, structure, and function of macromolecules essential to life, such as nucleic acids and proteins, including their roles in cell replication and the transmission of genetic information.

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molecular biology Cultural  

1. The branch of science devoted to studies of the structure, function, and reactions of DNA, RNA, proteins, and other molecules involved in the life processes.

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Etymology

Origin of molecular biology

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

molecular biology

To uncover the clock's mechanism, the researchers combined traditional molecular biology experiments with DNA sequencing, protein sequencing, and the artificial intelligence tool AlphaFold.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2026

Biology Ph.D. student Tim Curtis Jr. participated in the work in Currie's lab, along with undergraduate Elena Singer-Freeman, a Goldwater Scholar and 2025 Wake Forest graduate in biochemistry and molecular biology.

From Science Daily ● May 9, 2026

Many are on the cutting edge of molecular biology.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026

In one of the greatest breakthroughs of the 20th Century, he identified the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953 alongside British scientist Francis Crick, setting the stage for rapid advances in molecular biology.

From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2025

There is still the conspicuous asymmetry between molecular biology and, say, the therapy of lung cancer.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas