Disclaimer from the title: I have nothing against pre-med students, all power to them, I can't fathom med school.

I'm currently going to a small private college in the southern US. We have a biochem degree that I was quite excited to major in up until now. However, now that I'm in the highest level courses, I'm realizing I'm not going to get what I want out of this degree. I have a very large interest in biomanufacturing and genetic engineering (cell factories for small molecule production and such), but these courses have given me none of the tools I need to go into any of that work. The closest we've come is using a pre-modified organism for a protein assay.

What I have learned a great deal about is human metabolism, tissue function, and mammalian hormone signaling (as well as the process for the professor's friend's natural dyeing project). I am almost never going to use any of this. The entirety of this program has been to equip the med students that this program caters to for their MCATs. I've tried speaking to the professor about this but there's never any time to squeeze in material that I'm interested in. It's making this major so much more of a slog because barely any of this is remotely interesting.

On top of that, my school used to have an undergraduate research program that allowed students to choose their own research project and direct their own major interests and learning for the last 1.5 years of their degree. That's been replaced with a structured program that caters to the environmental science majors in the wake of Hurricane Helene. It was the one thing I was holding out for as it would finally let me study what I actually wanted to.

I just feel so frustrated with this whole situation, I don't know whether to transfer or what. It seems like this is going to be unsalvageable if I want to go into Masters programs in specialties that I want to work in. Is anyone else in a similar situation or have any advice?

Edit: Made this post out of frustration and realize now I seem like a complete naive ahole (which is true to some extent). Going to be talking to my professor and doing some introspection as to how to get the most out of this program.

For Western blots. Thought I'd ask before I go spend money...

Hi guy! With nearing my end to first year at university, i have hated labwork the entireeeee time it makes me want to pull my eyes and brains out, i can do allot of the different techniques but i hate how tedious everything is however I did enjoy going to my lectures and doing coursework, ur probably thinking then why pick biochemistry😭 but can people give me career options where my biochemistry course will be useful and doesnt involve any labwork. Much appreciated 🙏🙏

Hello! I'm graduating this spring with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from University of Houston. I was going to apply to dental schools but now I'm reconsidering my career goals. During my undergrad I did work in a research lab at UT school of dentistry in the biomedical sciences and craniofacial diseases department, I liked it so much that made me now consider a research career. So my question is what kind of master or PhD I can do after my biochem bachelor that would level up my education. I was thinking about bioinformatics sciences.

I want something that uses software, statistics, and algorithms to study biological data, especially genetics, genomics, and protein biology. Analyze DNA, RNA, or protein sequences. Study gene expression (e.g., from RNA-seq data). Build models of biological pathways or molecular interactions. That's the field that interest me the most but I'm not sure if that's what they do or they other things. There are just a lot of broad things in the biochemistry/biology field and I'm unsure about the paths.

Also, what kind of jobs that I can work in right after I graduate with a bachelor's degree that is related to Bioinformatics? Is it worth?

I don't want something like a research assistant or lab technician where they only follow protocols and that's it. Plus they don't make money a lot, I would make the same thing when I was working full time as a dental assistant and that's without a bachelor's degree. I want something that I could grow in in the science field and research (I'm dreaming big lol😅)

I'd appreciate it if you could share your thoughts about it or if you have experience in the field!

Thank you!!

Hello, I am about to graduate with a degree in biomedical science and I am interested in molecular biology and computational biology. The thing is I like conceptual thinking and creativity and dislike repetitive work, procedures and troubleshooting. Would computational biology be better for me?

I want to dock a ligand (small molecule) to a protein with Alphafold3 that's not in the ligand list of the Af3 server. To be specific, the entire structure with the ligand has already been crystallized, so what I actually want to do is to dock a protein to that ligand-protein (active confirmation) with Af3.

I know that the Af3 has been open sourced and can be downloaded locally (so I can input the specified ligand), unfortunately I don't have a Nvidia GPU so I can't run it. Any ideas? Thanks.

I’m trying to detect a ~55 kDa protein in Nicotiana benthamiana leaf extract using an anti-FLAG antibody. I’ve run SDS-PAGE (12% gel), transferred to PVDF membrane, and blocked with 5% milk in TBST for 1 hour at room temp. Then I incubated with primary antibody (1:1000) overnight at 4°C.

Problem is, I’m getting either: 1. No signal at all (not even in the positive control lane), or 2. A bunch of high background and some faint smears instead of a clean band.

I’ve tried adjusting antibody concentrations and washing more thoroughly, but I’m still stuck. Is it possible I’m overloading my gel or using the wrong blocking agent for this antibody?

I am currently 29, never finished college but am planning to go back for next year. Originally, I was in an art program and dropped out to pursue my own career. Now I am at a point where I want to go back and finish college but am restarting completely and decided on Biochemistry because it interested me the most. I had good grades in my chemistry and physics during high school and have self studied a lot on human anatomy as I work as a personal trainer as a side gig. I joined this subreddit to sort of brush up on concepts but I find a lot of the material goes over my head. I want to really get a head start before starting school because it has been so long since I did any science or math class. Does anyone have any suggestions? I thought of buying Lehninger’s principles of biochemistry but I wonder if that is even too advanced to begin with.

Does this sentence make sense? I don’t know if receptor expression necessarily aligns with higher levels of the molecule that acts on it

The title pretty much sums it. I'm taking both Orgo 1 and 2 in the summer in two 5.5 week blocks. I have 22 days to prepare if needed. I'm really nervous because everyone says it's a very hard class, but I recognize that some people might be overexaggerating. I am currently taking GenChem 2 and haven't done too bad for myself, but I also am aware that that doesn't necessarily translate to Orgo(especially because I'm taking it accelerated).

I'm just looking for some advice, realism about my situation, and potentially any optimism/encouraging words(However if you think I'm done for, I'd like your opinion as well). Thanks for your time, and I will deeply appreciate any responses.

What is the lipid to protein ratio on various membranes? Can someone assist me in answering this question with depth to the topic?
Thanks ^.^

What is the lipid to protein ratio on various membranes? Can someone assist me in answering this question with depth to the topic?
Thanks ^.^

Does anyone here work at a company where there is a large-scale (>100L) E. coli recombinant protein production process that runs at a regularly scheduled interval?

I have been doing research all day trying to understand if these production-scale processes typically use fixed-time induction or biomass-triggered induction. What I mean is: Does induction happen at a predefined time point (e.g. 4 hours in), or is it triggered by a measured process variable like OD, pH, or conductivity?

I would assume most processes are biomass-triggered to maximize yields, but does that not introduce quite a lot of operational inefficiencies downstream due to variability in timing?

Hey y’all I’m taking bio chemistry this summer , and I just wanna know how it will it be. RN I’m more than half way one with orgo 2 and I find it pretty easy and understandable. So that does that mean bio chem will be chill or it will be harder? Does it have anything to do with orgo at all?

My professor said the urea cycle does not a rate limiting enzyme per se. It’s a substrate driven cycle.

I’m working on a project covering summarizing it and I’m just plan confused.

Textbook is saying carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I is the rate limiting enzyme. And it’s also activated by arginine ultimately by activating N-acetylglutamate which activates CPSI.

I think I should just restate what the professor said but combine that these components need to be available to move the urea cycle forward.

I'm new to biochemistry and I originally planned on a physics/engineering related course but a job in biochemistry seemed promising and interesting to me so I thought of choosing Biochem instead.

Are there any good websites or online resources I can access (preferably for free) that can aid me in learning Biochemistry?

What core topics or essential information about biochemistry should I know and in what order can you suggest I should learn about biochem?

I found a discord community, in which you can join calls with likewise people wanting to study with others. You can turn your face/desk cam on, or screenshare on to keep yourself not getting distracted! You can also join scheduled sessions :) I'm excited to see you there!

irst-year med student here. I'm struggling to keep up with the fast-paced learning system, especially with biochemistry. The textbook feels like an ocean of knowledge, a good part of which isn’t even considered important—so reading the chapters doesn’t make much sense, and they’re really long. My university lectures feel useless since they just skim through a PowerPoint. Are there any good lectures available online for this? What’s the best way to study it?

An article reviewing the difficulty in understanding RNA structures (they're a lot trickier than protein structures) and the efforts to solve this using AI tools.

Have you read a cool paper recently that you want to discuss?

Do you have a paper that's been in your in your "to read" pile that you think other people might be interested in?

Have you recently published something you want to brag on?

Share them here and get the discussion started!

So a few days ago i had a clash with one of the Phd students. She was saying that a solid solution must be prepared by weighing the solid solute and adding in the complete volume of the solvent (eg - to prepare 3% NaCl sol., u need to add in 3gm of NaCl into 100ml of water). Well what I had learnt was to always dissolve the solid solute into a small quantity of solvent and then make up the volume to the desired level using the solvent (eg- to prepare 3% NaCl sol., you weigh 3gm of NaCl and add a small quantity of water to dissolve. Once dissolved transfer it to a volumetric flask or a measuring cylinder and make up the volume to 100 ml using water).

Which one of these is the right way of making a solution?

was cleaning out my great grandfathers celler after he died and we found a bunch of bottled wine and juice from the 50s-00s. turns out all the blackcurrants juice has turned into a jelly like substance. Any explanation for why this has happened? From what i now its only a mixture of blackcurrants and sugar cooked together.

Not entirely sure a meta discussion is allowed here but here we go..

It is not outlandish of an idea that like its precursors human biology too has evolved to respond to light, its different spectrums, in different biochemical ways.. we have our circadian cycles, we have vitamin-d production, we have our bodys heat management system, etc. We can see a range of the spectrum, varying minutely across people of different individuals and ages.. Also, in modern science it's well proven that light (like any other energy source) can totally trigger a chemical reaction in the right and sufficient conditions and our body is full of these processes right..

Following is a 7 year old seminar of American neurosurgeon and opthalmologist Jack Kruse. He asserts that UVA light actively drives our bodies hormone production, while too much blue light actively affects this, which leads to a worse metabolism, and therefore leading to more fat.

I understand people would not necessarily want to watch an entire video before answering, but I insist.

https://youtu.be/d7qjh4BIGbc?si=fnDnZS3YL3YMFGAp

I just want to learn more since while a lot of jargon got thrown around, with parts consistently making sense, however I fail at the places where cosmic analogies were used to explain biochemistry ideas, and it felt like a stretch and put me off.

Thanks for your replies!

In textbooks the ATP equivalent of NADH is often said to be 2,5 (when it is not rounded up to 3). The reasoning is that Complex 1,3 and 4 Pumps 10H+ out of the cell (in bacterial) and you need 4H+ to generate one ATP.

Complex-4 consumes 4H+ and pumps 2H+(for the reduction of 1/2 O2)

Wouldn't the 2H+ that is consumed to reduce the 1/2 O2 also have an impact on the proton gradient?

Shouldn't it be a ATP equivalent of 2,75?

My prof says it is (without rounding up) an ATP equivalent of 3 but I think his knowledge is just not up to date

I'm doing an assignment using PYMOL and I want to make the outline of my molecule show as a shadow-y transparent outline as shown below.

However, when I have made surface parts that are 80% transparent, it looks like this.

This has also been uploaded to SketchFab after using PyMol so I don't know if thats the issue instead? Just wanted to see if anyone knows how to do this :)