SCI 226 Biochemistry

Content

This course concerns the chemistry of life. The evolution of living organisms started with chemical reactions and chemistry is still the basic science underlying biology. Biochemistry, the chemistry of life, deals with the chemical reactions that produce the specific molecules of life like RNA, DNA, proteins etc. that enable the self-assembly and reproduction of simple and complex organisms. Although organisms vary enormously in complexity and biological properties,  they all use similar  types  of biomolecules for encoding and transmission of  information,  for compartimentalization  (membranes), for building and degrading macromolecules, energy metabolism etc.  Errors in the production, proper localization  or degradation of these molecules  often will cause disease. Biochemical knowledge thus is  essential for understanding the molecular biology of cells,  the causes of diseases, and the possibilities of bio-technology.

Instructor

Prof. Dr. Cees Cornelisse

Track

Chemistry

Period

Fall / 2011

Aim

After following the course students should  be able to:
-    understand the topics discussed in the interactive introductions
-    reproduce and clarify the discussed topics
-    answer questions on the various topics
-    understand and reproduce the synthesis, structure and function of the different classes of biomolecules
-    understand and explain the biochemical reactions underlying vital biological processes
-    understand and explain the biochemical aspects of a  number of specific diseases

Course Material

• Biochemistry, JM Berg, JL, Tymoczko, L. Stryer, 6th New York, ISBN 97807167664,, hard cover edition, W.H. Freeman
  

    Recommended:

• Alberts et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition, Garland Science New York,  ISBN 0-8153-4072-9
• Clinical Medicine, P.Kumar &  M. Clark, 5th edition, ISBN 0 70202606 9 (International Student Edition)
• Access to the Medline/Pubmed databases on biomedical scientific literature will be provided via the UU library.
  
  

Prerequisites

The following courses are required in order to take this course:

• SCI 131 Introduction to Life Science
• SCI 191 Introductory Science Laboratory

Additional Prerequisites

• Recommended: SCI 125
  
• Required for: SCI 363
• Other courses that are relevant to this course:SCI 131, SCI 234, SCI 261, SCI 291

Required for

This course is required in order to take the following course:

• SCI 125 Chemistry I
• SCI 363 Molecular Pathology and Genetics