Biochemistry: Metabolism in Health and Disease

Course goals

Note: The content of this course largely overlaps with the discontinued UCSCICHE23 Biochemistry course (last taught in Fall 2024). You cannot take both.
Contact the fellow for off campus alternatives.

After completing this course students are able to:

1. demonstrate knowledge of the chemical aspects of the structure and (patho)physiological function of various biomolecules.
2. summarize the chemical basis (mechanism) of the main processes that occur in cells.
3. pinpoint the important features of some diseases and extreme situations (e.g., exercise)
4. retrieve, read and critically analyze biochemical scientific literature.
5. write a scientific review paper focusing on the biochemical aspects of a biological subject.

 

Description of assignment	Assesses which learning goals?
Class participation. Project essay Exam 1 Exam II	1, 2, 3, 4, 5 4, 5 1, 2 1, 2, 3

Content

Note: The content of this course largely overlaps with the discontinued UCSCICHE23 Biochemistry course (last taught in Fall 2024). You cannot take both.
Contact the fellow for off campus alternatives.

Biochemistry is also called ‘the chemistry of life’. It uses tools and terminologies of chemistry to unravel and understand the processes in living organisms. Knowledge and techniques generated in biochemistry are implemented in many other fields, such as genetics, medicine, cell biology, biotechnology and immunology, thereby giving insight into the origin of many diseases and enabling the development of new chemotherapeutics and vaccines.
The course can be divided into two parts. Part 1 mainly focuses on the structures and biochemical properties of proteins and basic metabolic strategies. In part 2 the knowledge obtained in part 1 will be used to study the molecular design of life. Examples from medical science will be used to illustrate how biochemical knowledge illuminates the (dys)functioning of organisms.

Format
The theoretical part of the course is covered by lectures and discussing home-study material. The second part consists of tutorials with exercises or problem-solving questions that put the topics in a biological or clinical setting. This is concluded by a paper.