Introduction to Biochemistry

Cell Biology

Structural Chemistry of the components of living matter and the relationship of biological function to chemical structure.

Molecular Biology

Metabolism, the totality of chemical reactions that occur in living matter.

Molecular Genetics

The chemistry of process and substances that store and transmit biological information.

Food Science- Nutrition

• Biochemists research ways to develop abundant and inexpensive sources of nutritious foods. Determine the Chemical composition of foods. Develop methods to extract nutrients from waste products. Invent ways to prolong the shelf life of food products.

Agriculture

• Biochemists study the interaction of herbicides with plants. Examine the structure-activity relationships of compounds. Determine their ability to inhibit growth. Evaluate the toxicological effects on surrounding life.

Toxicology

• Deals with toxic metabolites in the body. Does research to understand ways in which organic compounds in the body are changed by enzymes into toxic metabolites.

Rogene Henderson

Senior Scientist and supervisor of the biochemical toxicology group at Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute.

Physical agents

Mechanical trauma, extremes of temperature, sudden changes in atmospheric pressure, radiation, electric shock.

Chemical agents

Including drugs, certain toxic compounds, therapeutic drugs

Biological agents

Viruses, bacteria, fungi, higher forms of parasites

Oxygen lack

Loss of blood supply, depletion of the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, poisoning of the oxidative enzymes.

Genetic Disorders

Congenital, Molecular

Immunologic reactions

Anaphylaxis, autoimmune disease

Nutritional imbalances

Deficiencies, excesses

Endocrine imbalances

Hormonal deficiencies, excesses

Robert Hooke

Discovery of the living cell, he published micrographia a book that detailed his observations using a microscope. He coined the term “cells” to describe the small, box-like structures.

Anselme Payen

Discovery of Cellulose, he was the first to isolate and identify cellulose that is a major component of plant cell walls. Discovery of Diastase (Amylase) that is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of starch into sugars.

Louis Pasteur

Pasteurization, which he discovered is a process that kills microbes and prevents spoilage in beer, milk, and other goods. He developed the earliest vaccines against fowl cholera, anthrax and rabies. He discovered that molecules with the same chemical composition could exist in mirror image forms, known as optical isomers.

Friedrich Miescher

Discovered a substance in the nuclei of white blood cells, which he named “Nuclein”

Phoebus Levene

Identified the sugar components of nucleic acids, RNA that contains ribose and deoxyribose in DNA. He proposed the tetranucleotide hypothesis that DNA was composed of repeating units of four (nucleotides: Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine) arranged in a fixed sequence.

James Sumner

Successfully crystallized the enzyme (Urease) from Jack bean extracts. His works provided the first concrete evidence that enzymes are proteins. Also discovered (Catalase)

John Howard Northrop

He successfully crystallized the digestive enzyme (Pepsin), which confirmed that enzymes could be isolated in pure form and were indeed proteins. Digestive enzymes (Pepsin, Trypsin, Lipase)

Wendell Meredith Stanley

Was the first to crystallize a virus (Tobacco Mosaic Virus). This work demonstrated tat viruses could be crystallized and treated as chemical substance, paving the way for the study of their molecular structure.

Hans Krebs

Discovered the Krebs cycle (Citric Acid Cycle). Also discovered Urea Cycle, a metabolic cycle to be elucidated how ammonia is converted into urea in the liver.

James Watson

Proposed the double helix model for the structure of DNA. Wrote “The Double Helix” a personal account of the discovery of DNA structure.

Fredrick Sanger

Developed the first method for sequencing proteins, specifically (Insulin). Also Developed the Chain-Termination Method for determining the nucleotide sequence of DNA.

Structural Biochemistry

This area focuses on the molecular structure of biological macromolecules such as proteins, nucleic acid, and carbohydrates.

Metabolic Biochemistry

Deals with the chemical processes and pathways that occur within living organisms to maintain life. It includes the study of metabolic pathways, such as glycolysis, citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation.

Molecular Genetics/ Genetic Biochemistry

This field examines the biochemical mechanisms underlying genetic information storage, replication, transcription and it explores how genes are expressed.