Hey guys, my school offers biological chemistry from the biological sciences department and biochemistry from the chemistry department. But I was wondering since I did search this up for a bit and found out that biological chemistry is more chemistry based? And biochemistry is more biology than chemistry? If this is true, then why are they offered by opposite departments? I'd expect it to be the thee way around? Also for admissions into some schools for pharmacy, physical therapy and medical schools, my school has these papers that show all the prequistes needed for these certain schools and they all require biochemistry but the papers say "BIOL300 (Biochem)" which is actually biological chemistry (just one semester), and the course that is actually called Biochemistry is two semesters and is called CHEM376. Does it matter which course I take? Or are they the same? I spoke to the bio department about this matter and the guy said he'd expect them to be the same as far as he knows, but I'm not sure if he was too confident in what he was talking about. Thanks guys and sorry for long post!
What is the difference between Biological Chemistry and Biochemistry?
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This is extremely confusing. Why would your school offer two iterations of the same course, but from different departments?
Do you have any sort of access to the content lists/topics covered for each class? This will tell you more about whether they are the same or different, and will help determine which one is going to be covering the subjects you'll need.
If you can't find anything else out, I would lean towards taking the one called "Biochemistry" (CHEM 376) since that is the term used by medical schools and the MCAT to refer to this particular set of topics.
Do you have any sort of access to the content lists/topics covered for each class? This will tell you more about whether they are the same or different, and will help determine which one is going to be covering the subjects you'll need.
If you can't find anything else out, I would lean towards taking the one called "Biochemistry" (CHEM 376) since that is the term used by medical schools and the MCAT to refer to this particular set of topics.
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Take the real biochemistry course (376).
I'm going to assume that the biological chemistry major at your school is very likely biochemistry light.
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The biological chemistry class I took was very heavy on mechanisms- think organic chemistry but looking in depth at biological reactions. While you will likely do mechanisms in Biochem, biochem is more what you need for medical schools, learning about acid/bases, amino acids, enzyme kinetics/inhibition, proteins, and looking at the principle biochemical pathways of organisms.
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hmmm interesting
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I'm going to disagree and say take the one semester course. Unless you really enjoy chemistry there's no reason to take the more difficult class.
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it sounds like maybe the biology 300 is an intro to biochemistry type course, and the chem 276 which is year-long is a full length biochemistry course. My school does it similarly. Intro to biochemistry (for non-majors) is like bio420 and biochemistry for majors is biochemistry523 and 524
On the schools I want to apply to, it says one semester of Biochem which does correlate to the BIOL300 my school is offering. Here is a description
of each course from my school. I got to CUNY Hunter College btw.
Biological Chemistry (BIOL300- one semester):
Molecular aspects of cellular function; properties of biomolecules, their biosynthesis and breakdown; structure and function of proteins and enzymes, metabolites, membranes, and nucleic acids; cellular mechanisms of energy transduction; integration and control of cell metabolism. Experiments cover a variety of modern techniques in molecular biology.
Biochemistry (CHEM376-two semesters):
Chemical aspects of protein structure and function, fundamentals of bioenergetics, biochemical mechanisms of gene replication and expression. Biosynthesis of lipids, amino acids, carbohydrates. Muscle contraction, hormones, immune response, DNA sequencing.
of each course from my school. I got to CUNY Hunter College btw.
Biological Chemistry (BIOL300- one semester):
Molecular aspects of cellular function; properties of biomolecules, their biosynthesis and breakdown; structure and function of proteins and enzymes, metabolites, membranes, and nucleic acids; cellular mechanisms of energy transduction; integration and control of cell metabolism. Experiments cover a variety of modern techniques in molecular biology.
Biochemistry (CHEM376-two semesters):
Chemical aspects of protein structure and function, fundamentals of bioenergetics, biochemical mechanisms of gene replication and expression. Biosynthesis of lipids, amino acids, carbohydrates. Muscle contraction, hormones, immune response, DNA sequencing.
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Ah. My bad.
I only glanced over the post (oops) and didn't see that the 376 course was a 2 semester course.
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Take the one semester course.
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Going along these lines, is simple biological chemistry enough for the MCAT? I mean it doesn't have the mechanism stuff and last I heard from med school biochem review, they didn't have that either in first year. I got taught the med school version and now I'm not too sure about whether or not I should go back another semester to do the chemistry based one.
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I've only taken biochem but have lots of friends who are chemE's who are required to take biological chemistry. Here is the perspective from people I know at one school, take it as you will.
Biological chemistry in my school is for chemical engineers and some concentrations of chem majors. It is given by a chemistry department so expect an emphasis on chemistry concepts. From what I have heard(never taken the class and it'll vary by school)---my friends talked about lots of calculations, calculus(although not p-chem level), a significant focus on mechanisms and other chemical properties. This is a class on the chemical nature on biological systems, not the bio systems themselves so the percent of what is pure memorization isn't going to be the same as what it will be in a biochem class.
Biochemistry----the emphasis won't be on calculations and calculus and not as much on chemistry such as mechanisms and other important things. Rather expect to memorize metabolic pathways, memorize lots of processes and things like how many ATP are generated in this process and this specific step of it. My friends in biological chemistry never had to focus on things like ATP totals. Depending on class you'll have professors who have you read research papers and care about things like experimental design and being able to interpret experiments and results. None of my ChemE friends who took biological chemistry ever read a paper in literature for their class.
Biological chemistry in my school is for chemical engineers and some concentrations of chem majors. It is given by a chemistry department so expect an emphasis on chemistry concepts. From what I have heard(never taken the class and it'll vary by school)---my friends talked about lots of calculations, calculus(although not p-chem level), a significant focus on mechanisms and other chemical properties. This is a class on the chemical nature on biological systems, not the bio systems themselves so the percent of what is pure memorization isn't going to be the same as what it will be in a biochem class.
Biochemistry----the emphasis won't be on calculations and calculus and not as much on chemistry such as mechanisms and other important things. Rather expect to memorize metabolic pathways, memorize lots of processes and things like how many ATP are generated in this process and this specific step of it. My friends in biological chemistry never had to focus on things like ATP totals. Depending on class you'll have professors who have you read research papers and care about things like experimental design and being able to interpret experiments and results. None of my ChemE friends who took biological chemistry ever read a paper in literature for their class.
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