Work towards a career in medicine, research, nutrition, agriculture, health science and natural health care. learn about the chemistry of molecules found in and associated with living systems biochemists try to understand complex procedures, how molecules are created or destroyed and how they relate and affect each other, and you can too. Know about the many of the essential building blocks of life including: amino acids, proteins, sugars, polysaccharides, lipids, enzymes, vitamins, hormones, RNA and DNA. This course follows on from Biochemistry A (Plant or Animal) and focuses more on biochemical molecules.

Course Aims:

• Describe the characteristics of a range of biochemical molecules
• Distinguish between different groups of biochemical molecules.
• Describe the structural characteristics and other properties that differentiate standard amino acids one from another.
• Discuss structures of different proteins (both covalent and 3-dimensional).
• Describe common protein dynamics including folding, structural evolution and haemoglobin function.
• Describe the structure and dynamics of different types of saccharides and polysaccharides.
• Discuss the composition and structure of both lipids and membranes.
• Describe the structure and dynamics of different types of enzymes, vitamins and hormones.
• Describe the structure and function of different types of nucleic acids including DNA and RNA.
• Identify some of the basic laboratory techniques used in biochemistry and to appreciate the importance of safety in the laboratory.

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Biochemical Molecules
2. Amino Acids
3. Structure of Proteins
4. Protein Dynamics
5. Sugars and Polysaccharides
6. Lipids (Fats) and Membranes
7. Enzymes, Vitamins and Hormones
8. DNA and RNA
9. Laboratory Techniques