Biochem lab

[Delicate Genius]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Has anyone taken a biochemistry lab course before? If so, would you recommend it? I'm taking the lecture sequence now, but I am unsure if I should enroll in a lab also. Honestly, I enjoy biochem, but I wouldn't be interested in doing any reseacrh in the field. I wouldn't be lying if I said the only reason I'm considering taking it is to somehow prepare me for "med school biochem" better. But med school doesn't even have a biochem lab component, does it? Suggestions please...

 

[BigRedPremed]

Has anyone taken a biochemistry lab course before? If so, would you recommend it? I'm taking the lecture sequence now, but I am unsure if I should enroll in a lab also. Honestly, I enjoy biochem, but I wouldn't be interested in doing any reseacrh in the field. I wouldn't be lying if I said the only reason I'm considering taking it is to somehow prepare me for "med school biochem" better. But med school doesn't even have a biochem lab component, does it? Suggestions please...

I have. It's a 400 level 4-credit course at my school. It was tremondously helpful for my internship this past summer. Many of the techniques I had to use during my internship I learned in biochem/molecular bio lab. I even emailed the professor to tell her how helpful the course was.

 

[AggieJohn]

I have. It's a 400 level 4-credit course at my school. It was tremondously helpful for my internship this past summer. Many of the techniques I had to use during my internship I learned in biochem/molecular bio lab. I even emailed the professor to tell her how helpful the course was.

NERD













Just kidding

 

[kiddo12]

Has anyone taken a biochemistry lab course before? If so, would you recommend it? I'm taking the lecture sequence now, but I am unsure if I should enroll in a lab also. Honestly, I enjoy biochem, but I wouldn't be interested in doing any reseacrh in the field. I wouldn't be lying if I said the only reason I'm considering taking it is to somehow prepare me for "med school biochem" better. But med school doesn't even have a biochem lab component, does it? Suggestions please...

It's helpful to actually do many of the techniques you read about, but it's extremely boring and time consuming.

 

[Jack Swift]

some med schools require biochem lab sooo.. check with the schools you are interested in and if they do require, take it.

 

[Avalanche21]

Mine was ok. Probably the most helpful thing was having to write papers on biochem published articles. Those are hard as hell to read.

 

[TMP-SMX]

The lab was six hours long, but it was a great experience. You definitely learn a lot about enzyme kinetics and all of that stuff. The techniques are very helpful too to understanding how it is done.

 

[Writer1985]

It's helpful to actually do many of the techniques you read about, but it's extremely boring and time consuming.

I wholeheartedly agree. I have to take it for my major, and it's one of the most painful classes I've taken. The actual experiments are interesting enough, and less "cookbook" than most lab classes, but they take forever. We've done three labs so far, and all of them took the alloted 4 hours (the first and third went significantly overtime) -- most of that is because they don't do any setup before we get there, so we spend hours doing mindless things like tapping a glass tube to pack a column.

I really wouldn't recommend it unless you are a biochem major or you just really love lab classes.

 

[dittozip]

some med schools require biochem lab sooo.. check with the schools you are interested in and if they do require, take it.

that is grossly misleading. which med schoosl require it? i have yet to see one. have you even applied to med school yet?

 

[A Tree]

Biochem lab will include a lot of "classical" experiments that you are bound to encounter over and over, like determining a DNA melting curve or measuring rate or an equilibrium constant for a biochemical reaction. Time consuming, yes...a waste? I don't think so. But I had no choice but to take the lab at my school, so I never considered taking a lecture sans lab.

I must confess I too find the old school biochem stuff pretty boring...find out what they do in the lab. You're not interested in that kind of research, so maybe it isn't as relevant, but some schools undoubtedly will incorporate their department's cool toys into the curriculum (do undergrad lab courses ever use say, mass spec/MALDI for proteins?). But in your case, the old school expts might be more applicable.

 

[TPROrgoTutor]

that is grossly misleading. which med schoosl require it? i have yet to see one. have you even applied to med school yet?

How is that misleading, let alone grossly misleading? Four of the schools I applied to require it, another few highly reccommend it. The poster is tryin to help buddy, not mislead people.

 

[Hallm_7]

You won't do techniques in med school unless you do research. However, professors talk about these techniques all the time, and understanding them is essential for those questions. So while you may not ever do a Western Blot or enzyme kinetics in med school, previoulsly doing these techniques is very beneficial to understanding how they're used clinically. Biochemistry and molecular biology techniques often overlap and are categorized differently, and I think it's safe to say that diagnostics and therapeutics are rapidly moving in the direction of biochemistry/molecular biology techniques.