Teaching

Goals

We are interested in finding ways for students to apply and share their knowledge and enthusiasm for Biochemistry in the "real world". These activities support the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry's mission for students to: "Have broad-based problem-solving and communication skills that foster successful career transitions as the scientific community responds to global changes." Through projects such as those described below students gain more experience as scientists and greater depth of knowledge in the field.

Proteopedia Projects

Students in Biochemistry I create Proteopedia pages explaining various topics of their choosing related to protein biochemistry and structure. This activity help students apply their knowledge of protein structure and function from class using examples in the literature and gain practice explaining complex science to a general audience.

A full list of previous student projects can be found here.

Course-based Research Projects:

Connecting DNA sequence to Protein Structure and Function

Students determine the molecular basis for a phenotype for an unknown system by modeling protein structure. This provides a research based learning experience for the students applying their lecture knowledge to a new system.

A brief description of the activities can be found here and student data from these types of experiences were included in a publication from the Berndsen lab.

A few examples and tutorials for using YASARA and other programs is found here.

3-D models in Biochemistry

In classes where appropriate students use 3-D printed models and modeling software to "touch" and "see" biomolecules from a different perspective.

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