Course Descriptions

The properties of proteins and enzymes will be described including structure, kinetics, regulation and modification, antibodies, membrane proteins and glycosylation. Laboratories will provide experience with the determination of structural and functional properties including: ultracentrifugation, chromatography, electrophoresis, kinetics, phosphoamino acid identification, Western blotting, computer-based sequence analysis via the Internet.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 4 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): BMSC 240.3 and CHEM 250.3.
Note: Students with credit for BIOC 341 or BIOC 429 cannot take this course for credit.

Basic principles and techniques of nucleic acid manipulations used in molecular biology and biotechnology are presented. Information and practical experience with plasmids, restriction endonucleases, PCR, DNA sequencing, site-directed mutagenesis, cloning, hybridization, analysis of RNA and gene promoters, and protein over-expression are presented. The laboratory component will also include an Internet exercise.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 4 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): BMSC 240.3, CHEM 250.3, and one of BMSC 220.3 or BIOL 226.3.
Note: Students with credit for MCIM 391.3 (formerly MICR 391.3), MICR 395, or BIOC 341 may not take this course for credit.

This is a lecture-based course that will focus on the advanced principles of protein structure, stability and biological function. In addition, techniques used to study protein structure will be introduced and illustrated with practical examples and problems.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): BIOC 310.3.
Note(s): Students with credit for BMST 305 will not receive credit for BIOC 405. This course was labeled BMST 305 until 2013.

The details of protein structure, domains, folding and targeting, and modern experimental approaches to protein engineering will be presented. The inter-relationship between structure and function in enzyme/protein mechanism and regulation shall be stressed.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): BIOC 310 and CHEM 250.
Note: Students with credit for BIOC 334 cannot take this course for credit.

This course provides current knowledge of the biochemical and clinical aspects of human cancer. The course will focus on the importance of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes and other topics such as tumor formation and metastasis, apoptosis, cancer epigenetics, signal transduction mechanisms, and drug resistance, drug development, and biochemical and clinical importance of tumor models.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): BMSC 230, BMSC 240 and CHEM 250.

Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms to produce energy and substrates that are necessary to sustain life. This course will explore cellular and organismal metabolism with a focus on the relationships between key metabolic pathways and genetic and acquired human diseases. Topics will include diabetes and obesity as well as other diseases of amino acid, carbohydrate, lipid and vitamin/cofactor metabolism.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): BMSC 230 and CHEM 250.

Modern and advanced methods and strategies of nucleic acid manipulation, and characterization of genes in cells and whole organisms are presented. Topics include; delivery of genes into cells and animals, generation of transgenic and gene knockout animals, genome editing, DNA forensics, and aspects of systems biology.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): BMIS 340.3

The details of protein structure, domains, folding and targeting, and modern experimental approaches to protein engineering will be presented. The inter-relationship between structure and function in enzyme protein mechanism and regulation will be stressed.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 1 Tutorial hours
Permission of instructor required.

The biochemical properties of eukaryotic cells will be investigated with special emphasis on post-translational modifications of secreted and membrane proteins, cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions, signal transduction, cell-cycle control, apoptosis, neoplastic transformation and tumor progression. Students will be asked to research one of the topics discussed in the course by consulting the current literature and prepare a term paper.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): BIOC 211; BIOC 310; or permission of the department.

Modern and advanced methods and strategies of nucleic acid manipulation, and characterization of genes in cells and whole organisms are presented. Topics include PCR applications, delivery of genes into cells and animals, generation of transgenic and gene knockout animals, DNA fingerprinting, and aspects of molecular medicine such as screening approaches for genetic diseases.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 1 Tutorial hours
Permission of instructor required.

Describes the principles, methodology, application and limitations of the techniques in x-ray crystallographic structure elucidations. The methods employed to solve both small molecule and macromolecular crystal structures will be discussed and a small molecular structure determination will be carried out by the students.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 3 Practicum/Lab hours
Permission of instructor required.

These courses are offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations. Students interested in these courses should contact the department for more information.

These courses are offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations. Students interested in these courses should contact the department for more information.

All Biochemistry graduate students must register annually for this course. The Biochemistry seminar series presents a wide range of topics from the life sciences and are held throughout the year. Students in the biochemistry graduate program are required to attend these seminars, and may also be required to attend seminars in related fields given in other departments or institutions on campus.

Students writing a Master's thesis must register for this course.

Students writing a Ph.D. thesis must register for this course.