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Courses - Fall 2023
BCHM
Biochemistry Department Site
The College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences enforces course prerequisites. Students who do not meet the course prerequisites will be administratively dropped from the course.

Registration in course sections which begin with "SEF*" are restricted to Post-Baccalaureate students who enroll through the Science in the Evening Program in the College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences. Please note that this class is charged at the regular part-time tuition rate (on a per credit basis), even for full- time students. To register or to learn more about the Science in the Evening program, you must contact the Life Sciences Outreach and Special Programs Office at (301) 405-6892.

BCHM461
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in CHEM271 and CHEM272; or minimum grade of C- in CHEM276 and CHEM277.
Credit only granted for: BCHM461 or BCHM463.
First semester of a comprehensive introduction to modern biochemistry. Structure, chemical properties, and function of proteins and enzymes, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Basic enzyme kinetics and catalytic mechanisms.
BCHM462
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in BCHM461.
Credit only granted for: BCHM462 or BCHM463.
A continuation of BCHM 461. Metabolic pathways and metabolic regulation, energy transduction in biological systems, enzyme catalytic mechanisms.
BCHM463
Biochemistry of Physiology
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in CHEM271 and CHEM272; or minimum grade of C- in CHEM276 and CHEM277.
Credit only granted for: BCHM461, BCHM462 or BCHM463.
A one-semester introduction to general biochemistry. A study of protein structure, enzyme catalysis, metabolism, and metabolic regulation with respect to their relationship to physiology.
BCHM464
Biochemistry Laboratory
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: BCHM461 or BCHM463; and a grade of C- or better in the prerequisite is required for all College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences majors and recommended for all students.
Corequisite: BCHM465.
Restriction: BCHM, CHEM, and Nutritional Sciences majors have first priority, followed by other life science majors.
Biochemical and genetic methods for studying protein function. Site-directed mutagenesis and molecular cloning, protein purification, enzyme activity assays, computer modeling of protein structure.
Students must pay a $40.00 laboratory materials fee.
BCHM465
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: BCHM461 or BCHM463; and a grade of C- or better in the prerequisite is required for College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences majors and recommended for all students.
Recommended: BCHM462.
CORE Capstone (CS) Course. An advanced course in biochemistry. Biochemical approach to cellular information processing. DNA and RNA structure. DNA replication, transcription, and repair. Translation of mRNA to make proteins.
BCHM661
Credits: 2
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: BSCI410 and BCHM465.
Topics covered: Chemistry and structure of DNA and RNA, from nucleotides to chromatin, chromosomes, and genomes, and some methods for studying, synthesizing, sequencing and manipulating nucleic acids. Rudimentary genomics and bioinformatics. DNA Biology: selected aspects of the biochemistry and regulation of DNA replication, repair, and recombination, and how these processes interact with each other.
BCHM662
Credits: 2
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: BCHM661.
Topics covered: Interactions between nucleic acids and ligands such as cations, drugs, and especially proteins. Sources of binding affinity and specificity. Selection-amplification methods. Description of several classes of protein-nucleic acids complexes. DNA/RNA catalysis, the origin of life, mobile genetic elements.
BCHM669A
Special Topics in Biochemistry; Methods for Biomolecular Structure Determination in Solution
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Introduction to modern methods for determining structures of biological macromolecules in solution, ranging from low-resolution methods, such as small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS/SANS), to high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The course covers detailed theoretical background and applications of these methods to study biomolecular structure and dynamics and macromolecular interactions.
BCHM671
Protein Chemistry and Enzymic Catalysis
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: BCHM461; or students who have taken courses with comparable content may contact the department.
Principles of protein structure, folding, and function, experimental characterization of structure, active sites, enzyme mechanisms and kinetics.
BCHM698
Literature Seminar in Biochemistry
Credits: 2
Grad Meth: Reg
BCHM699
Special Problems in Biochemistry
Credits: 1 - 6
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Open only to non-thesis M.S. degree candidates.
Contact department for information to register for this course.
BCHM799
Master's Thesis Research
Credits: 1 - 6
Grad Meth: S-F
Contact department for information to register for this course.
BCHM889A
BCHM889C
(Perm Req)
Seminar; Allostery in DNA Binding
Credits: 1
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
BCHM889D
(Perm Req)
Seminar; Enzymology Recombination
Credits: 1
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
BCHM889F
(Perm Req)
Seminar; Antimicrobial Peptides
Credits: 1
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
BCHM889J
(Perm Req)
Seminar; Nucleic Acid Structures
Credits: 1
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
BCHM889M
Seminar; Modern Methods in NMR and Structural Biology
Credits: 1 - 3
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
BCHM889P
(Perm Req)
Seminar; Structure and Reactivity of Biopolymers
Credits: 1
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
BCHM898
Pre-Candidacy Research
Credits: 1 - 8
Grad Meth: Reg
Contact department for information to register for this course.
BCHM899
(Perm Req)
Doctoral Dissertation Research
Credits: 6
Grad Meth: S-F
Contact department for information to register for this course.