Course Guide

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This contains the topics and goals of the course. Parts of the course guide can also be downloaded here.

2. Course Outline

INTRODUCTION: The Sense of Biochemistry

BUFFERS AND LIVING SYSTEMS: pH, pKa, Ka, titration curves, Henderson-Hasselbach

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF BIOMOLECULES

  1. Proteins
    1. Function of proteins
    2. Structure: 1°, 2°, 3°, 4°, pI
    3. Isolation and characterization methods
      1. Electrophoresis
      2. Chromatography
      3. Sequencing
      4. Others
    4. Enzymes
      1. Classification
      2. Kinetics: Km, Vmax, Michaelis-Menten, Lineweaver-Burke
      3. Minerals and coenzymes

Departmental Exam 1

2. Nucleic Acids

    1. Function
    2. Structure: 1°, 2° (A, B, Z), 3° (supercoiling), histones, chromatin
    3. Central dogma of molecular biology (Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes)
      1. Replication
      2. Transcription
      3. Post-transcriptional modifications
      4. Translation
      5. Post-translational modifications
    4. Mutation
      1. Types of mutation
      2. Effects of physical, chemical and viral agents on the structure and function of nucleic acids
      3. Protective mechanism and repair systems
    5. Isolation and Characterization methods
      1. Electrophoresis
      2. Polymerase chain reaction
      3. Recombinant DNA technology
      4. cDNA libraries
      5. Sequencing
      6. Others

Departmental Exam 2

3. Carbohydrates

    1. Structure and properties of carbohydrates
      1. Classifications and examples
      2. Chemical properties
      3. Physical properties
      Functions of polysaccharides
      1. Storage
      2. Structural
      3. Glycoproteins and proteoglycans

4. Lipids

    1. Structure and properties of lipids
      1. Simple neutral lipids
      2. Phospholipids
      3. Compound lipids
      Biological membranes
      1. Components
      2. Organization
      3. Function and Transport Processes

 METABOLISM

  1. Introduction: Design, Phases, Stages and Regulation

2. Bioenergetics

    1. Free energy, high energy compounds and coupled reactions
    2. Substrate level phosphorylation, electron transport chain, oxidative phosphorylation
    3. Inhibitors of ATP production

3. Catabolic Pathways and Metabolism

    1. Carbohydrate metabolism
      1. Glycolysis
      2. Kreb’s cycle
      3. Glycogenolysis
      Lipid metabolism
      1. Lipolysis
      2. B – oxidation of fatty acids
      Degradation of amino acids
      1. Transamination, oxidative deamination, direct deamination
      2. Metabolic fate of the carbon skeleton
      3. Metabolic fate of nitrogen

Departmental Exam 3

  1. Anabolic Pathways and Regulation
    1. Carbohydrate metabolism
      1. Gluconeogenesis
      2. Pentose phosphate pathway
      3. Biosynthesis of polysaccharides
    2. Lipid metabolism
      1. Biosynthesis of fatty acids
      2. Lipogenesis
      3. Ketogenesis
      4. Biosynthesis of cholesterol
    3. Nitrogen metabolism
      1. Biosynthesis of non essential amino acids
      2. Utilization of amino acids as precursors of non-protein compounds
    4. Nitrogen balance
    5. Metabolic pathways of purine and pyrimidines
      1. De novo synthesis
      2. Salvage pathways

INTEGRATION OF METABOLISM

  1. Digestion and Absorption
  2. Transport Processes of Biomolecules in the Blood
  3. Role of Hormones and other Mediators in Metabolism
  4. Post Absorption and Starvation

Departmental Exam 4