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BMS 1011: Biomedical Chemistry

Lecturing Staff

Colour photo of Jackie Wilce

Colour photo of Rob Pike

 [silhouette of unknown male] 
A/Prof Jackie Wilce Prof Rob Pike Prof Patrick Perlmutter

Deputy Convenor/ Small group session coordinator
Mrs Wilma Checkley
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Bldg 13B Room B104

Organisation of the unit

BMS1011 is comprised of three components:

  • 3 lectures per week.
  • Self-directed learning sessions (SDL), which replace some of the formal lectures, are aimed at encouraging students to take responsibility for their own learning.
  • One 3 hour small group session each week, aimed at facilitating productive interaction among students.

Enrolled students can access timetables, prescribed texts, lecture notes and supplementary material on Blackboard (accessed via My Monash portal).

Topics Covered

A. Biological Chemistry

Water. Its role in biological systems and as a solvent. The structure of water. Acid-base equilibria. Acid and Base strength. Indicators. Buffer solutions.

Functional groups. Functional groups in biologically active molecules - an introduction. Structures of alkanes. Cycloalkanes. Sources of alkanes. Structure of alkenes. Physical properties of alkenes. Naturally occurring alkanes and alkenes. Structure of alcohols, aldehydes and ketones and their physical properties. Structure of carboxylic acids and their functional derivatives (esters and amides).

Isomerism. Constitutional isomers. Chirality. Molecules with more than one chiral centre. Properties of stereoisomers. Optical activity. The significance of chirality in the biological world. Chiral drugs.

Organic chemistry of metabolism. Oxidation and reduction. (Alcohols → Aldehydes/(Ketones) - Carboxylic acids, NAD+ → NADH). Reduction (Ketones → Alcohols, Pyruvate → Lactate). Dehydrogenation (Alkanes → Alkenes, oxidation of fatty acids). Hydrolysis (Esters → Acids, ATP→ ADP).

Carbohydrates. Monosaccharides. Physical properties. Cyclic structure of monosaccharides. Disaccharides and Polysaccharides.

Lipids. Fatty acids and glycerol, Triacylglycerols. Effect of structure on the physical properties of triglycerides. Soaps and detergents.

Amino acids and peptides. Amino acids, chemical properties, ionisation , peptide bond.

Peptide and protein structure. Polypeptides and proteins. Primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure. Proteins as biological polymers; protein composition.

Protein purification techniques, precipitation, electrophoresis, size exclusion, ion exchange, mass spectrometry.

B. Enzymes: Structure & Mechanism of Action

Enzyme catalysis and classes of enzyme-catalysed reactions. Mechanism of enzyme action.

Enzyme-substrate complexes, active sites, substrate binding and enzyme specificity.

Enzyme kinetics, enzyme inhibition. Zymogens and isozymes. Michaelis-Menten equation, competitive and non-competitive inhibition

C. Metabolic Release of Energy - the Body's Power Supply

ATP the energy currency of the cell Introduction to metabolism. Bioenergetics and Thermodynamics. Phosphoryl group transfers and ATP. Biological oxidation-reduction reactions.

Oxidation of dietary carbohydrates: Digestion and fate of dietary carbohydrates in mammals. The glycolytic pathway for conversion of glucose to pyruvate. Oxygen dependent conversion of pyruvate to acetyl CoA. Anaerobic production of lactate. Mobilisation of glycogen to glucose 6-phosphate. Glucose 6-phosphate as precursor for glycolysis and of pathways for the synthesis of glucose. Role of glucose 6-phosphatase in maintaining blood glucose levels.

Oxidation of dietary lipids: Digestion, absorption and storage of triacyglerols. Mobilisation and metabolism of fats in liver, adipose tissue and muscle. Transport of free fatty acids into mitochondria. Reactions for the conversion of saturated fatty acids to acetyl CoA. Formation of ketone bodies.

How the cell produces its energy: Citric acid cycle, no net synthesis of oxaloacetate from acetyl CoA; ATP yield from oxidation of acetyl CoA in the CAC cycle, metabolic poisons (malonate, fluorocitrate). Oxidative phosphorylation, NADH/FADH/cytochromes, sites of coupling in the electron transport chain. Uncouplers, inhibitors, Energetics of carbohydrate and fatty acid oxidation.

D. Synthesis of Macromolecules - In Times of Plenty

Synthesis of carbohydrates: Gluconeogenesis and regulation of blood glucose Synthesis of glucose by gluconeogenesis. Relationship of gluconeogenesis and glycolysis.

Substrates for gluconeogenesis - Lactate (Cori cycle), pyruvate (glucose-alanine cycle), amino acids (protein digestion; muscles) and glycerol.

Glycogen synthesis: Role of UDP-glucose, glycogen synthase and glycogenin

Synthesis of lipids: Fatty acid synthesis: palmitic acid. The malate shuttle as a source of NADPH for fatty acid synthesis. The pentose phosphate pathway as a source of NADPH for fatty acid synthesis and ribose for nucleic acid synthesis. Ketogenesis and role of ketone bodies in long-term starvation.

The Big Picture of metabolism - Tissue specific metabolism