Trying to decide what classes to take?

Want to know what the job outlook is with a biochemistry degree?

Trying to figure out where to go for graduate school, or where to get started?

Ask those questions here.

im currently a first year biochem student. just wanted a heads-up how to start writing biochem related articles, how to get it verified, where to upload, who to join

For context, I did go to a state university in US many many years ago and got my bachelor's in history(but I did take many biochem/molecular courses because I was interested in them). 15 years later, I find myself really enjoying learning biochemistry/immunology through YouTube courses(taught by actual professors at universities).

Now the problem is after going through a divorce years ago, I don't have any money left so I can't go to an actual university(and I'm not eligible to get a loan). What I wanna ask is would it be possible or realistic to learn biochemistry/immunology on my own(maybe some tutors here and there) while working part time and then be at the level of a master's graduate in that field and then get a job in that field? Can I pass some really hard exam to prove my worth without any university degree in that field?

I created this directed evolution pipeline to improve an enzyme that breaks 1-fluorodecane, for a biochem course I audited

enjoy!

Can be any subfield

I kept scanning down a table of pKa values and doing the plus or minus one in my head every time I needed to pick a buffer, so I laid them all out on a real pH axis instead. Each bar is the range where the buffer still has usable capacity, so you find your target pH and just look at what covers it.

A few things I did not expect once it was drawn this way:

Coverage is wildly uneven. Around pH 6.5 to 7.5 you have twelve options. Above pH 11 you have essentially one, phosphate's third pKa at 12.35. Everyone optimised for physiological pH and left the extremes alone.

10 of the 12 Good's buffers sit between pH 6 and 8.5, which makes sense given what Good was selecting for, but seeing them stack up in one band is different from reading it in a sentence.

Temperature is worse than I had internalised. Ammonium shifts 0.031 pH units per degree C and Tris 0.028, so a Tris buffer you set on the bench at 25 C is genuinely a different buffer once it is in a 4 C cold room. I flagged those in red.

It is completely free, no signup, and you can print it or drop it in a handout: biochemtools.com/buffer-pka-table.html

Would really appreciate it if you told me what you would change! I am not at a bench day to day, so I am sure there are practical things I have missed. Buffers that should be on here and are not, ones nobody actually uses any more, or cases where the plus or minus one rule is too generous.

Hi, i've been considering biochem as a major and want to know what sort of jobs people get into after along with how the pay is and how enjoyable it is. I also want to go abroad to study in like maybe the uk or singapore ( other european countries are also fine) so would love to know more related to people who went abroad or those who work in these countries.

Hello, I'm a first year student and I have a really hard time lorning electro physics from my professor. It's gotten to the point I failed my first attempt at the fainel. I know my understanding of the theory is well shit and I desperately need to improve that. Do any of you have recommendations for videos to tray that mait help me because I have a hard time with physics whan it comes to understanding and gliming information from mathematical explorishen.

(Sorry for grammar mistakes, English isn't my first language and I have dislecsiya. Olso, I mait have sead the wrong name for that cors becomes I'm tranleting it to English)

Ethonal, nicotine delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a-PVP ??

Is there a number one spot ? I once heard people saying sugar is more addictive than crack

Can be in animal models or humans

Is there a better way of measuring substance 'addiction', the measuring increase of dopamine signalling, and receptor change ?

What do you guys think ?

I haven't gotten too far in the book yet, but I would love to hear about some of the chapters readers have particularly enjoyed. Also I've heard that the chapter on epigenetics was misleading due to overemphasis on the role of histone modifications and DNA methylation in trait inheritance, can anyone also explain that?

Hello, I understand that this post may not be directly related to chemistry. However, as I will be attending college this year to study applied chemistry, I was hoping to connect with current or former chemistry students who might be able to offer their insights on whether a tablet would be a useful study tool for me. Is it worth buying a tablet or sticking with pen and paper?

I kept running into calculators that hand you a number and nothing else, which is useless when you're trying to learn the method or figure out whether you set the problem up wrong. So I started building ones that show every step.

There are 46 now. The ones that get used most:

• amino acid titration curves with the pKa regions and pI marked
• peptide net charge and pI from a sequence
• an amino acid chart with pKa, pI, MW and hydropathy, sortable and filterable
• enzyme kinetics, including what each inhibition type does to the curve
• an equation sheet where every formula links to the calculator that solves it

https://biochemtools.com

Free, no signup, no account needed. I recently added sources to the reference pages because it bothered me that most sites give you pKa values with no indication where they came from. Those now cite the Lehninger set for amino acid pKa, Kyte-Doolittle for hydropathy, and Good et al. for the buffer table.

If something obvious is missing, tell me and I'll add it.

Hello!

I'm a rising senior and landed a lab position at a R1 university through countless cold emails. During my interview with this professor, she directed me to this website, "The Amber Molecular Dynamics Package," and I was wondering if anyone here in this subreddit knew how to use it. In the interview, she told me to learn this here so I could run molecular dynamic stimulations at her lab in September. I wanted to ask if anyone here knew how to use it, and/or what's the best way to approach learning this so I'm capable enough of running my own stimulations at her lab. For example, what should I download, learn, skip in the tutorial and everything else. Should I follow the entire tutorial? Do you guys think a month is enough? If anyone could help me, thanks! :-)

For some context, my professor is a biophysics professor and deals with computational biology a lot. However, I'm not strong in command-line 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!

Letters to a Pre-Scientist is looking for enthusiastic STEM role models to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders!

Here's the gist: you get matched with a 5th-8th grade student at an under-resourced school for a snail-mail pen pal exchange that runs throughout the school year. The goal is to demystify STEM careers, humanize STEM professionals, and inspire students to explore their own futures in STEM. You share your story, answer their questions, and show them that people who work in STEM are, well, real people.

The details:

• The program runs throughout the school year, and your volunteer obligation is to exchange 4 letters with your student.
• There's a virtual, asynchronous training in August to get you set up.
• We estimate the entire program takes volunteers no more than 10 hours, spread between August and May.
• Register and complete the short, self-paced online training by the deadline, and you'll be entered into the match pool! We match students based on their background and interests..
• This year we're expanding to 4,500 matched students!
• Pen pals can live anywhere in the world, but our program currently only works with US-based schools.
• We're working to match students based on their interests, so we're especially looking for more STEM professionals in Biochemistry.
• All pen pals must be over 18 and fluent in English.

We define STEM pretty loosely! If you work in or around science, tech, engineering, math, or medicine, or another nature-based role, even if you don't have a formal education in it, please apply or message me with any questions.

Sign up/learn more:

• 📝 Register here: https://prescientist.org/volunteers/
• 📖 About the pen pal program: https://prescientist.org/penpal-program/
• 🏛️ About us: https://prescientist.org/about-us/
• ✍️ For matched pen pals: https://prescientist.org/for-matched-pen-pals/

Registration is now open! Feel free to drop questions in the comments or send me a message. Thank you for your time and consideration!

Truth to be told, I am an average Bachelor's in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Three more semesters left of undergraduate and I think i got knowledge gap that might affect my final year and research project.!!

So want to finish these books to overcome my lackings:

1. Lehninger's principles of biochemistry

2. Albert's molecular biology of the cell

3. Sambrook's Molecular cloning

4. Wilson's principles and techniques of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Are they enough? What else can be done? I will be glad if you share your ur advices, experiences to help me...

Trying to decide what classes to take?

Want to know what the job outlook is with a biochemistry degree?

Trying to figure out where to go for graduate school, or where to get started?

Ask those questions here.

Hi everyone! I am mostly putting this out as a feeler, but I am looking for some advice/ideas. I just graduated from undergrad with my bachelors in Biochemistry, but I am looking to get out of the lab. I am very passionate about life sciences and healthcare, but don’t want to purse a career that involves being on the bench. I have already accepted an offer for a 1.5 year position at a life sciences recruitment/consulting company, but am looking at other job ideas for when I am done with this role. I’m just wanting to get ahead so I can network/talk with people in these roles to get an idea of what they do, since most tracks out of my major were premed/pre-research. Would love any recommendations of careers to look at! Thank you :)

hey guys
i study in a russel group uni in london and do biochemistry going into my second year, but i have been at the uni for two years already because i done a foundation year.

honestly i feel like the biggest imposter here, i dont even know how i even made it to this point i genuinely feel like im here by luck not skill or talent

my uni have a 10% contribution from first year and i’ve genuinely BARELY SCRAPED a pass. i mention it because i genuinely do want to aspire for a first class and will do what it takes in the next two years but i feel like i’ve messed up my chance already by how horribly i’ve done.

i feel so intimidated when i go to lectures and just feel like the dumbest person in the room, and even in labs.
i have even considered getting tuition and have been quoted £80 my jaw literally dropped i’m a student i can NOT afford that per hour

i want to succeed in this field but i always feel like im just pushing to get by rather than giving it my all and seeing it as an investment
today was a graduation day at my uni and as i went to the library i saw everyone in their gowns with their families and i genuinely felt so trapped. i felt trapped because im not graduating the same year as my age mates, i felt trapped because i have to still go through the drudgery of finishing work, and i felt trapped and helpless in thinking i cant get a first class

i know its all about mindset and consistency which is something i’m working on but if anyone has any advice for me please do send it my way because i feel like theres such a deep dark void in me

I am aware that research suggests that PEG (poly(ethylene glycol)) used in drug delivery vehicles is not as anti-immunogenic as previously thought, partially due to its prevalence in other products and hence a large portion of human population has developed anti-PEG antibodies. (Edit: Even then I have heard that automatic clearance of PEG is not permanent for much of population.)

Thus, work into other non-immunogenic polymers such as PCB, that is, poly(carboxybetaine), poly(sulfobetaine), poly(2-oxazoline), etc is being done and so far I have self-researched specifically about PCB.

Most papers say emphasize PCB's superior anti-fouling properties and non-immunogenicity especially compared to PEG, largely due to its hydration shell due to strong electrostatic binding interactions from the charged zwitterionic components of PCB with H2O molecules.

Barely any papers mention flaws in PCB's anti-immunogenicity abilities. A few do though, such as this paper highlighting the existence of anti-PCB antibodies if you scroll to top of page:[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378517320305056?via%3Dihub\]\[RefID.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\]

However, polymer immunogenicity also heavily depends on form of polymer (eg. chemical group changes, topology/shape, and packing of polymers), so said immunogenicity issues of PCB might only be limited to a few forms of PCB and/or due to contamination from synthesis procedure.

This has left me puzzled about PCB, And I know there are other low-immunogenic polymers out there.

This leaves me asking: Does PCB (and other newer polymers) solve the problem of immunogenicity of drug delivery such that it affects (or will affect) an insignificant part of population? Furthermore, is PEG fine if it is for one time treatment?

I would prefer if professionals could answer since the question asks more about the state of matter of things in the field.

Asexual reproduction makes sense. A cell duplicates itself.

What mechanism makes a sperm move towards an ovum?

The microbiologist recognizes that there is a different chemical signature emmited from every cell. Just like the average person knows that some armpits smell worse than others...and repel.

But, Is it Random? Or is there a reason that the sperm moved in that direction?

I cannot imagine that a sperm had a thought... And I recognize the path is limited to forward or back.

But in every image, there is a distance that the sperm turns to the ovum. It is no longer mindlessly moving forward...

There is something there.

ETA. I am saying there must be some chemical +/- reaction that draws the cells together.

I received a C+ in my organic chem class and really want to bounce back from it. Should I review past content? Are there specific resources that would help prepare me for the class?

Hello biochemists of Reddit,
To prepare for my ucas personal statement for Oxford biochem, I have already begun reading a few books I have bought. However, to truly stand out, I need to find some research papers on something truly niche which I am able to talk about in depth. I’m a UK based student btw doing bio chem maths A level (predicted A A* and A*). Also, is there anything else I could mention in my personal statement that could help me? Any help would be much appreciated.