Biochemistry Crash Course - Biochem Made Simple

A topic-by-topic breakdown of biochemisty, with videos and quizzes to help you conquer chemistry!

What you'll learn

Understand the structure and function of biomolecules that make up DNA, RNA, Proteins, and Cell Membranes

Understand how pKa works to accurately predict a proteins charge quickly and effectively

Develop a strong understanding of the "graphs" of biochemistry, including binding (Kd's), enzyme activity (Km/Vmax) and others!

Understand the anaerobic and aerobic metabolic pathways for generating ATP, and really learn that the mitochondria is indeed the powerhouse of the cell.

Requirements

This course is built on what is typically taught in high-school and first year university courses in North America.

Description

With almost a decade of experience tutoring biochemistry at post-secondary institutions across North America, I have found that the curriculum is similar between many schools (despite the different course codes). This course is an excellent resource for any students taking an undergraduate biochemistry course who are looking for a one-stop shop for understanding the core ideas in biochemistry. This course is not meant to replace your lecture notes! Your professor makes your test, and their lecture notes should be the "ground source of truth". However, my videos and problems are designed to help you build a solid foundation quickly so that you can better understand you lecture notes. Students using this course save countless hours of studying to achieve great grades. This course is built for the UofA BIOCH 200 course, but students at many universities will find the topics covered having massive overlap in your curriculum. The goal of this course is to provide a cost-effective, topic-by-topic resource that you can use in your own time to learn about material before your professors’ lectures, or to help solidify the concepts after them. For each concept, I will go into detail about the material in video lectures, with a focus on the common mistakes and helpful tips and tricks to ensure you have a solid foundation. The layout of the course is comprehensive, and matches the order of the material typically taught, making this a one-stop shop for your needs as a student!

Overview

Section 1: Foundations for Biochemistry

Lecture 1 1.1 - Introduction to Biochemistry - Overview of 4 Classes of Biomolecule

Lecture 2 1.2 - Foundational Chemistry - Bonds and Dipoles and Charges

Lecture 3 1.3 - Intermolecular Forces - Attraction and Repulsion Between Molecules

Lecture 4 1.4 - Intermolecular Forces - Hydrogen Bonding and the "Hydrophobic Effect"

Section 2: Nucleic Acids - DNA/RNA Structure & Function

Lecture 5 2.1 - Foundational Experiments - Proving that DNA Carries Information

Lecture 6 2.2 - Nucleic Acid Bases - Structure and Hydrogen Bonding

Lecture 7 2.3 - Understanding Nucleosides vs. Nucleotides

Lecture 8 2.4 - Polymerization of Nucleotides - The Phosphodiester Bond

Lecture 9 2.5 - DNA vs. RNA Function, The Importance of Stability

Lecture 10 2.6 - Secondary Structures of Nucleic Acids

Lecture 11 2.7 - Detecting DNA and RNA, Breaking DNA Helices

Section 3: Protein Structure

Lecture 12 3.1 - Introducing the Amino Acid, Primary Protein Structure

Lecture 13 3.2 - Understanding Charges, Mastering pKa for Biochemistry

Lecture 14 3.3 - 20 Amino Acids, Key Structures and Ideas to Memorize

Lecture 15 3.4 - Understanding Charges of Complete Polypeptides

Lecture 16 3.5 - Secondary Structures - Alpha Helices

Lecture 17 3.6 - Secondary Structures - Beta Sheets

Lecture 18 3.7 - Tertiary Structure - Effects of Polarity & Charge

Lecture 19 3.8 - Tertiary Structure - Disulfide Bonds & Prosthetic Groups

Lecture 20 3.9 - Quaternary Structure - Multiple Subunit Proteins

Section 4: Protein Function - Binding Proteins

Lecture 21 4.1 - Binding Proteins - Understanding Kd & Binding Kinetics

Lecture 22 4.2 - Binding Proteins - Myoglobin vs. Hemoglobin Case Study

Lecture 23 4.3 - Understanding Myoglobin, Monomer for Oxygen Storage

Lecture 24 4.4 - Understanding Hemoglobin, Tetramer for Oxygen Transport

Lecture 25 4.5 - Introducing Allosteric Effects - 2,3-BPG in Hemoglobin

Lecture 26 4.6 - Hemoglobin Overview: Bohr Effect & Allostery

Section 5: Protein Function - Enzymes

Lecture 27 5.1 - Introducing Enzymes - Biological Catalysts

Lecture 28 5.2 - How Enzymes Can Reduce Activation Energy

Lecture 29 5.3 - Enzyme Kinetics - Km and the Michaelis-Menten Plot

Lecture 30 5.4 - Competitive Inhibition of Enzymes

Lecture 31 5.5 - Allosteric Inhibition of Enzymes

Lecture 32 5.6 - Examples of Enzyme Regulation - Kinases and Phosphatases

Section 6: Lipids - Structures, Phospholipid Bilayers and Transport

Lecture 33 6.1 - Introducing Lipids - Fatty Acid Naming

Lecture 34 6.2 - Structures of Fatty Acids - Triacylglycerol and Membrane Lipids

Lecture 35 6.3 - Higher Structures of Lipids - Micelles, Bilayers, and Cholesterol

Lecture 36 6.4 - Adapting Membranes to Different Temperatures

Lecture 37 6.5 - Molecular Transport Through Membranes, Introducing Membrane Proteins

Lecture 38 6.6 - Active vs. Passive Transport

Lecture 39 6.7 - Active Membrane Protein Case Study - Na+/K+ ATPase

Section 7: Metabolism Introduction & Overview

Lecture 40 7.1 - Metabolism Overview - Anabolism vs. Catabolism

Lecture 41 7.2 - High Energy Molecules and Electron Carriers

Lecture 42 7.3 - Coupling Reactions, How to Make Bad Reactions Good!

Lecture 43 7.4 - Metabolic Pathways, Understanding Reversible and Irreversible Steps

Lecture 44 7.5 - Controlling Multistep Metabolic Pathways - Inhibition vs. Activation

Section 8: Anaerobic Energy Metabolism of Glucose

Lecture 45 8.1 - Overview of Anaerobic Energy Metabolism

Lecture 46 8.2 - Glycolysis, Full Detail of Metabolism

Lecture 47 8.3 - Regulation of Glycolysis

Lecture 48 8.4 - Understanding The Need for Fermentation

Section 9: Aerobic Energy Metabolism of Glucose

Lecture 49 9.1 - Full Overview of Aerobic Energy Metabolism

Lecture 50 9.2 - First Step: Pyruvate Dehydrogenase

Lecture 51 9.3 - Second Step: Kreb's Cycle / Citric Acid Cycle

Lecture 52 9.4 - Final Payoff: Oxidative Phosphorylation by ATP Synthase

Lecture 53 9.5 - Putting Aerobic Metabolism Together

Lecture 54 9.6 - Decoupling Oxidative Phosphorylation

Students who want to excel in BIOCH,(especially students who are taking BIOCH 200 at the University of Alberta).,Students who want to save time studying, and want to understand the core concepts with applied practice