These laboratory experiments cover a range of subjects, from extracting cell samples from plants and animals for genetic research to developing effective new medicines for the pharmaceutical industry. Once complete, the results are then analysed in an office environment using advanced data modelling software.
Working in research teams alongside experts from other scientific fields, biochemists are predominantly employed across the life sciences sector including pharmaceuticals, biotech, toxicology, food technology and vaccine production. They are also frequently employed in research roles in academic and government institutions. For anyone working in medicine or a related field, accruing sufficient biochemical knowledge is needed in order to properly understand the metabolism , function and growth of a healthy human body.
In physiology, the study of body function, biochemistry has broadened our understanding of how biochemical changes relate to physiological alteration in the body. It helps us understand the chemical aspects of biological processes such as digestion, hormonal action, and muscle contraction-relaxation. In pathology, the study of how aberrant biochemistry relates to disease conditions in the human body, physicians can use biochemical analysis to confirm predictions based on patient testimony.
For example, if a patient complains of sudden, severe pain in one or more joints, the physician may predict the problem to be gout — a form of arthritis caused by an excess of uric acid in the bloodstream.
By measuring uric acid levels, biochemistry can then confirm whether gout is the root of the problem. All diseases have a molecular basis, so biochemistry enables us to understand the chemical processes involved in conditions as varied as:.
Wit information gleaned from the chemical nature of pathologies, biochemists working in medicine are able to investigate potential treatments for diseases.
The action of a drug almost always involves some change in the biochemical processes taking place in the body. As such, pharmacologists must also be acquainted with the biochemical aspects of the human body. Biochemistry is also the sole field that accurately describes the function and role of vitamins in the body. With millions of people taking daily vitamins and mineral supplements , the ongoing discoveries made my biochemists will continue to exert a huge impact on the field of nutritional deficiency.
In all, the real impact of biochemistry is hard to quantify. Google Scholar. BMC Med Educ — Brass EP Basic biomedical sciences and the future of medical education: implications for internal medicine. J Gen Intern Med 24 11 — Science — Anticancer Res — Med Sci Educ 29 1 — New Engl J Med — Acad Med — Med Teach — Harden RM The integration ladder: a tool for curriculum planning and evaluation.
Med Educ — Wood EJ Biochemistry is a difficult subject for both student and teacher. Biochem Educ 18 4 — Heath C, Heath D Made to stick: why some ideas survive and others die. Random House, New York. Hong Kong Med J — Download references.
We thank Dr. Rakesh Kumar for bringing us together to discuss issues concerning teaching and learning biochemistry in the medical school. ZH thanks Drs. Mark S. Elliott and Glen A. Walker for many stimulating discussions about teaching medical biochemistry.
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Zhiyong Han. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author s and the source are credited.
Reprints and Permissions. If your institution subscribes to this resource, and you don't have a MyAccess Profile, please contact your library's reference desk for information on how to gain access to this resource from off-campus. Please consult the latest official manual style if you have any questions regarding the format accuracy. Understand the importance of the ability of cell-free extracts of yeast to ferment sugars, an observation that enabled discovery of the intermediates of fermentation, glycolysis, and other metabolic pathways.
Appreciate the scope of biochemistry and its central role in the life sciences, and that biochemistry and medicine are intimately related disciplines. Appreciate that biochemistry integrates knowledge of the chemical processes in living cells with strategies to maintain health, understand disease, identify potential therapies, and enhance our understanding of the origins of life on earth.
Describe how genetic approaches have been critical for elucidating many areas of biochemistry, and how the Human Genome Project has furthered advances in numerous aspects of biology and medicine. Biochemistry and medicine enjoy a mutually cooperative relationship. Biochemical studies have illuminated many aspects of health and disease, and the study of various aspects of health and disease has opened up new areas of biochemistry.
The medical relevance of biochemistry both in normal and abnormal situations is emphasized throughout this book. Biochemistry makes significant contributions to the fields of cell biology, physiology, immunology, microbiology, pharmacology, and toxicology, as well as the fields of inflammation, cell injury, and cancer.
These close relationships emphasize that life, as we know it, depends on biochemical reactions and processes. The knowledge that yeast can convert the sugars to ethyl alcohol predates recorded history. It was not, however, until the earliest years of the 20th century that this process led directly to the science of biochemistry. Despite his insightful investigations of brewing and wine making, the great French microbiologist Louis Pasteur maintained that the process of fermentation could only occur in intact cells.
It uses the methods of chemistry,. It has provided explanations for the causes of many diseases in humans, animals and plants. Biochemists are interested, for example, in mechanisms of brain function, cellular multiplication and differentiation, communication within and between cells and organs, and the chemical bases of inheritance and disease.
The biochemist seeks to determine how specific molecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, vitamins, and hormones function in such processes.
Particular emphasis is placed on the regulation of chemical reactions in living cells. Biochemistry has become the foundation for understanding all biological processes.
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