How important is chemistry for neuroscience?

[Will_O]

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Hello everyone,

I am considering double majoring in chemistry and biology. I am currently just pursueing a degree in biology. My goal is to eventually research the pathophysiology of psychiatric disease. My qeustion to you all is, would majoring in chemistry be beneficial for studying molecular neurobiology or would I just be wasting my time? Also is there any biochemistry MD/PHD programs that have an emphasis in the chemistry of the Nervous system?
One more bit of info I would like to add,is that there are no biochemistry degrees offered at my school.

Will

 

[Circumflex]

While chemistry is the basis for everything, I would major in biology and take chemistry electives if you want. The type of chemistry courses you will have to take to to major in chemistry will not be of much use for either medical school or neuroscience. All pre-meds have to take general chemistry and organic chemistry and some take a semester of biochemistry, but as a chemistry major, you will have to take physical chemistry plus other upper level chemistry courses. These classes take a TON of time and effort that should be used to do well in other classes, study for the MCAT, and spending some time in a basic research lab to see if you like it. You may think that it will make you look good or like a hard worker (which it would if you did well), but getting into med school is all about the GPA and MCAT, bottom line.

I am in my final year as a MD/PhD student (PhD in biochemistry department), and my advice is to go to your local medical school and talk with some scientists doing neuroscience research and find a lab to get a little experience. There is no PhD program in the chemistry of the nervous system - there are PhD programs in neuroscience, which teach you all you need to know.

 

[Will_O]

Thank you for the reply Circumflex. I got one more qeustion, lets say I decide that I want to pursue a PhD in Biochemistry, would the amount of chemistry and mathmatics that a biology student is required to take, be enough to get into a biochemistry graduate program?

 

[QofQuimica]

Hello everyone,

I am considering double majoring in chemistry and biology. I am currently just pursueing a degree in biology. My goal is to eventually research the pathophysiology of psychiatric disease. My qeustion to you all is, would majoring in chemistry be beneficial for studying molecular neurobiology or would I just be wasting my time? Also is there any biochemistry MD/PHD programs that have an emphasis in the chemistry of the Nervous system?
One more bit of info I would like to add,is that there are no biochemistry degrees offered at my school.

Will

Speaking as a chemist who is now in medical school, I will respectfully disagree that the upper level chem classes would not be useful to you. P. chem was seriously one of the best classes I ever took in terms of learning about the nature of things. Really, all of biology *is* chemistry, and in the whole scheme of things, you're coming at the same problem from two different perspectives. There's no better or worse here.

My question to you would be what *you* want to major in. I suggest that you pick your major based on what you like, not what you think will help you in medical school. I say this for several reasons: 1) College students often change their minds about what they want to do once they are in medical school, or even decide not to go to medical school at all. 2) You will spend the rest of your life once you get out of college studying biochemistry of the nervous system (if that's what you end up doing); this is the last chance you will have to take coursework for the sheer joy of learning interesting things outside of medicine, and you should take advantage of that. 3) Why limit yourself to just those two possibilities if neither particularly grabs you? Why not consider other majors that might be interesting or helpful to a budding neurobiologist, like psychology, philosophy, engineering, artificial intelligence/computer science, or mathematics? Pick whatever interests you the most, and major in that. Life is not a beeline from point A to point B, and really, it is the unexpected detours that often wind up being the most fruitful.

Best of to you. 🙂

 

[Vader]

Speaking as a chemist who is now in medical school, I will respectfully disagree that the upper level chem classes would not be useful to you. P. chem was seriously one of the best classes I ever took in terms of learning about the nature of things. Really, all of biology *is* chemistry, and in the whole scheme of things, you're coming at the same problem from two different perspectives. There's no better or worse here.

My question to you would be what *you* want to major in. I suggest that you pick your major based on what you like, not what you think will help you in medical school. I say this for several reasons: 1) College students often change their minds about what they want to do once they are in medical school, or even decide not to go to medical school at all. 2) You will spend the rest of your life once you get out of college studying biochemistry of the nervous system (if that's what you end up doing); this is the last chance you will have to take coursework for the sheer joy of learning interesting things outside of medicine, and you should take advantage of that. 3) Why limit yourself to just those two possibilities if neither particularly grabs you? Why not consider other majors that might be interesting or helpful to a budding neurobiologist, like psychology, philosophy, engineering, artificial intelligence/computer science, or mathematics? Pick whatever interests you the most, and major in that. Life is not a beeline from point A to point B, and really, it is the unexpected detours that often wind up being the most fruitful.

Best of to you. 🙂

👍

 

[Circumflex]

Thank you for the reply Circumflex. I got one more qeustion, lets say I decide that I want to pursue a PhD in Biochemistry, would the amount of chemistry and mathmatics that a biology student is required to take, be enough to get into a biochemistry graduate program?

Yes, but if you truly have an interest in chemistry or biochemistry, or think you might want to apply to a biochemistry PhD program from undergrad, I would strongly consider majoring in chemistry, but not both biology and chemistry.

I took physical chemistry and I agree that it can be useful, but the same could be said for many undergrad classes. Every class can provide you with a different perspective. Go with your interests and you will be successful. It is much more difficult to take these kinds of classes because they are required - it won't be fun. But, if you like chemistry, then go for it and enjoy.

 

[bottles999]

Hello everyone,

I am considering double majoring in chemistry and biology. I am currently just pursueing a degree in biology. My goal is to eventually research the pathophysiology of psychiatric disease. My qeustion to you all is, would majoring in chemistry be beneficial for studying molecular neurobiology or would I just be wasting my time? Also is there any biochemistry MD/PHD programs that have an emphasis in the chemistry of the Nervous system?
One more bit of info I would like to add,is that there are no biochemistry degrees offered at my school.

Will

I would lean more toward Q's response personally. To give ya an and idea of its usefulness in Neuroscience it really depends on the level you plan to be researching at. There are huge efforts to characterize channel properties and Ion flux through channels and all the depends greatly on physical chemistry. Many of the neurodegenerative diseases are starting to revolve around protein aggregations/misfoldings, again heavy reliance on P-Chem to understand the underlying mechanism. However, if your planning on working at the system level, like fMRI scans to understand neurological pathways, e.g. to figure out how sight or any other senese is processed, then the fundamental biochem/basic P-Chem (if that) is probably all one will need. Focusing more on the biology might be a better approach. Regardless, your get the foundations and lil of all the different levels in a neurobio class or physio-psychology class for sure.

Good Luck!