Biochemistry in Medschool

[babycapybara]

I'm taking biochemistry now as an undergrad and not enjoying it that much. We are doing alot of reaction rates, free energy, etc...i thought we would be studying more things that are directly relevant and easier to relate to the human body. Are biochem courses in medschool similar? Or are they more directly focused on anatomical fuctioning?

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[MarzMD]

I'm taking biochemistry now as an undergrad and not enjoying it that much. We are doing alot of reaction rates, free energy, etc...i thought we would be studying more things that are directly relevant and easier to relate to the human body. Are biochem courses in medschool similar? Or are they more directly focused on anatomical fuctioning?

That is like the first week or two of biochem. The rest focuses on "anatomical functioning" and diseases/disorders.

 

[braluk]

Its usually called medical biochemistry in med school. Crap like enthalpy and all that junk are really things that you dont study or really need to know. Med biochem pretty much focuses in on every pathway (urea cycle, TCA, HMP, glycolysis, purine salvage, etc..etc..) in your body, its regulation and its diseases.

 

[babycapybara]

Good to hear this!

 

[odrade1]

That is like the first week or two of biochem. The rest focuses on "anatomical functioning" and diseases/disorders.

We had about 6 weeks of 20hrs/wk of ridiculous lectures on everything that you would need to know if you were going to be a biochemist, and about 8 hours of clinical correlation (out of 120-140 or so hours) thrown in. We were supposed to be grateful for that 8 hours or so.

However, included in that 8 hours was 4 hours of how to build a mouse with huntington's disease (or sickle-cell). From scratch.

How much of this was on the biochem shelf exam we took? Barely any of it. If I hadn't read the BRS book on my own, I wouldn't have passed it.

The good news is that next year they are taking the biochem away from the biochem department. An MD and a PhD will work together to design the class/material. But the chair & his minions is out of the equation. BEST DECISION EVER. So maybe the next class will have more than 4 hours worth of clinically relevant material.

The bottom line is that whether or not your biochem class will suck is entirely dependent upon which school you go to. The biochemists here thought everything they taught us was clinically relevant. The NBME says otherwise.

If you are worried about this, it is ok to ask for a copy of your schools' student-directed portion of the national accreditation review. You may even be able to find it online. It will contain reports by student committees that summarize the best and worst features of each aspect of the curriculum. The school is obligated (in theory) to take action to improve the problems addressed by the students on the acreditation committees. So I (having done this myself) knew going into UAB that biochem would be the worst taught class in my first 2 years. Everything else has been great. & I am getting to relearn all the real clinical biochemistry in my other classess.

Good luck!

 

[sirus_virus]

Good to hear this!

Not good. I would rather learn the physical chemistry aspect of biochem any day, as opposed to the rote memorization that medstudents are talking about.

 

[Kfire326]

Not good. I would rather learn the physical chemistry aspect of biochem any day, as opposed to the rote memorization that medstudents are talking about.

I have to say, Biochem (the semester we did metabolism) is easily the most demanding class I took as an undergrad. I took genetics, embryology, pchem, inorganic chem, etc. Till I took Biochem, embryology was the most demanding because it was so much memorization. Then I realized Biochem was 5x more material to memorize.

I say we gotta just suck it up and deal with it. I don't think they're gonna be taking metabolism out of medical education any time soon...

 

[Critical Mass]

Its usually called medical biochemistry in med school. Crap like enthalpy and all that junk are really things that you dont study or really need to know. Med biochem pretty much focuses in on every pathway (urea cycle, TCA, HMP, glycolysis, purine salvage, etc..etc..) in your body, its regulation and its diseases.

I talk about enthalpy all the time when psipsina or lilnoelle is around.

 

[cfdavid]

That is like the first week or two of biochem. The rest focuses on "anatomical functioning" and diseases/disorders.

yeah, i agree. you'll also do your fair share of the old faithful trio of glycolysis, tca cycle, and B-oxidation. But, then it gets more interesting. In fact, I was pleasantly suprised at how applicable and clinically oriented the rest of biochem was. Also, I did apply a lot of the aforementioned metabolic stuff to diseases like diabetes etc. It really helped.

 

[braluk]

I talk about enthalpy all the time when psipsina or lilnoelle is around.

Watch out, entropy could rise if either of them found out that you're talking to the other

 

[Critical Mass]

Watch out, entropy could rise if either of them found out that you're talking to the other

Better keep the temperature down then. Doctor Bagel and mshheaddoc do it for me too. Too bad all of the above are legally obligated to be faithful to other males.

There's always pre-allo where I can court those hot Texas sweeties Anastasis and baylormed.

OP, study your biochem. Nurses love it when you talk about the regulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.

 

[braluk]

I purchased a 3 ft by 3 foot pad and i filled it all up with pathways. UGH.

 

[acute2]

I'm taking biochemistry now as an undergrad and not enjoying it that much...Are biochem courses in medschool similar? Or are they more directly focused on anatomical fuctioning?

Principles are the same whether in pre-med or med school. It will still be the same reduction-oxidation, phosphorylation, enzymatic reaction thing. The difference will be in the approach or orientation because Med Biochem has focus on clinical correlations (example, what medical condition results when this enzyme is lacking in a given biochem process), and this will be in preparation also for Pathology and Pharmacology. Topics will be a bit different too in Med Biochem for they are related with human body systems. To give you an idea, these are the topics that you will be discussing in Med Biochem: proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, glucose synthesis, lipolysis, vitamins, hormones, and so many others

I would agree in a certain degree that sometimes Biochem is not fun anymore. But sustain your interest, biochem is an important subject. Try to get copies of funny mnemonics to help you with your study. They have funny illustrations too in representing the cycles and pathways

 

[medstylee]

biochem in med school: pathways, pathways, pathways... liver/adipose/heart/brain/skeletal muscle

and several clinical correlates that seem to always involve babies that are jaundiced, vomitting, and have diarrhea after feeding.


in any case, i'm finding medical biochemistry to be much more intense than upper-level undergrad biochem, although it's also more interesting.

 

[njbmd]

biochem in med school: pathways, pathways, pathways... liver/adipose/heart/brain/skeletal muscle

and several clinical correlates that seem to always involve babies that are jaundiced, vomitting, and have diarrhea after feeding.


in any case, i'm finding medical biochemistry to be much more intense than upper-level undergrad biochem, although it's also more interesting.

GW's medical biochem has been infamous because of essay exams. Are your exams still essay or has Dr. Gold---- (and company) gone the way of the ScanTron? Some of the best faculty lectures ever especially Dr. GW. Awesome lecturer! I hope he is still teaching.

 

[medstylee]

GW's medical biochem has been infamous because of essay exams. Are your exams still essay or has Dr. Gold---- (and company) gone the way of the ScanTron? Some of the best faculty lectures ever especially Dr. GW. Awesome lecturer! I hope he is still teaching.

the exams are about half essay/short answer and half scantron multiple choice. we actually have an exam tomorrow morning which is going to be kind of scary, to say the least. dr. walker is the director of the course and he teaches nearly all of the lectures - dr. gallo teaches a few and a new faculty member also taught a few of the mol bio lectures. dr. gold must not be part of the course anymore, because we don't have any lectures from him/her.