Offered by Radboud University - Faculty of Science - BioWetenschappen - - - -
Course details
Content 1 Topics Cellular biochemistry
Interactions in aqueous systems and amino acids
Protein structure, folding and processing of proteins
Protein detection and purification
Protein function: enzymes, mechanisms, kinetics and inhibitors
Catabolism of amino acids and fatty acids/lipids
Principles of bioenergetics
Carbohydrates & Glycoconjugates
Protein function: cytoskeleton
Receptors and signal transduction 1&2
Tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes
Cell cycle regulation in normal cells, stem cells and tumor cells
Instructional modes
Lecture
Response course
Tutorial
Self-study
about:blank 1/6 2/5/24, 2:20 PM Cellular Biochemistry (2023) Aims Course objectives This course is to give the first-year bachelor students an introduction of basic concepts of biochemistry and cell biology in animal cells.
Learning goals Upon completing this course, the student is able to:
1. Understand and analyse how biological macromolecules in the cell are constructed and how they function. 2. Understand how certain nutrients are taken up and via which metabolic pathway these nutrients are degraded for energy gain. 3. Understand how the above processes functionally interact and how they are involved in human biology and diseases, particularly the onset and progression of cancer. 4. Apply the biochemical and cell biological knowledge to describe the physiological function of molecular components and regulators of the cell biological processes mentioned above. 5. Work in a team/pairs, able to divide the tasks and share gained results with the team. 6. Report their performed research in the form of a scientific report
Specific learning goals for the content of the course
Upon completing this course, the student is able to:
1. Understand basic properties of amino acids.
2. Understand and describe the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure of proteins based on fundamental chemical bonds mediating life. 3. Describe the principles of experimental methods used to determine experimentally properties of proteins such as molecular mass or isoelectric point and methods used to separate and purify proteins. 4. Analyze the most important parameters for enzyme kinetics and the role of different types of inhibitors. 5. Understand and describe the properties of fatty acids, cholesterol and phospholipids and their role in the composition and behaviour of cellular membranes. 6. Understand and describe how sugar structures originate and give rise to functional polymers. 7. Understand the role Gibbs energy plays in chemical reactions and based on that indicate whether single or coupled chemical reactions can proceed spontaneously. 8. Understand and describe key aspects of the structure and function cytoskeleton in movement and adhesion. 9. Understand and describe key aspects of cell communication and cell signal transduction through membrane receptors and secondary messengers. 10. Understand and describe basic concepts of cell cycle regulation including processes during the various stages of the cell cycle and how polypeptide growth factors can control the cell cycle. 11. Understand the evolutionary differences between cellular proto-oncogenes, activated cellular oncogenes and viral oncogenes, how activated cellular oncogenes and viral oncogenes give normal cells an autonomous growth behavior and how dominant activating mutations in cellular proto-oncogenes may lead to tumour growth. 12. Understand the differences between normal cells, tumour cells and stem cells.
Level 1st year bachelor, mandatory course
Presumed foreknowledge Dutch high school vwo-level, chemistry and biology knowledge required. A compulsory pre-knowledge test within the course is required. This test can be taken as many times as one wishes, but the final score should be a "Pass' (pass/fail).
about:blank 2/6 2/5/24, 2:20 PM Cellular Biochemistry (2023) Test information The final grade consists of - 80% the exam score, minimum grade 5.5 - 20% the lab practical score, minimum grade 5.5 - A pre-knowledge test is part of this course: students need to pass this test in orde to pass the complete course.
Specifics Lectures are not compulsory, but highly recommended to participate. Compulsory learning activities are (content) tutorials, the computer practical and the lab practical. In addition, there is an online pre-knowledge test (in Brightspace) that is compulsory to perform before the end of the course, to make sure that students have basic knowledge for the course. Stundents can take this test as many times as they wish, until they pass the test (pass/fail). All learning activities are complementary to lectures, because not all course content can be elaborated in the lectures! Tutorials and the computer practical rehearse lectures and give you a chance to practice using the content. The lab practical gives you an opportunity to execute experiments using the content of one of the topics and to understand the topic in depth. All these learning activities together synergize to cover the matter you need to learn for this course.
The course is mainly based on one books: “Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry” (8th edition), Authors, David L Nelson, Michael Cox, ISBN 9781319150877. Students are asked to learn through all educational activities in the course, the lectures, tutorials and practicals. The lecture slides and assignments for the tutorials, computer and lab practicals are available in Brightspace.
For complementary reading, we recommend “Molecular Cell Biology” (8th Edition), Authors: Arnold Berk, Chris A. Kaiser, Harvey Lodish, Angelika Amon, Hidde Ploegh, Anthony Bretscher, Monty Krieger, Kelsey C. Martin, ISBN 9781464187445
The lectures of this academic year will be recorded on video. You will find the recordings on Brightspace.
Competences
Competences
Collaborate within a (scientific) team (Level not applicable)
Practice with collaboration. Within the team, execute individual tasks and share obtained results (e.g. with fellow students, researchers, stakeholders)
Communicate in writing in a clear, concisely and convincingly way (Level not applicable) Practice writing (e.g. in an email, report, research proposal, poster, press release)
Perform a research experiment/project (Level 2)
Perform experiments by collecting and examining information (partly) yourself and know when to ask guidance
Receive and apply written/oral feedback (Level not applicable)
Practice receiving and applying feedback (e.g. Apply within the course, or follow-up courses)
Report and discuss own research (Level not applicable)
Practice with reporting and discussing own research
Work with IT/software programmes (Level 1)
Work with a limited amount of options in basic programmes (e.g. Excel, PowerPoint, versatest, JASP, Endnote)
Work with lab appliances and apply experimental techniques (Level 2)
Apply basic techniques (e.g. stain a microscopic slide, make a streak plate, perform a gel electrophoresis)
