/r/Biochemistry

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A place to post news and discuss the frontiers of biochemistry and biotechnology. Please refrain from posting home videos with songs and raps.

/r/Biochemistry

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7

What types of jobs can you pursue with a degree in Biochemistry?

I have recently found myself enjoying the Biochemistry course I am currently taking in my third year of undergrad and I wanted to know what a career in this field of science could provide me in terms of enjoyability and pay. Assuming I pursue something greater than a bachelors in Biochemistry, what are jobs that I could expect to find with a Graduate/PhD in biology? And to those who have those jobs, how would you describe your job's pay and enjoyability?

0 Comments
2024/03/23
03:20 UTC

1

Biochemistry masters and career in Australia

Could you suggest affordable biochemistry masters degree and cost in Australia? Also what are the career option? Thank you!

0 Comments
2024/03/23
02:39 UTC

1

Mar 23: Cool Papers

Have you read a cool paper recently that you want to discuss?

Do you have a paper that's been in your in your "to read" pile that you think other people might be interested in?

Have you recently published something you want to brag on?

Share them here and get the discussion started!

0 Comments
2024/03/23
00:00 UTC

24

Biochemistry course says I can choose one of these 4 books to use. Any suggestions on which one to buy?

Not concerned about cost. I can get free digital access through the library but I prefer an actual textbook.

33 Comments
2024/03/22
17:20 UTC

6

Strange/Unusual enzymatic reaction

Hi, i am currently looking for something interesting for my presentation on enzymology. So I wonder if there are any enzymes having strange/unsual reactions that happening among so many types of enzyme out there?

8 Comments
2024/03/22
10:18 UTC

14

Did you guys learn python in class or did you teach yourself?

I just graduated with a bachelor’s in biology and biochemistry a few months back and have been looking for some jobs to earn some cash before grad school. I’ve noticed a ton of them require python knowledge, but I only ever tough python once in my biochem lab. I don’t remember it at all. I’ve thought about taking the free course Harvard offers, but I can’t help but wonder if my school just screwed me or if it’s normal not to learn python enough to remember it. Would you guys suggest learning it or is it a waste of time?

13 Comments
2024/03/22
08:38 UTC

5

Research Directions

Hi everyone, Im a high school sophomore student in China studying IBDP. I wish to pursue a career in research related to biochemistry. I'm slightly lost bout which specific areas I'll be able to work in and what studying biochemistry is actually like. Does anyone have any advice for a potential research direction I could perhaps look into? Or is cancer research the general trend nowadays for biochem major students?

p.s I'm conducting some research in protein detection and I didn't rly see much options for other topics loll

thanks for ur time!

2 Comments
2024/03/22
07:17 UTC

8

Should I Pursue Biochemistry Without Much Experience?

Hello, I'm a high school senior and I'm looking for pathways to get into cancer research. I've been told through the internet and by doctors in person that majoring in biochemistry would be a good start, and based on what I know about biochem, it seems interesting. However, I feel as though I'm lacking relevant experience: I've only taken regular Bio/Chem and AP Physics for my science credits, so I feel like I'm taking on something that I don't even know if I'll be good at. Would I be more successful in cancer research pursuing Biochemistry as my major, or should I stick to subjects I'm more familiar with like Physics/Math?

If it's not too late to choose Biochemistry, I also need help choosing between several undergraduate programs. Right now, my best choices are UC Davis, University of Washington (Seattle), and University of Toronto - but leaning toward Davis due to in-state tuition. Which of these schools would provide me with the best biochemistry degree and most opportunities for cancer research?

4 Comments
2024/03/22
01:45 UTC

3

Has anyone requested the Metabolic Pathways poster from Roche? How long did it took to arrive?

Asking out of interest since I heard it can take from weeks to months.

11 Comments
2024/03/21
23:11 UTC

10

Is having an extra semester of research under my belt worth it?

I am in my final semesters of undergrad and plan to pursue grad school (PhD), and I have the option to graduate one semester early with zero college debt (Dec 2024), or, I have the option to graduate on time (May 2025) with more research experience and ~10-15k debt. I currently have 2 semesters of research under my belt and will be continuing research through this summer and the semester(s) afterward until graduation. My research will be done at the same school (Clemson) with the same PI. I also plan on focusing my applications to graduate schools similar to Clemson's caliber. With all the context, would graduating on time for extra experience be worth the debt I would take on, or would graduating early to save money be worth it?

6 Comments
2024/03/21
20:12 UTC

2

Books on venom

I was looking for a book on the composition of venom of a diverse range of animals, what kind of poision each species produces, (their chemical makeup) their source, usage and physiological effect on prey. Now i have bought: this book but i was looking for something more indepth?

1 Comment
2024/03/21
09:03 UTC

6

How is DMSO absorbed in skin?

I recently learned that DMSO penetrates skin easily and actually gets metabolized so fast it can be tasted/smelled shortly after skin contact. Is there a biochemist here who can tell how it makes it through the plasma membrane as a polar molecule? I couldn’t find any explanations online other than “simple diffusion” which doesn’t make sense to me since it’s polar.

11 Comments
2024/03/21
04:02 UTC

4

is it safe to use a probe sonicator with 100% methanol?

im doing pigment extraction and i was just wondering if you can dip a probe sonicator in 100% methanol...wont it explode or anything??

8 Comments
2024/03/21
01:20 UTC

2

Haworth Projection

Hello, does anyone know the haworth projection of a-L-fructofuranose? I'm so confused about the placement of the hydroxyl in the 1st Carbon. What I watched was different to what my teacher has taught me-- got my assignment wrong, it said that if the (OH) in the Carbon 1 and the CH2O2 in Carbon 5 is opposite from each other, it would be alpha. Can anyone clear this up? Is the alpha and beta rule the same for L-isomers? 😔

1 Comment
2024/03/20
20:36 UTC

2

Mistake in Review about RNA circularisation?

As written in the title, either I don't understand what I'm reading or I found a mistake in a review. Its about the very last sentence before the summary paragraph. Its about the use of inverse splicing of Group II introns for the creation of exonic circRNA:

'However, due to the mechanism of group II intron self-splicing, the produced circRNA have a 2′, 5′-phosphodiester linkage at the ligation junction'

I understand how the branched intron resulting from this mechanism would have a 2' 5' phosphodiester bond. But in my mind, the circularised exon would have a regular 3' 5' phosphodiester bond. Am I wrong? If so, what am I misunderstanding? Why would the 2' OH of the 5' exon attack the 3' splice site? Why is this not done by the 3' OH of the 5' exon?

I suspect that the authors just confused the 2' 5' phosphodiester bond created when creating INTRONIC circRNA by normal Group II self-splicing with the bond created for EXONIC circRNA by INVERSED Group II self-splicing.

Here is the paper:

Müller S, Appel B. In vitro circularization of RNA. RNA Biol. 2017 Aug 3;14(8):1018-1027. doi: 10.1080/15476286.2016.1239009. Epub 2016 Sep 26. PMID: 27668458; PMCID: PMC5680678.

2 Comments
2024/03/20
20:32 UTC

10

How fast would hydrolyzed collagen peptide ‘digest’ on an empty stomach and enter the blood stream?

With the collagen already broken into super small peptide chains, not much digestion would be needed like regular protein that needs enzymes and acids to break down the whole protein. Is there a much faster absoption rate then if one ingested hydrolyzed collagen peptides in water/tea/coffee on an empty stomach? Known protein can take hours to digest but would that peptides take far less even into less than an hour and countable by minutes? Time from ingestion to inside blood stream ready to be shuttled around to be used by cells and organs around the body

4 Comments
2024/03/20
19:50 UTC

5

A new PhD student with questions related to the number of publishing lab-related papers and their qualities (particularly clinical medicine and biochemistry)

I apologized for asking a lot of questions in this post and appreciate your answers a lot. At least, you can answer one or two questions by mentioning its number! I am a new PhD student, and all these questions have made my mind very busy, and I am afraid of failure! I entered the clinical medicine and biochemistry PhD programme a few months ago. Could someone please answer my questions?:

  1. Is it important for career success and succeeding in getting postdoctoral scholarships after PhD to publish more papers or publish less but qualified papers? 

  2. How to deal with rude PhD students in the lab? I am doing my experiments with precision and slow speed. In the middle of experiment, she laughs at me and comes and interferes in my projects by ruining it in someway. When the postdoc wants her to teach me something new that she was taught by the postdoc, she does not respond!

  3. I see some published papers, four first author papers, besides taking several co-author projects in my four years of PhD in the field of clinical medicine. How is the technique we should use to be able to do that? Managing several main projects or taking individual projects and finishing each and starting a new one? 

  4. PhD students who published several main projects did not have any citations after two, three, and four years in PubMed and other popular sites but still got postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard, as I tracked some students and saw! How is it really working? Citation is not important, right? 

  5. I know hard work has an important role, but is the success of people who publish a lot of papers related to their supervisor or themselves? 

  6. Are these people designing their own experiments, or is their supervisor the main role player?

  7. Is there a difference between publishing one paper that no one has published yet and publishing several main papers, which are at least one to two papers? Which of them does career success depend on?

  8. Do students who are part of collaborating projects find these projects by themselves or what their supervisor gives them? Is it possible that the student finds the related project and works on it in the lab of her supervisor?

  9. I know some people work on mice completely and some on cells in the lab. Is this also a factor in the speed of how many papers we publish?

  10. Is the amount of content we put in every research paper important? I see some have fewer contents that enable them to publish more papers, and others have lots of contents in their one or two main papers.

5 Comments
2024/03/20
18:49 UTC

10

Toxic enzymes

Are there enzymes that can convert a harmless small molecule into a toxic (for E. coli) product? We are trying to design a counter-selection screen system and that approach (if feasible) would tick all of our boxes. Thanks.

14 Comments
2024/03/20
16:28 UTC

2

First literature review

I am writing my first literature for my undergrad biochemistry course. Would anyone review it for me and give me any tips when I finish it? I am really struggling with knowing how to cut it down to the main relevant parts, and find the vast amount of information overwhelming. (Topic being Fis1 & Drp1 are evolutionarily conserved to promote mitochondrial fission)

2 Comments
2024/03/20
16:03 UTC

1

Mar 20: Education & Career Questions

Trying to decide what classes to take?

Want to know what the job outlook is with a biochemistry degree?

Trying to figure out where to go for graduate school, or where to get started?

Ask those questions here.

2 Comments
2024/03/20
15:01 UTC

6

UK/NHS biochemistry department test list

Hello,

I'm looking to train as a clinical biochemist within the NHS and I need to do research into an analytical technique used in clinical biochemsitry. I was trying to decide what to do and struggled to come across a standard list of tests to be 100% sure that whatever I choose is definitely in the remit of biochemistry. Does anyone that works in biochemistry in the NHS know if such a list exists and how I access it?

Thanks so much in advance.

6 Comments
2024/03/20
14:11 UTC

0

Dose response curve

How do I go from absorbance and time to the values i need to plot a dose response curve. I have the absorbance and time values and the extinction coefficient.

5 Comments
2024/03/20
13:34 UTC

33

r/Biochemistry - Thank you

I just wanted to take a moment and say that out of all of the Reddit groups I have ever been a part of in the past this has been one of the most helpful groups I have encountered thus far. A lot of you guys are willing to provide as much information as you possibly can to each individual on here, and I was entirely taken aback by surprised by the variety of posts I read on here when I saw the depth and thought each person took in their responses to other members in the community. Thank you to all the active members of this community and your willingness to support and help other scientists (and inspiring scientists) by providing advice. -- Have a wonderful week <3

0 Comments
2024/03/20
02:05 UTC

8

Biochemistry (Chemistry) Major

At the college I plan to go to, there are 2 types of biochemistry.

One is standard biochemistry, which mainly consists of biochemistry specific courses, like "analytical biochemistry" or "biochemistry of life processes."

The other is Biochemistry (Chemistry) which has more focus on chemistry, calculus, and physics, and there is practically no biology until the third year.

What would be the difference in careers I could pursue from these two degrees? I know that they are different, but I'm not too sure how much it matters.

3 Comments
2024/03/19
17:33 UTC

3

Question about double major

I’m a biochemistry undergrad and I have one semester left but I’m thinking of applying for a double major in biology.

My university says that I will get only one degree but it will be mentioned that I majored in 2 things since biochemistry and biology are both bachelors of science.

Will this open more job opportunities for me? Will I stand out from other job applicants? Will my salary be higher? Is it worth it? Please help!

8 Comments
2024/03/19
16:04 UTC

28

What are my options as a BS biochem grad in the US looking to leave a PhD program?

I'm tired of academia.

I obviously don't make much as a grad student, and having recently gotten married I want to provide more for my family. My wife and I are tired of counting every dollar, and all of our recently graduated friends are always on trips and doing fun stuff. My grandparents are all pretty close to passing and we can't afford to travel to make the most of their last years. Not to mention, we'd like to have children before we're 30 and that's not looking great in this economy if I have another 4 years of making less than a McDonald's employee. All in all, life is too short to spend in grad school.

Where can I make enough money to have a reasonable quality of life? My bachelor's is in biochemistry, and I was involved in undergrad research in mass spectrometry there, which I've continued into graduate school. I'm a first-year in a chemistry PhD now, so I'm not far enough in to master out – just have to chalk it up as a life lesson.

Would love any advice from those who've walked this path before. Thanks!

10 Comments
2024/03/19
14:55 UTC

7

Vitamin C in pee - how long does it stay in system?

Bit puzzled here. Was told to provide a vitamin C free pee sample. Take no supplements at all. 1.5 apples per day and a small handful of raisins, and whatever veg I cook with. Oh, and 4-5 cups of lemon-flavoured green tea! Ok, no lemon-y tea for 5 days now and there's still the highest detectable amount of vitamin C on dip sticks and urine pH at 5 (lowest detectable). diet coke? carbonated of course, and phosphoric acid, but no vitamin c mentioned on label. 1-2 glasses per day. I'd also think that vitamin C is not stable if piping hot (tea, cooking), thus two questions:

a) how long does vitamin C stay in the body and is excreted via urine?

b) are there other acidic substances that might influence the vitamin c indicator of a dipstick? I tried finding answers, but found none.

12 Comments
2024/03/19
09:20 UTC

5

Biochemist and Molecular Biologist Dr. Steven Benner on Life on Other Planets, Origin of Life, Hypothesis-Based Research Through Indirect Evidence, and Evolutionary Morphology

1 Comment
2024/03/19
09:02 UTC

6

What PhD Programs can Biochemistry students get into?

I saw someone post here about their interest in chemical physics as an undergraduate biochemistry major. I am also a biochemistry undergraduate student, and I was curious if an undergraduate in biochemistry could go into a Ph.D. program in chemical physics or in programs similar to it rather than just biochemistry or chemistry.

I like biochem, though, so I may just stick with it. I was just curious. -- I suck at responding back quickly, but thanks to whoever responds. Have a good day.

17 Comments
2024/03/18
16:01 UTC

3

INFOGEST in-vitro digestion pepsin assay

Dear Reddit,

I am currently doing the pepsin assay part from the INFOGEST in-vitro digestion protocol. I have followed the protocol as per written, and used a quartz cuvette for the absorbance measurement via a spectrometer. However, I am unable to get a decent peak at 280nm for all the different concentration levels prepared. May I know if there is any way to troubleshoot this? Thank you in advance.

Edit: Apologies, I realised that the protocol cutout was not attached when I uploaded the post. Uploaded it now

https://preview.redd.it/hb0lue0t3epc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b84809572e216ae37b3056470acbb24ad9a5d21

6 Comments
2024/03/18
15:05 UTC

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