What to teach - Biochem (Dec/28/2008 )

I am helping to design biochemistry curricula for undergraduate (most of them will be pre-med, or go to bio-research labs later).

I think most you have taken those classes before, please share some suggestion about what is most useful topics for you or what topics you wish you have learn.

For med-school teacher or lab supervisor, what do you think we should teach those kids, so they can be better prepare for later learning or works.

Hi

Go for something interesting. Formation of thiazoline and oxazoline rings from simple amino acids in natural products in quite fascinating.

TC

cholesterol biosynthesis. It is very pretty. It solves a synthesis problem that looks exceedingly complicated in a very simple and elegant manner.

If they are pretty new to advanced biology, teach them how proteins interact with each other, how chemical forces makes protein fold to their final forms. Also, photosysthesis and Krebs cycle are always a winner!

Notes on how an enzymatic reaction takes place, what are the particularities of the amino acids, how the pH can influence proteins and enzymes, how mass spec can identify purified proteins, and so on. There are a lot of things you can teach! Just remember you own courses!