Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. It involves the control of inflammation flow through biochemical signaling and flow of chemical energy through mechanism giving rise to the complexity of life as a whole. It is closely related to molecular biology which is the study of molecular mechanisms by which genetic information encoded in DNA is able to result in the various processes occurring in life. Biochemistry deals with the structures, functions and interactions of biological macromolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and lipids which are essential for the processes occurring within the human body. All the metabolisms dealt with in biochemistry require enzyme and most of the understanding of a disease diagnosis and prognosis comes together with the impact of enzyme deficiency, thus causing the disease. As such, biochemistry helps with the diagnosis of a disease by carrying out biochemical tests on the patient’s serum.

FOUNDATION BLOCK

Glucose Metabolism

In foundation block, we learned the basic structure of amino acids and proteins as well as the structure-function relationship of proteins. Later, we went into depth regarding enzymology such as the study of clinical enzymology, mechanism of enzymes and enzyme regulation. Enzymes are particularly important in medicine because it helps in the enhancement of certain drugs thus increasing their efficacy in threating a certain disease. After the study of enzymology, we entered into the next phase of our study which revolves around glycogen metabolism. Glucose forms the basic unit of many substances within our body and also acts as a first-line form of energy provider in our body. We learned many mechanisms regarding glucose such as glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, Krebs Cycle as well as oxidative phosphorylation. We also learned the basic structure and functions of fatty acids, amino acids and nucleic acids. All in all, biochemistry is a very interesting and tough subject because it requires the understanding and correlation of molecular structure and function of each constituent of the cells instead of just memorizing the information given. Without correlation and understanding, it is impossible to understand the mechanism such as metabolism and synthesis of these molecules. As such, I drew many diagrams and constantly correlate these mechanisms with each other to further increase my understanding towards this subject. It was quite difficult for me to follow the flow of this subject initially due to the countless correlation of one molecule to another but I improved later after viewing the subject as a whole rather than studying it chapter by chapter.

HEMATOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY BLOCK

Heme Metabolism

In this block, we learned about heme metabolism as well as the metabolism in red blood cells and correlated it with the disease that could arise due to excessive breaking down of the cells which is primarily jaundice as well as enlargement of the liver and spleen.

CARDIOVASCULAR BLOCK

Lipid Transfer

In this block, we learned on lipoprotein metabolism and learned about the possible diseases that could be contracted by the patients due to deficiency of enzymes in lipoprotein metabolism such as hyperlipidemia, dyslipidemia and hypercholasteraemia. I am finally able to learn Biochemistry in the proper way which is by correlating the metabolism of a particular molecule with the defects of the metabolism which might lead to certain diseases.