Wow, big changes afoot! I've worked pretty closely with a lot of biochem people in my job, so that's pretty interesting.

My guess for your housing is that if you live very close to the university, you'll probably pay through the nose for housing. The bigger and older cities (NYC, Boston) have ridiculously high rent relative to other areas of the country, which I suppose is kind of obvious.

She could probably find a good university to work at in most regions. Even places you wouldn't necessarily think of, like say Cleveland, have the Cleveland Clinic, which is a big research-y hospital. I doubt our recommendations are going to have much impact on where you end up, but I'm crossing my fingers that maybe our paths will cross while you're over here -- it would be really cool to meet you.

Keep us updated!