UNDER CONSTRUCTION
In 1926, Harvard introduced a distinctive approach to undergraduate science education: the Biochemical Sciences Tutorial, also known as the Board of Tutors in Biochemical Sciences. Built around small-group discussions, close mentorship, and intensive engagement with primary scientific literature, the program was designed to help students develop the habits of mind essential for scientific discovery.
Nearly a century later, that tradition remains a defining feature of Harvard’s life sciences education. In 2026–2027, the Harvard community will celebrate the Board’s 100th anniversary with a year-long series of events honoring its history and the many students and faculty who have participated in it over the decades.
From its earliest days, the program reflected Harvard’s tutorial model, which emphasizes learning through discussion rather than lectures alone. Today, the tutorial supports undergraduate concentrators in both MCB and Chemical and Physical Biology (CPB). Students in these concentrations are paired with faculty tutors who meet with them regularly throughout their undergraduate years to discuss research papers, scientific ideas, and career paths.
Dominic Mao, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies for CPB and MCB, who has been a tutor and helped administer the program since 2017 explains that “the Biochemical Sciences Tutorial uses a format that focuses on pure learning. We pair students with a tutor when they join our concentration, and the pairings remain in place until they graduate. Learning, realized through primary literature reading, happens in a low‑stakes, high‑reward setting, as there are no grades or credits associated with the tutorial. Besides the science, students learn to foster a professional relationship.”
Stephen C. Harrison, Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, who played a central role in guiding the program for decades, including serving as Chair from 1972-1996, adds that “the idea was that students shouldn’t just absorb facts about biology—they should learn how to think about scientific problems and how discoveries actually emerge from evidence.”
The program traces its origins to Lawrence J. Henderson, a Harvard physiologist who recognized—remarkably early—that biology would eventually become a molecular science. In 1926, Henderson helped establish the Biochemical Sciences concentration and the Board of Tutors in Biochemical Sciences, a faculty body responsible for advising students and guiding the tutorial program.
At the time, much of Harvard’s biology teaching in Cambridge focused on organismal and evolutionary biology. Henderson recognized that emerging discoveries in biological chemistry would reshape the life sciences and believed students needed a new kind of training to understand them.
Over time, the tutorial program became a central component of Harvard’s undergraduate training in the life sciences. Each tutor typically worked with a small group of students—sometimes individually, sometimes in groups of two to four—meeting regularly to discuss research papers and scientific concepts.
“It’s basically a chance for students to develop an intellectual relationship with a real practicing scientist,” Harrison says. “They read papers, discuss the experiments, and think about how scientists interpret evidence.”
Tutors also served as primary academic advisors, mentoring students throughout their concentration and helping guide them toward laboratory research and senior honors thesis projects.
The Biochemical Science Tutorial itself became a substantial academic community, often including dozens of faculty members and postdoctoral fellows drawn from Harvard’s Cambridge departments, affiliated hospitals, and the medical school.
“One of the advantages of the system was that we could recruit people working in new areas of science and expose undergraduates to those fields long before they became standard parts of the curriculum,” Harrison says.
The broader academic structure surrounding the tutorial program evolved over the years. The original Biochemical Sciences concentration eventually gave rise to the modern undergraduate concentrations in MCB and the Chemical and Physical Biology Concentration (CPB). Despite these structural changes, the tutorial program remained a shared intellectual tradition within both concentrations and continues to thrive today.
This year’s centennial celebration therefore marks not only the longevity of the tutorial program itself, but also its continued role in shaping undergraduate education across Harvard’s life sciences community.
The celebration will include three major events spanning the 2026–2027 academic year, each highlighting different dimensions of the program’s legacy.
“I am excited for our alumni speakers to inspire the next generation of scientists and STEM-educated leaders by sharing their unique stories,” Mao says. “The 100th anniversary is a great milestone to celebrate the past, and what better way to do so than by using it to inspire the next generation? Here’s to 100 more years!”
The first event will serve as the centennial kickoff, taking place on April 22, 2026, at the Science Center.
The Power of Scientific Thinking: From Classroom to Crisis
Science Center, Lecture Hall C
6:00–8:00 pm
The evening will feature remarks from Harrison and a panel discussion with distinguished alumni of the Biochemical Sciences Tutorial, whose careers illustrate the Tutorial’s broad influence.
Panelists include:
- Bruce Alberts ’60, Chancellor’s Leadership Chair in Biochemistry and Biophysics for Science and Education, Emeritus, at the University of California, San Francisco, and former president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Alberts is also the lead author of Molecular Biology of the Cell, widely considered the “bible” of molecular biology and still used by generations of students studying the field today.
- Jessica Tuchman Mathews ’67, former president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a member of the Harvard Corporation
- David J. Anderson ’78, professor at Caltech and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
A reception will follow the panel discussion.
From Breakthroughs to Better Health
A second centennial event will take place on October 3, 2026 hosted by Nancy Kleckner. This full-day program will explore advances in biomedical research and their implications for global health and precision medicine.
Speakers will include leading scientists and physicians such as Arlene Sharpe, Nancy Krieger, Catherine Wu, Levi Garraway, Howard Chang, and Vivek Murthy.
Transforming Biological Discovery: From Tools to New Questions
The final event, scheduled for March 2027, will focus on the tools and technologies transforming modern biology.
Hosted by Richard Losick, the event will feature prominent alumni, including Martin Chalfie ’69, Marian Carlson ’75, and Karl Deisseroth ’92.
For MCB Chair Rachelle Gaudet the centennial celebration represents an opportunity to recognize the program’s enduring impact.
Gaudet, who previously served as Head Tutor for the Biochemical Sciences Tutorial and later as Faculty Director of the CPB concentration, helped initiate the idea of organizing a year-long celebration to mark the milestone.
She notes that the centennial coincides with another important milestone: the 20th anniversary of the MCB and CPB undergraduate concentrations, which emerged from the earlier Biochemical Sciences program.
A century after its founding, the Biochemical Sciences Tutorial continues to embody a core principle of scientific education: that discovery begins with curiosity, critical thinking, and conversation.
Through its tutorial discussions, mentorship, and engagement with original research, the program continues to shape new generations of students—just as it has for the past hundred years.
