I have a BS in Biochemistry that’s certified by ASBMB. I also had an MS in Medical Science. I’m 3 months post graduation, I got a job as a technician at a research lab. I also have previous experience working in a research loan during school. The thing is my family lives in another country and one day I’d like to be with them. Based on my credentials, experience and upcoming experience. In the future, which remote jobs would be available for me? I’m afraid all my options are in-person careers based on my field.

If it happens to be that I really have no options at the current moment, what steps should I take to get a decent remote job without completely going off route from my current career path?

Hi all, does anyone have a good autoinduction protocol? ideally one that doesn’t require some proprietary kit whose name is a pun of autoinduction. Thanks!

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!

Give it to me straight - MDMA and the brain??

Is there any research showing the impact of one "dose" of MDMA in a clinical setting on the human brain? Please help me find the truth about the efficacy of this substance. Thank you so much for your time.

I am a Junior in High School right now trying to think if Biochemistry is a good degree for me. I am mainly worried about if I can't get a job just for have my bachelors. If someone could tell me that this degree could get me a good job. That would be great. I will like to ask if it is good for pre med as well.

So I am an undergraduate student studying biochemistry. I completed my freshman year of college at Augustana College, and I first chose the school because it was the most affordable option. However, they have raised my tuition by $12,000 for my sophomore year. In order for me to afford this I would have to take out roughly $5,000 a year in private loans on top of the federal loans given. Another option would be to transfer to a college closer to home that I could commute to, saving me about $10,000 a year, where I wouldn't have to take out private loans. I can't decide if I want to take on the debt to have the college experience, or if I should suck it up and just live at home saving money. If anyone has any advice please let me know.

Hi I'm a 2nd year medical student,from the beginning of this year I've been stuck with a biochemistry teacher I have a hard time comprehending so naturally I drift away into thoughts during her classes.now their's little time to the finals and I'm completely clueless as to how to study.My institute also give very little importance to the subject, like the course work is quite vast for the subject but we get at max 1 or 2 questions in exams compared to physiology and anatomy even though the course amount is quite similar so, I had to prioritise those subjects. I have to cover alot and I don't think only the text book will be able to help me understand. So if any one has any good resources they can tell me for studying would really help

So I’m going to be a high school senior starting in September and I’ve decided that I want to major in biochemistry when I apply to universities. I’m genuinely interested in biochemistry and plan to use it to apply to med school or to go into the pharmaceutical industry. However for insurance purposes,what jobs can I get after graduating with a bachelor’s in biochemistry? Would I have to continue to grad school? Any thoughts and comments would be helpful!!

I attended a seminar today on biohybdrid chemical sensors. It was based in using ligand binding peptides from olfactory receptors. One of the features was enantioselectivey; the system could bind an L-monoterpine but not the D stereoisomer.

Just as a principle, if one was to synthesize the D-amino acid of an enatioselective binding peptide/enzyme/receptor, would it necessarily bind the natural substrate of opposite chirality?

Hello, I have a probably silly question.

I'm trying to get the RSMD between two structures, and I now I can get it using Pymol, but I'm confused by the different ways it can be calculated. I can align the structures using the simple align function, and it automatically gives me the RMSD. But I can also add "Cycles=0, transformation=0", and it gives me a completely different RMSD value.

When is each of this functions valid ? I dont really get what each of them is doing.

I am trying to use DTT(dithiothreitol) to reduce disulfide bonds of a reversible fixative to try and preserve tissue for flow later, but the only DTT I could find has been stored as a powder at RT for who knows how long. Has anyone had experience with the potency of DTT not stored at the recommended temp?

Hi I am measuring cAMP levels in HEK 293 cells using this kit, which is a live-cell luciferase reporter assay. I have been transiently transfecting cells with the reporter plasmid using PEI, and labelling the cells as recommended in the protocol.

The issue is that, sometimes the baseline RLU level is extremely low (like a blank well without cells, just the substrate), and even after I stimulate the cells, the increase in cAMP level is far less than expected (from some literature they are getting 40000 RLU, while I only get 1000 RLU with the exact same treatment). While sometimes the assay readout is good.

Problem is this occurs very randomly and I can't find the root cause. For example, for trials 1 and 2 the RLU readout is as expected, but then for trial 3 (done 1 week after trial 2) suddenly the RLU drops a whole lot. I have ruled out the problem with reagents, since I used the same aliquot and batches of everything for the 3 trials.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

I know there are many posts like this, but I want to discuss my current dilemma. I am in the process of doing graduate school applications for biochemistry and MCB programs, and I am starting to have doubts. I intended to get a PhD and work for industry afterward... nothing specific, but anything that would provide a high-paying salary (~150k). I do have research experience and enjoy it, but I am starting to realize that if my main motivation is finances, then should I reconsider?

The hard part is that I have been working towards this for the past year and the advisors around me have told me I'd be great at it, but as I mentioned, if finances are motivating me, then I feel like there are better ways to go about that. The programs I am looking into appear to have good career centers to push students into industry, but I always see posts discussing how it can be difficult to get a job in industry.

I've also had thoughts of getting a master's in something high demand (like bioinformatics) so that job security is there and I'll have more time to jumpstart my career. I guess I went with the flow saying I'll work for industry afterward, but now that it is that time, I feel like I may be overlooking other paths that could potentially provide the same outcome for less time in school allowing me to reach my financial goals quicker.

At the same time, I've also heard stories of people getting high-paying jobs in pharmaceuticals with their PhDs, but I don't know if I should bank my PhD on a job like that. Having a PhD also adds a sense of security because I feel like it could open doors to high-paying positions that an MS/BS wouldn't. Any insight would be appreciated, thanks.

TLDR: Unsure if PhD is right because I am financially motivated and want a high-paying job and think there may be other ways to get to the same end-goal.

I've graduated high school and it's been 3 or so months of zero studying and I'm scared that I might've forgotten many things. Should I start studying, even if it's just reading and skimming through textbooks, for my undergrad biochemistry course? How difficult is biochem for undergrads? Are there any books / textbooks you guys would recommend getting?

Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

Which chemically doesn’t make sense.

Hi! The general idea I'm having an issue with is understanding what factors make a reaction spontaneous vs. non-spontaneous.

I know that if deltaG is negative, the rxn is spontaneous, and vice versa. But, for an example, if an endothermic rxn has a negative entropy, it feels weird to make a definitive statement like: "the reaction is spontaneous at low temperatures". This can be true if the temperatures are in the negative, but is that what we can always assume when seeing that type of answer? 0 is still pretty cold, I'd count that as low temperature... right? lol.

Similar idea with another example, in an exothermic reaction with negative entropy, how can we know if the reaction will turn out spontaneous or non-spontaneous without knowing the value of deltaH? If the negative enthalpy value is lower than the temperature*entropy, then the reaction will still end up being spontaneous; or if the deltaH is higher than the temp*entropy, then the reaction will be non-spontaneous. A lot of the questions I'm being asked in biochemistry relates to making these type of definitive statements that seem a lot more layered/depend on other factors like exact values. (Or is it the case that deltaH will never be lower than temp*entropy?)

Thanks for the help!

As the title says, I'm nervous to attempt to apply to anything science related. I miss the field in a lot of ways, I also took such a long break due to extreme burn out, along with other life challenges that came along with the pandemic (homeless a couple of times, other life things, etc).

Should I reteach myself old cirriculum? Should I specifically study for jobs I'm applying for? I definitely can't afford to take classes again. Maybe I can apply for a masters. I was planning on applying for PhD programs in 2020, I was a really good student and had 3 years of lab experience along with 2 years of working in the uni lab.

Thanks

I am amidst my graduate school search. I am at the stage of reaching out to professors, but i am not sure what to say and how to say it.

So I'm about to graduate with a masters degree, I was planning on going for a PhD but I burnt out so bad that year I don't think I can achieve a PhD.

So all the job options I looked at previously before university involved PhD qualifications, so now I'm a bit lost and trying to understand the field in relation to BSc and MSc jobs.

Do you have any advice, to help my career, redflags to avoid, things that can't be avoided, etc, etc, I appreciate any wisdom you can provide.

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.

Which enzyme would you choose to work perfectly 100% of the time if you could?

For example, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase is an extremely important enzyme for liver metabolism and is often the culprit of many diseases. If it were to work perfectly and be synthesized to the exact amount needed, we would rid the world of things like all kinds of jaundice, Crigler-Najjar syndrome, Gilbert’s etc.

Hello, I am taking a graduate level biochemistry course. The syllabus was posted and says "any biochemistry textbook will do" lol.

I was wondering if someone could give me a good recommendation for one. thanks.

I'm trying to flesh out an idea I had for a clinical chemistry assay I'm doing method development on. Can anyone either tell me, or provide some sources with informs ton on the most abundant enzymes (not proteins) in human serum?

Ideally I am looking for an enzyme/reporter substrate combination like X-gal and galactosidase, however if no such substrate exists for the highly abundant enzymes I can always seek out custom synthesis. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Writing a paper?

Re-running an experiment for the 18th time hoping you finally get results?

Analyzing some really cool data?

Start off your week by sharing your plans with the rest of us. å

What is the best (or most recommended) Organic Chemistry textbook in order to have a clear understanding of Organic Chemistry (assuming that one has already taken General Chemistry) prior to taking Medical Biochemistry (not Medicinal/Pharmaceutical Chemistry)?

If you increase D2-like binding in the nucleus accumbens shell or nucleus accumbens core, does it increase or reduce motivation?

Recommended books for undergrad biochemistry