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Table 1: List of course topics and case studies by week
Week / Topics / Case Study1 / Biochemisty, Molecular biology / Sickle cell disease
2 / Biochemistry, cell biology / Insulinoma
3 / Biochemistry, microbiology / Clostridium difficile infection
4 / Biochemistry, pharmacology / Ethanol metabolism
5 / Physiology, cell biology / Ion transport in malaria
6 / Genetics, pathology, histology / Ornithinetranscarbamalase
deficiency
7 / Immunology, genetics / Integrated cell biology cases
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Figure 1: Email sent to students failing course assessment
Your score on this week's assessment was below the pass rate of 70%. The information from the examination will be on the course final and appears in subsequent courses so it is important that you demonstrate mastery of this material. We request that you participate in a Saturday morning discussion group meeting at9AMin thesecond floor classroomand retake the assessment onMonday at 8 AM in room 165. For the retake, you will need to bring a laptop or your iPad. You will receive the average of your two assessment scores.
Prior to the reassessment please answer the following questionsand submit them to . We are also happy to meet with you individually.
1. What were the major themes of the course covered on thisweek’s assessment?
2. What factors contributed to you scoring poorly on this week’s assessment?
3. How confident are you that you can pass the reassessment?
4. What do you think you need to do to improveyour performance on subsequent assessments?
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Figure 2: Comparison between equivalent question on Friday’s assessment and Monday’s reassessment
Example of Friday question:
In humans, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) converts methanol to formaldehyde, a highly toxic compound. Patients who have ingested toxic levels of methanol are sometimes treated with ethanol, which competes with methanol for binding at the ADH active site. How would administering ethanol affect the conversion of methanol to formaldehyde?
- Ethanol will reduce the Km of ADH for methanol.
- Ethanol will decrease the Vmax of the oxidation of methanol.
- Ethanol will increase the activation energy for the oxidation of methanol.
- Ethanol will increase the Km of ADH for methanol.
- Ethanol will increase the delta G for the oxidation of methanol, promoting the reduction of formaldehyde.
Example of paired Monday question:
In humans, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) converts methanol to formaldehyde, a highly toxic compound. Patients who have ingested toxic levels of methanol are sometimes treated with ethanol to inhibit methanol oxidation by alcohol dehydrogenase. Which of the following statements provides the best rationale for this treatment?
- Ethanol is a structural analog of methanol and is therefore an effective non-competitive inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase.
- Ethanol is a structural analog of methanol that competes with methanol for binding to the active site of alcohol dehydrogenase.
- Ethanol raises Vmax of alcohol dehydrogenase for the oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde.
- Ethanol is an effective inhibitor of methanol oxidation regardless of the concentration of methanol.
- Ethanol will alter the delta G of methanol oxidation by alcohol dehydrogenase to promote the reverse reaction, reduction of formaldehyde