Students enrolled in the Biochemical Mechanisms in Medicine discipline must take 14 semester credit hours of Advanced Biochemistry Courses: four required courses (7.0 semester credit hours), and additional advanced elective courses (7.0 semester credit hours). Also available to students in the BMM discipline are numerous advanced courses offered by the other eight thematic tracks. BMM students are required to take at least one advanced course in another discipline, and may substitute other advanced courses for those offered in Biochemistry upon approval of COGS. Conversely, the advanced BMM courses are open to students in other disciplines. In fact, the elective courses INTD 6033 and INTD 6043 have INTD rather than BIOC designations because students from disciplines other that BMM frequently enroll in these courses.
BMM Required Advanced Courses
| BIOC 5085 |
Biophysical Methods in Biology |
Credit Hours: 2.0 |
This course covers modern biophysical methods for studying biological macromolecules in sufficient detail to understand the current literature. Topics to be covered include: Macromolecular structure determination by X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy; absorbance, fluorescence, and EPR spectroscopy; circular dichroism; light scattering; mass spectrometry; and hydrodynamics, including diffusion, electrophoresis, sedimentation velocity, and sedimentation equilibrium.
| BIOC 6036 |
Macromolecular Structure and Mechanism |
Credit Hours: 2.0 |
This course covers the fundamentals of protein and nucleic acid structure and of enzyme catalysis. The course is required for students in the Biochemical Mechanisms in Medicine track. The topics to be covered include: DNA and RNA structure, protein structure, protein folding, ligand binding by proteins, and enzyme catalysis.
| BIOC 6037 |
Integration of Metabolic Pathways |
Credit Hours: 2.0 |
The objective of this course is to provide an understanding of the individual reactions in intermediary metabolism and how the reactions are integrated by regulatory mechanisms. The topics to be covered include carbohydrate, lipid, and nitrogen metabolism and mechanisms of regulation of individual enzymes and metabolic pathways.
| BIOC 6010 |
BIOC 6010 Gene Expression and Omics |
Credit Hours: 2.0 |
The course covers gene expression focusing on regulation at the levels of transcription, RNA processing, transport and stability, epigenetics, and translation. Proteins and other regulatory molecules involved in these processes will also be covered. Particular emphasis will be placed on transcriptional control mechanisms including: RNA polymerases, chromatin remodeling, methylation and other epigenetic modifications, families of transcription factors including their DNA binding properties, protein-protein interaction domains, trans-activation mechanisms, regulation by ligand binding, phosphorylation and other signaling mechanisms and nuclear-cytoplasmic transport; posttranscriptional mechanisms including: mechanisms of RNA splicing, nuclear-cytoplasmic transport of RNA, RNA localization and targeting, RNA stability; and translational control. Post-transcriptional and translational control mechanisms will highlight the roles of RNA binding proteins and their modifications in these processes.
