Noun

molecular biology

1. (biology), (biochemistry) the branch of biology that studies the macromolecules of life, such as proteins, lipoproteins and nucleic acids
2. (genetics) the branch of biology studies the manipulation of genetic sequence of DNA
3. (genetics) the technology of gene manipulation

Related terms

• molecular biologist

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated.

Writing in Nature in 1961, William Astbury described molecular biology as

not so much a technique as an approach, an approach from the viewpoint of the so-called basic sciences with the leading idea of searching below the large-scale manifestations of classical biology for the corresponding molecular plan. It is concerned particularly with the forms of biological molecules and [...] is predominantly three-dimensional and structural—which does not mean, however, that it is merely a refinement of morphology. It must at the same time inquire into genesis and function.