biochem hell

[Nicepharm]

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I was wondering if anyone knows if theres a LOT of biochem in pharm school, I'm talking mechanisms, nasty, crazy looking structures, and bioenergetics, biophysics, and such with all its nitty gritty details, cuz thats what I'm learning right now and its driving me nuts! I hate this with a passion and Lord help me so I don't have to deal with too much of this in pharm school! I mean, I can deal with it within reason, but I just hate it when they structure this kind of material into a weed-out type of class (when the class average is a D+?!?!) This is almost worse than orgo for me.....which is scary. Sigh someone shed some light on this please...I'm going to cry now..

 

[Nicepharm]

on another note...say this is not a specific pre-req (though its probably relevant) for the schools I'm applying to do I have to get an A or even a B in this course? Will not getting a steller grade in this course really affect my their consideration of me? Granted I don't fail this course per se??

 

[marrymenatalie]

on another note...say this is not a specific pre-req (though its probably relevant) for the schools I'm applying to do I have to get an A or even a B in this course? Will not getting a steller grade in this course really affect my their consideration of me? Granted I don't fail this course per se??

You don't necessarily have to get an A or B, but you should try to get as many A's and B's in your prereqs, and I think BioChem is a prereq for most pharm schools. Personally, I think the key to biochem and organic chemistry is just constantly writing the structures and chemical reactions over and over again until you can see the chemical compounds and reactions in your head. Honestly, it's like learning a new language, so just practice and hang in there. This got me through those courses and it became really easy. Good Luck 👍

 

[dgroulx]

I had to take biochem again at UF. It's not a prereq there, but they don't give you credit if you did take it. So, I had to suffer through it twice.

The good news is that you won't see it ever again, except for some enzymes here and there.

 

[ethyl]

dgroulx: Do you recall what kind of mechanisms you had to memorize at UF? So far my undergrad biochem only went through edman deg, peptide synthesis, ketosteroid isomerase, chymotrypsin and enolase. My professor made this class incredibly easy. Most people would say it's awesome he was so easy but I'm nervous I won't have a strong enough survey of biochem.... compared to students like Nicepharm who are being put through the gauntlet by their professors. I think sometimes suffering through a class like this is a good thing in the long run. 🙁

 

[ButlerPharm.D.]

The Biochemistry that pharmacy students at Butler take is called Clinical Biochemistry. Clinical Biochemistry is definitely not geared towards "mechanisms" by any means, at least not here at Butler. We've covered all of the things you have mentioned and more, if you are looking for a book that covers the topics a clinical biochemistry class would cover I recommend Lippincott's Illustrated Review Biochemistry 3rd edition written by Richard Harvey and Champe, it is truly excellent. The book was written with the purpose of being a study aid to students who are preparing to take the USMLE step 1 exam, those nerdy med students!

 

[dgroulx]

dgroulx: Do you recall what kind of mechanisms you had to memorize at UF? So far my undergrad biochem only went through edman deg, peptide synthesis, ketosteroid isomerase, chymotrypsin and enolase. My professor made this class incredibly easy. Most people would say it's awesome he was so easy but I'm nervous I won't have a strong enough survey of biochem.... compared to students like Nicepharm who are being put through the gauntlet by their professors. I think sometimes suffering through a class like this is a good thing in the long run. 🙁

Our class was also called Clinical Biochemistry. I didn't find it any different than the biochem I took before, only that at UF they didn't make me draw all the structures of every molecule in the Krebs cycle. UF just makes you memorize every enzyme name, what would inhibit it, etc.

Mechanisms were proteins (making & breaking down), lipids (making & breaking down), nucleotides (denovo & scavenger pathways) and probably a bunch of other stuff that I don't remember. Maybe one of the UF 1st year students can give you a better answer. They've just finished taking it.

 

[Maestrojo]

You guys area scaring me. I have to take that class next semester.......

 

[ButlerPharm.D.]

Yep, that's exactly how it is here. There aren't many mechanisms in clinical biochemistry, we save that for organobiochemistry for the chemistry majors! Dgroulx hit it right on the head though. Again if you are looking for a good resource I recommend Lippincott's Illustrated Review Biochemistry 3rd edition.

 

[darkjin6920]

Biochem was a tough course.. i remember i got a C on my first exam then a 60% on my second exam. Then I got serious and memorized everything in biochem and got an A on the final. lol Prorastination paid off in the short run. =P

 

[pharmacology]

If you don't understand the mechanisms of action, how can one understand how 5-fluorouricil works? If you don't understand the mechanisms of action how would one know if it is correct to treat a patient with both methotrexate and 5-fluorouricil or only one of the two.

If one does not understand water regulation in the body or blood vessel dilation, or kidney function or the mechanism of angiotensin II then how does one know what the role of lisinopril or valsartan is or if they should be used together or separately?

If you just plan to look in a book everytime a drug is ordered then you don't need to know any mechanisms....you can be a pharm tech. I think a pharmacist should have a better understanding of human biochemistry and physiological mechanisms. You may not have to be able to write out the krebs cycle but I think it important to understand what the krebs cycle is used for or what feeds into the pathway....as well as many other pathways and regulatory mechanisms. Afterall, it is the pathways and mechanism of the body on which drugs act. Rarely do drugs do anything our body can't do itself.

just MHO

 

[zohaibab]

If you don't understand the mechanisms of action, how can one understand how 5-fluorouricil works? If you don't understand the mechanisms of action how would one know if it is correct to treat a patient with both methotrexate and 5-fluorouricil or only one of the two.

If one does not understand water regulation in the body or blood vessel dilation, or kidney function or the mechanism of angiotensin II then how does one know what the role of lisinopril or valsartan is or if they should be used together or separately?

If you just plan to look in a book everytime a drug is ordered then you don't need to know any mechanisms....you can be a pharm tech. I think a pharmacist should have a better understanding of human biochemistry and physiological mechanisms. You may not have to be able to write out the krebs cycle but I think it important to understand what the krebs cycle is used for or what feeds into the pathway....as well as many other pathways and regulatory mechanisms. Afterall, it is the pathways and mechanism of the body on which drugs act. Rarely do drugs do anything our body can't do itself.

just MHO

Great post, I agree strongly.

 

[swtgirliegirl]

If you don't understand the mechanisms of action, how can one understand how 5-fluorouricil works? If you don't understand the mechanisms of action how would one know if it is correct to treat a patient with both methotrexate and 5-fluorouricil or only one of the two.

If one does not understand water regulation in the body or blood vessel dilation, or kidney function or the mechanism of angiotensin II then how does one know what the role of lisinopril or valsartan is or if they should be used together or separately?

If you just plan to look in a book everytime a drug is ordered then you don't need to know any mechanisms....you can be a pharm tech. I think a pharmacist should have a better understanding of human biochemistry and physiological mechanisms. You may not have to be able to write out the krebs cycle but I think it important to understand what the krebs cycle is used for or what feeds into the pathway....as well as many other pathways and regulatory mechanisms. Afterall, it is the pathways and mechanism of the body on which drugs act. Rarely do drugs do anything our body can't do itself.

just MHO

That being said, would you consider physiology to be more important than antaomy in pharmacy school?

 

[Moxxie]

That being said, would you consider physiology to be more important than antaomy in pharmacy school?

I would think so - after all, we're supposed to know how drugs affect how the body works. Anatomy is important of course, but I think that a firm base is physiology has much more revelance to pharmacy.

 

[dgroulx]

There's lots of physiology in pharmacy. As for anatomy, know the parts of the brain inside out. Learning bone and muscle names is pretty much a waste of time.

 

[ButlerPharm.D.]

The mechanisms in biochem aren't anything like Organic.

 

[futurepharm.d.?]

If you don't understand the mechanisms of action, how can one understand how 5-fluorouricil works? If you don't understand the mechanisms of action how would one know if it is correct to treat a patient with both methotrexate and 5-fluorouricil or only one of the two.

If one does not understand water regulation in the body or blood vessel dilation, or kidney function or the mechanism of angiotensin II then how does one know what the role of lisinopril or valsartan is or if they should be used together or separately?

If you just plan to look in a book everytime a drug is ordered then you don't need to know any mechanisms....you can be a pharm tech. I think a pharmacist should have a better understanding of human biochemistry and physiological mechanisms. You may not have to be able to write out the krebs cycle but I think it important to understand what the krebs cycle is used for or what feeds into the pathway....as well as many other pathways and regulatory mechanisms. Afterall, it is the pathways and mechanism of the body on which drugs act. Rarely do drugs do anything our body can't do itself.

just MHO

very well said...I totall agree with you...For me, I love to learn about physiology and how drugs work inside your body, that's why I'm applying for Pharm schools. I think it's important for us to understand and remember things that we learn, because no doubt, we'll face them again and again, right??? 🙂

 

[Smilescali]

There's lots of physiology in pharmacy. As for anatomy, know the parts of the brain inside out. Learning bone and muscle names is pretty much a waste of time.

Yippie! The muscles (insertions and origins) were my LEAST favorite aspect of Anatomy, while the brain was my favorite!

 

[Smilescali]

The mechanisms in biochem aren't anything like Organic.

Yippie again! 🙂