Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

dikutip dari http://www.studyat.uwa.edu.au/courses/biochemistry-and-molecular-biology

Introduction

What are genes? How do hormones work? What goes wrong in a cancer cell? These are just some of the questions that biochemists and molecular biologists ask.

Five reasons why studying biochemistry and molecular biology is great:

1. Biochemistry and molecular biology allow us to understand how the natural world works. These disciplines of science give us insights into the mechanisms of evolution, growth, development, reproduction, disease, and senescence.

2. Studying biochemistry and molecular biology trains us to think logically, critically and quantitatively. We learn to evaluate statements made in the scientific literature, as well as in non-science areas, based on evidence, not anecdotes. These tools are highly desired by employers in all employment sectors.

3. Biochemistry and molecular biology offer humankind the tools to improve our quality of life - this may be through the development of a novel drug, the generation of a drought resistant crop plant, or the understanding of what controls an individual’s health.

4. Studying biochemistry and molecular biology is empowering. Being able to make connections between the molecular mechanisms driving a process and the outcomes of those mechanisms on the physiology and/or behaviour of an organism permits a holistic understanding of biological organisation and function – from the molecules to cells, tissues, organs and entire organism. This breadth of knowledge is essential to future discoveries and innovations in all areas of biology, biotechnology, and medicine.

5. Studying biochemistry and molecular biology is exciting, and becomes even more so beyond the BSc when opportunities exist for novel and innovative research. There is nothing as thrilling as seeing a novel result and realising how it extends our knowledge of a bigger biological picture!

 

Course description, features and facilities

Biochemists and molecular biologists are interested in the molecular functions of all living organisms, from the smallest bacterium to the largest whale. In this major, you will study the way molecules are organised and how they interact to achieve the functions of the living cell and that of the organism. Your investigations will cover three main areas: the information stored in DNA; molecular interactions; and how organisms gain and use energy.
To complement your lectures from renowned experts in their various fields, you will have the chance to discuss, apply and expand on the theory of your unit in weekly practical laboratory classes and structured tutorials.

The discipline of Biochemistry within the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry has access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for teaching and research in the areas of biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, proteomics, metabolomics and transcriptomics. The academic staff of the discipline, together with the Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, have research expertise in all of these areas. At third year level in particular, students are directly taught in the laboratory practicals by academic staff members. One of the strengths of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Major at UWA is the high level of practical laboratory training, coupled with theoretical material presented by experts in each subject.


Schematic relationship between biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology.

Researchers in molecular biology use specific techniques native to molecular biology but increasingly combine these with techniques and ideas from genetics and biochemistry. There is not a defined line between these disciplines. The figure to the right is a schematic that depicts one possible view of the relationship between the fields:

• Biochemistry is the study of the chemical substances and vital processes occurring in live organisms. Biochemists focus heavily on the role, function, and structure of biomolecules. The study of the chemistry behind biological processes and the synthesis of biologically active molecules are examples of biochemistry.
• Genetics is the study of the effect of genetic differences on organisms. This can often be inferred by the absence of a normal component (e.g. one gene). The study of "mutants" – organisms which lack one or more functional components with respect to the so-called "wild type" or normal phenotype. Genetic interactions (epistasis) can often confound simple interpretations of such "knockout" studies.
• Molecular biology is the study of molecular underpinnings of the processes of replication, transcription, translation, and cell function. The central dogma of molecular biology where genetic material is transcribed into RNA and then translated into protein, despite being an oversimplified picture of molecular biology, still provides a good starting point for understanding the field. This picture, however, is undergoing revision in light of emerging novel roles for RNA.

Much of the work in molecular biology is quantitative, and recently much work has been done at the interface of molecular biology and computer science in bioinformatics and computational biology. As of the early 2000s, the study of gene structure and function, molecular genetics, has been among the most prominent sub-field of molecular biology.
Increasingly many other loops of biology focus on molecules, either directly studying their interactions in their own right such as in cell biology and developmental biology, or indirectly, where the techniques of molecular biology are used to infer historical attributes of populations or species, as in fields in evolutionary biology such as population genetics and phylogenetics. There is also a long tradition of studying biomolecules "from the ground up" in biophysics.