Medical Biochemistry CHENG HONG Yangzhou University Medical Academy
Medical Biochemistry CHENG HONG Yangzhou University Medical Academy hcheng@yzu. edu. cn
Introduction
What is the essence of life?
Questions • • How do we become aged? What is the nature of memory? Why cannot we cure all the diseases? Why is penicillin a universal drug? Is gene therapy working clinically? How do bio-drugs work? Are genetically modified foods safe? How can enzymes benefit oil production?
• One of the greatest projects of human being • 15 years, 6 countries, 25 research centers, and thousands of scientists • Laid a solid foundation for understanding about human evolution, the origination, progression and treatment of diseases, other genomics, …
Small differences in big genes • Careful comparison of the high-quality draft sequence of the genome of the most commonly studied laboratory mouse • Human is genetically remarkably close to the lab mouse.
Complex pathway
Milestones of Modern Biochemistry
What is biochemistry? • Biochemistry is a comprehensive study of biomolecules and biological reactions to interpret the nature of life, that is, an exploration of the biological phenomena at the molecular level.
• Biochemistry is profoundly influencing our daily life. • Biochemistry elucidates many central processes in biology, medicine, pharmaceutics, bioengineering, …on the basis of chemistry. • Biochemistry helps us understand the common molecular patterns and principles underlying the diversified forms of the life, and the uniformity of bio-world.
What will we learn? • Chemical components, structures, and biological functions of biomolecules • Material metabolism and energy supply • Genetic information transfer • Signal transduction • Applications to clinical
Components and structures • Classified into proteins, nucleic acids, saccharides, lipids, … • Spatial structures determined by chemical components and linkages • Biological functions in the molecular recognitions and molecular interactions
Metabolism and regulation • H 2 O (60000 kg), sugars (10000 kg), proteins (600 kg), lipids (1000 kg) are needed. • Biological systems are in the dynamic equilibrium, requiring constant adjustments. • Normal metabolic process is essential. • Regulations of the quantity and quality are the strategic approaches.
Genetic information • Genetic information flow is involved in every step of the life process. • They are the material basis as well as the information basis. • External signals are transduced into the cells to respond accordingly.
Our schedule • Textbook + supplementary handout • Contents: • – Mentioned previously • Schedule: • – Theoretical section: 90 hrs. • – Experimental section: 54 hrs.
How to learn? • Difficulties • – many biomolecules in different biosystems • – many control and regulation points along biological pathways • – many pathways in the multiple-step biological process • – many concepts, principles, techniques, and applications • – many hand-on experiments
How to learn? • • Preview and review Read textbooks critically Understand what you have learned Correlate the knowledge vertically and horizontally • Do experiments yourself • Commends and suggestions
- Slides: 20