Chemistry 345/545
Advanced Biochemistry—Biophysical and molecular biological techniques with applications to the HIV virus and the malaria parasite
Fall Semester Tuesday/Thursday 11:30 –1 PM
Room 278 PSB
Pre-requisite—any
course in Biochemistry such as CH 242, Biology 343, Biology 200 (HC) or permission
of the instructor (S. White)
Modern biochemical techniques are used to study disease-causing organisms with the goal of finding therapeutic agents. These agents are generally targeted against the proteins or nucleic acids of the virus or microorganism. Following discussion of viral and parasitic life cycles and the flow of genetic information the focus will shift to experimental methods. Techniques for producing and studying these macromolecules will be discussed. Depending on student interest these may include chromatography, crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance, fluorescence and circular dichroism. Newer strategies, such as mass spectroscopy and DNA microarrays, that deal with the advances made possible by the completion of numerous genome projects, , will also be examined.
In this course we will be
concerned not only with biochemical facts, but also in how biochemists work and
how their conclusions are reached.
Thus, this course is about biochemistry as a process and students are
encouraged to consider their potential roles as young scientists. To this end we will visit a local
pharmaceutical company, read current journal articles and some historical or
biographical accounts of key discoveries.
Evaluations will be based on class attendance and participation, problem sets, writing assignments, and a final exam. Students may expect a written assignment approximately every two weeks. Graduate students are expected to complete additional work in bioinformatics and molecular visualization.
Texts:
Physical
Biochemistry: Principles and Applications by David Sheehan
Professor Susan White—Chemistry Department
202 PSB
Phone 610 526 5107
Fax 610 526 5086
e-mail swhite@brynmawr.edu