Biochemistry annoyance

[tluedeke]

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Studying enzyme kinetics, which seems to be an extremely heavily tested topic on the MCATs. Unfortunately, it seems to be myopically focused on Michaelis-Menten kinetics. I've always hated MM enzyme kinetics, because it seems to be a totally useless theory - oversimplified, with assumptions that render it useless outside the test tube in extremely particular circumstances, and certainly not applicable to medicine.

It's akin to Keynesian economics. It is a lovely theory that has pleasurable, simple mathematics that makes it intuitive and eminently testable with a wide range of problems for students, thus making it irresistible to educators. It also happens to be completely and utterly, disastrously wrong and useless....

If there's one thing I can't abide, it is teaching something wrong because it is mathematically convenient...

 

[Neutrophil2016]

Well, if you find it so simple then you should do very well on any questions related to it on the MCAT. I cannot say much about how true Michaelis-Menten is physiologically because I'm no biochemist. However, you need to understand it for the exam. Just consider it the work you have to put in to get into medical school. I personally don't care for most psychology, but it is on the test. So, I choked it down.

 

[babyelephant]

where are some good Michaelis-Menten kinetics videos... tluedeke if ur good at it..
do u mind doing a skype or google hangout video or Michaelis-Menten kinetics ?


i have tried khan videos.. and im still like wth

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

The kinetics of catalytic processes is extremely useful in industry, and leads to polymer design methodology (as well as catalyst design). It's essentially the same thing as MM kinetics but applied more generally, so I'm not sure where you feel you are being misled about it's accuracy (or inaccuracy as you believe). It seems to work pretty darn well. When you take pharmacokinetics in medical school and learn about drug decay and dosing, you'll be amazed at how a simple model can be extremely useful.

 

[lmladdno84]

MM is extremely easy points for test day.

 

[Gibbward]

+1 To say say MM kinetics is completely useless is false. In drug development, initial mass screenings for potential drugs utilize MM kinetics. It's definitely way cheaper and more efficient to test potential drugs in vitro first compared to doing in vivo studies right away. Yes, people who make grand statements about some drug or enzyme they discovered based only MM kinetics are not approaching research correctly. However, there is definitely a place for this theory in science and in medicine.

The kinetics of catalytic processes is extremely useful in industry, and leads to polymer design methodology (as well as catalyst design). It's essentially the same thing as MM kinetics but applied more generally, so I'm not sure where you feel you are being misled about it's accuracy (or inaccuracy as you believe). It seems to work pretty darn well. When you take pharmacokinetics in medical school and learn about drug decay and dosing, you'll be amazed at how a simple model can be extremely useful.

 

[StudyLater]

Studying enzyme kinetics, which seems to be an extremely heavily tested topic on the MCATs. Unfortunately, it seems to be myopically focused on Michaelis-Menten kinetics. I've always hated MM enzyme kinetics, because it seems to be a totally useless theory - oversimplified, with assumptions that render it useless outside the test tube in extremely particular circumstances, and certainly not applicable to medicine.

It's akin to Keynesian economics. It is a lovely theory that has pleasurable, simple mathematics that makes it intuitive and eminently testable with a wide range of problems for students, thus making it irresistible to educators. It also happens to be completely and utterly, disastrously wrong and useless....

If there's one thing I can't abide, it is teaching something wrong because it is mathematically convenient...

Did you just get into college? This type of **** happens all. the. time. Not saying it's the correct way to go about things. I'm more asking, A. Why now? B. Why specifically for the MCAT? and C. Why MM? So many other models are gross approximations of reality. Why are you zoning in on MM, during your studies for the MCAT? Just study and know it or don't. If you want people to agree with you that it's completely useless, that'll be hard. Not perfectly accurate, though? We'll all agree on that. Cool. You got your dose of social support for the day. Go study.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Honestly, I can't believe I even read that correctly. I read it twice just to make sure. The L-B plot was derived from the MM plot. Both plots are very useful in the field of medicine and production of pharmaceuticals. I could write a novel on the importance on this one topic, but I'd rather save it for later. You should really respect this part of biochemistry--I have had many professors agree with the notion that if you could summarize Biochemistry into one word, it would be kinetics.