Høst 2023

KJE-2002 Biological chemistry - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for kjemi

Type of course

Theoretical with one compulsory practical assignment. The course is available as a singular or elective course independent of study program, also to exchange-students. The course is offered on condition that a minimum number of students register for the course.

Course overlap

K-241 Organic structural chemistry 10 ects

Course contents

Biological chemistry is the study of biologically active molecules (biomolecules) and their involvement in chemical processes in living organisms. The course covers important biomolecules such as amino acids (proteins) carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, with a focus on the relation between structure and function and on methods for determination of structures. The course provides an introduction to the most important methods for structure determination of biomolecules: X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction, microscopic techniques (atomic force microscopy and electron microscopy) as well as an introduction to NMR on macromolecules. The nomenclature for the biomolecules, bond distances, bond angles, torsions, molecular packing in crystals and the configuration of chiral molecules, as well as intra- and intermolecular interactions, will be discussed and related to biological activity. An emphasis will be placed on the relationship between structure and function. The structure of molecules important in biology and the relationship between structure and biological behaviour will be described and discussed.

Admission requirements

Formal prerequisites:

Applicants from Nordic countries: KJE-1001 or equivalent

International applicants: Higher Education Entrance Qualification and certified language requirements in English. It is a requirement that students have some prior knowledge of chemistry and/or biology (participants must have taken introductory level university courses, and achieved pass grades, in these subjects).

A list of the requirements for the Higher Education Entrance Qualification in Norway can be found on the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education website - nokut.no

Application code: 9197 (Nordic applicants).

Objective of the course

The student will have expanded knowledge and proficiency within relevant topics in chemistry. This means that the student

Knowledge

has an understanding of basic features of biological molecules and their description with respect to bonds, angles and torsions
has an understanding of how biomolecules are formed and their building blocks
has knowledge about stabilizing forces (proteins and DNA in particular), and insight into which forces are key to the overall stability of the molecules
has insight into how some biomolecular assemblies are formed and how they are of general importance
has a general knowledge about a set of structure determination methods (various diffraction techniques, NMR, Atomic Force- and Electron Microscopy, as well as general spectroscopic techniques); when they should be applied, as well as their strengths and weaknesses

Skills

can describe the general quality assessment terms for the most common structure determination techniques
can describe the most common functions of the biomolecules and to couple this with their general structures and individual building blocks
can outline some of the basal biological processes investigated in the course; General introduction to Biochemistry, DNA replication, Protein Synthesis and Virus-structure and -replication cycle
can describe intra- and inter-molecular stabilizing forces and how they are distinguished

Competence

has a general knowledge about the biomolecules; their structure and some of the functions they have
has knowledge about general structure determination methods for different types of biomolecules
has developed general knowledge about the field of biological chemistry which will serve as an aid in all research directions within chemistry

Language of instruction

The language of instruction is English and all of the syllabus material is in English. Examination questions will be given in English, and may be answered in either English or a Norwegian/Scandinavian language.

Teaching methods

Lectures: 36 h, Seminars: 18 h, Laboratory: 4-6 h Computer-based assignment.