saspur Posted September 8, 2010 Posted September 8, 2010 Hi. Does anyone has a clue about how to study Biochemistry (Nucleic Acids)? I am a new grad student, and I totally have no idea of how to deal with this course for my first semester. I mean my knowledge about biology is ok, but when it comes to structures, thermodynamics.....I used to hate Chemistry in my high school and undergraduate years. Does anyone who doesn't have strong chemistry background also feeling the same as me?
AlexM451 Posted September 8, 2010 Posted September 8, 2010 I took biochemistry two years ago, and I'll just list a few tips from my experience: For molecular structures, draw them until you know them. You will undoubtedly have to know the structure of all amino acids and nucleotide bases by heart, if not some enzymatic mechanisms. This also goes for metabolic pathways, draw them out repeatedly until you know each intermediate, the enzyme that produces it, and anything else significant about the reaction. For quantitative calculations, the best advice I can give you is to just keep doing problems. Obviously, if the prof posts a practice exam/problems, do them until you know how to reach each answer. The rest is conceptual molecular biology, if I remember correctly. If you don't quite understand the rationale behind a particular biochemical method, read up about it, or better yet, just ask the professor for clarification. Biochemistry is a lot of memorization, but it's an incredibly powerful tool for a research scientist, and (depending on the prof) the class isn't as scary as people make it out to be. Hope this helps!
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now