Chemistry 160:581 – Biochemistry - Syllabus for Fall 2013
Monday night 6-9PM
Place: Room 240, Smith Hall
Instructor: Professor Frank Jordan, with participation by Professor Richard Mendelsohn, and
potantial participation of Dr. Nemeria, Ms. H. Patel and Mr. J. Wang Dr. Jordan’s associates.
Office: Olson Laboratories, Room 240
Email:
Getting in touch: is best done by email.
Office Hours: Tuesday 4-6PM or by appointment.
Exams: Two 75-min exams and a 3-hour final exam.
Should you miss one of the 75 min exams, the final exam will count more. Otherwise, the grades will be added as 25, 25 and 50%. Other than that substitution, there are no make-up exams.
Final Grade Determination:
Letter grades will be assigned to your standing in class, where the median grade will be a B (this being a graduate course grades range as F, C, C+, B, B+, A). Students with more than 25 points below the median will receive an F grade.
Add/Drop/Withdrawal
Add/Drop period: 9/03/13 - 9/12/13
Add Only: 9/12/13
Withdrawal to receive “W” Grade: 9/4/13 - 11/4/13
Text Book (required):
Title: Fundamentals of Biochemistry (Fourth Edition)
Authors: Donald Voet, Judith G. Voet, Charlotte W. Pratt.
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN-13: 978-1118-12918-0
ISBN-13: 978-0470-54784-7
Goals of the course:
Biochemistry is an enormous and complicated topic, all of its parts cannot be taught or digested in a single graduate level lecture course. The topic of biochemistry touches every aspect of human health and disease, and the course should be useful to individuals furthering their graduate training and working for advanced degrees, and those in industrial jobs wishing to undertake continuing education.
A strong prior preparation in organic chemistry and some preparation in physical chemistry are useful pre-requisites.
This one-semester course introduces the structural aspects of the four major classes of biopolymers: nucleic acids, carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, with a significant emphasis on proteins and enzymes. It also introduces methods of separation of proteins and nucleic acids, and some biological spectroscopy. Finally, the course introduces the important topic of metabolic pathways, concentrating on sugar metabolism and its utility in the citric acid cycle.
The course is a very useful foundational one for any of the following course topics as well, some of which are offered in the Chemistry Department, while others in the Department of Biological Sciences.
In the Chemistry Department:
1. Enzyme Kinetics and Mechanisms
2. The Enzymatic Reactions of Metabolic Pathways (to be offered in spring 2014)
3. Physical Biochemistry
4. Biochemistry Laboratory
In the Department of Biological Sciences:
1. Cell Biology
2. Molecular Biology
Course Topics
Mon, Sept 9, 2013 Chapters 1-3: Introduction, Water Chemistry, DNA and Genetic Information
Mon, Sept 16, 2013 Chapters 4-5: Amino Acids, Primary Protein Structure
Mon, Sept 23, 2013 Chapter 9: Lipids and Membranes (Prof. Mendelsohn)
Mon, Sept 30, 2013 Chapter 8: Carbohydrates
Mon, Oct 7, 2013 Chapter 6, 7: Proteins: Three Dimensional Structure, Function Globins and Myosin
Mon, Oct 14, 2013 Exam 1, Chapters 1-5, 8, 9; then Lecture: Intro to Separation Methods (Nemeria, Patel and Wang)
Mon, Oct 21, 2013 Chapter 11: Enzyme Catalysis
Mon, Oct 28, 2013 Chapter 12: Enzyme Kinetics and Inhibition
Mon, Nov 4, 2013 Chapter 13: Biochemical Signaling, Allostery
Mon, Nov 11, 2013 Exam 2, Chapters 6,7, Experimental Methods, Chapters 11-12; then lecture: Intro to Physical Methods (Nemeria, Patel and Wang)
Mon, Nov 18, 2013, Chapter 14: Metabolism
Mon, Nov 25, 2013 Chapter 15: Glucose Catabolism
Mon, Dec 2, 2013 Chapter 16: Glycolysis and Gluconeogenesis
Mon, Dec 9, 2013 Chapter 17: Citric Acid Cycle
Mon, Dec 16, 2013 Final Exam: Chapters 11-17
Problems related to each topic will be assigned from the text
All course-related material will be posted on Blackboard.