Hi! So I'm going through all of the inhibition types for my upcoming test - and I'm not really understanding how the non-competitive and un-competitive inhibitors don't affect Km in the way I imagine they will.

For example, un-competitive inhibition all makes sense to me. Km decreases to make up for loss of ES complex due to LeChatlier's , Vmax goes down because the binding affects efficiency of enzyme, slowing it down. Makes sense. As a standalone idea, this is easy to get, but using the same idea going into non-competitive inhibition confuses me:

Why is Km typically unaffected for non-competitive inhibition? If there is an allosteric affector of my enzyme binding and changing active site conformation, how does that not affect the enzyme's affinity for my substrate? It seems like conformational changes in active site structure will most definitely change it's binding capabilities. Why does it only effect the efficiency of the enzyme's turnover rate / Vmax?

Edit: I just had an idea - is it unaffected because of a similar LeChatlier's principle application? If it can bind E or ES, then it equally gets rid of E and ES, so the Km will both increase and decrease equally, leading to an even, unchanging state, due to loss of both reactant and product in this equation: E + S --> ES ... ? To me that makes kinda sense.

Hello everyone,

I want to ask what should i do after completing the bsc degree..i want some hands on experience for lab skills..

I live in India ..

I am thinking of doing msc in biochemistry abroad so that lab skills and more exposure i will get.

I want to know how do i apply for which university for msc programs i going to graduate next year june .

Your opinions and thoughts are warm welcome

bruh how would you tell a scared 10yr old kid what happens when you swallow 1mg citric acid or 1mg of sodium bicarbonate?

I've noticed NAG being one of the components of a peptide boost serum i got from korea, was curious as to how it would help with skin.

What happens to glycogen when it is eaten by a human? Is it broken down into glucose, absorbed into the blood, then reassembled in the liver? If it is broken down, in what part or parts of the digestive system does this occur?

(What effect does eating liver have on a diabetic and why)

Let’s take Glutamate for an example. In its native form it is said to function as a neurotransmitter. If thermally degraded in a hydrophobic solution will thermal degradation destroy its functional capabilities?

Hi! I am in my last year into my bachelor degree (biochemistry) in Romania. I want to pursue a Master degree in another country (english taught), preferably in the following subjects: Biotechnology, Genetics, Bioinformatics or Pharmaceuticals. I was thinking about Switzerland, Germany, Belgium or Netherlands, but I am open to other country suggestions as well! What are some options you would consider suitable for me? Thank you!

Hi all, forgive me if this is a silly question because I'm only in secondary school so I don't know much about this. I was reading Mark Lorch's introduction to biochemistry and saw the percentages of the elements in sucrose. I thought I'd calculate the formula from the percentages as a bit of revision for my exams but when I did it I got C15H326O10 (which is obviously very different to C12H22O11). I looked up what the percentage of elements in sucrose was on Google and got 42.11% carbon, 6.48% hydrogen and 51.4% oxygen, did out the calculations and got the correct formula. Is this a matter of the numbers in the book being incorrect or is there something else happening here that I havent learned about yet?

Hi guys and gals,

I’m wondering how I could compare binding affinities to show how much stronger one substance is than another – in this case, doxylamine vs mirtazapine affinity for H1. Dox=42, mirt=0.14. Both in ki(nm). Is there an equation that can work this out? Ideally expressed as a percentage; ie x is *% stronger than y. This is out of recreational curiosity, so no access to lab equipment etc, but I’d really appreciate a hand!

Edit: thanks for the responses everyone. It seems you can directly compare binding affinity measurements, so mirtazapine would have 300 times stronger affinity than doxylamine for H1. Not that this would equate 300 times stronger effect, or course. Thanks again, you’ve humoured a curious noobie :)

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!

Hi, what are things I should know before I think about pursuing biochemistry?

I'm reading this old study that investigated the plausibility of using PUFAs to eradicate H. pylori. They say the following:

https://preview.redd.it/usbj00o2mw3e1.png?width=394&format=png&auto=webp&s=31549b55d9b394be31683ed945d94d95de2933b8

What I'm confused by here is PUFAs are hydrophobic, so would they not fail to dissolve in gastric juice? If they don't dissolve, they can't exert any bactericidal effect, no?

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24M looking into BioChem and I really feel the field resonates with my personal goals and standards for work. I would be transitioning from 2 years of massage therapy experience. I wasn’t academically inclined in HS plus I dropped out my first semester in college which led me to find massage therapy. I would appreciate advice into how schooling is and what is everyone’s experience in the field. Thank you

I'm a master's student at a mid ranked US university taking a requirement biochemistry class. This class is just memorization. No mechanisms, no applications, just memorization. Chemical structures don't even matter, just memorize the names of enzymes and substrates, hundreds of them.

It's like memorizing a phone book. I just can't do it. There's something wrong with this kind of instruction. This kind of learning won't last. I'll just forget it next month. Am I competing with a diagram? Well then the diagram fucking wins. Teach me the how and the why. Tell me HOW this knowledge was found, like general chemistry's great history of quantum mechanics. Tell me WHY this mundane part is so cool.

I'm just so dejected. This is not the kind of education I wanted. This was not worth my sacrifices.

What is the best method to fractionate and purify  a-lactalbumin and b-lactoglobulin, the major components whey, from milk? Also side note why are these two proteins classified as 'whey', as opposed to just being separate proteins?

Just in case you haven't heard of it, the performance longevity trade-off is the idea that certain hormones, macro nutrients or drugs can produce performance related benefits at the expensse of lifespan in animals and health span in humans. for example, diet high in complete protein or high growth hormone levels can increase exercise endurance and muscle quantity, but likely accelerates the aging process and leads to more rapid and profound Health deterioration in later life. Even testosterone which was thought to be a longevity hormone can significantly accelerate aging when given supplementally in men or in those with higher natural levels. Thankfully, as we come to know more about this topic, it is clear that the biochemistry behind this is very complex and there's a lot of nuance. for example, the hormones and growth factors that accelerate aging generally do so through free radicals. therefore, boosting the bodies endogenous antioxidant pool with lots of healthy fruits and vegetables and vitamin supplements May considerably help. that means the trade-off does not have to be so dramatic. Whilst I do think The performance longevity trade-off has been blown out of proportion in many cases, I'm absolutely convinced that it exists when synthetic hormones/drugs are administered or a high animal protein diet is eaten. So what is my position? Well, whilst I must try to avoid harming my body for religious reasons, I generally favour quality over quantity of life. to put it another way, i'd rather have more muscle, energy and libido now and pay for it in 15/20 years time. note that I am currently 30 years old.

I know this is an unusual question given the importance of this enzyme in producing oxaloacetate i'm curious as to how overexpressing it or increasing its activity would affect metabolism in different tissues. I'm particularly interested to know how it would affect fat metabolism. i'm assuming that in the liver, boosting pyruvate carboxylase activity could suppress ketagenasis and sustain gluconeogenesis for much longer during fasting/calorie restriction or high fat diet. Meanwhile, in muscle and brain, I'm thinking it might boost mitochondria activity and ATP synthesis

I'd love to hear all your thoughts and opinions and apologies if The topic sounds unrealistic or pointless.

Science contributes to human progress and of course this helps us, but I'm refering to a biochemistry or biotechnology that actually improved health and welfare in a revolutionary and big scale, or ideas that pretended to, like golden rice. I even have my doubts if golden rice really made a difference, because it's very criticised. What ideas or projects inspire you?

Hey everyone! I’m a PhD student studying poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR), a polymer made by PARP enzymes that’s involved in DNA repair and chromatin regulation. My lab has been using the methods from Tan et al., 2012 (JACS) for a while to scale up enzymatic PAR synthesis, and I've spent a good amount of time making the PAR.

I’m really interested in learning more about both enzymatic and organic methods for synthesizing and labeling biopolymers like PAR, nucleic acids, and peptides. If you’ve worked on anything like this, I’d love to hear about:

• Strategies for making and labeling unusual biopolymers.
• Tips for scaling up synthesis without losing control over length or structure.
• Challenges you’ve faced and how you solved them.

I'm a bit of a nucleic acid geek, and I am always super interested in some of the challenges in preparing chemical probes. Cheers!

For example, if I have an enzyme I want to inject into a person, is there a tag I could put on it that could be visualized like an x-ray to see where it ends up.

Assuming this is done on a live person. I'm aware there are things like GFP but I'm not sure it would give the results I want. Any wisdom would be appreciated.

Hello.

I've always been very passionate about natural science, specifically chemistry, and I really wanted to study it in college and pursue a BS in either Chem or Biochem, I just really like the idea of working in a lab and doing science with my own hands.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into college for a chem/biochem degree because my grades weren't that off (I was 0.7% off from getting into the science programs). I was able to get into a CS program in a private uni.

next month are the first semester exams, and honestly I've been disappointed with the college experience so far, I don't really vibe with the people in my programs, I've been focused on making friends with them and being social, which I think I've succeeded at, but I don't really have anyone who understands me or whose mindset I actually vibe with (they're all too religious and close minded).

I really vibe with the people in the business program at my uni, but our schedules are obv different so I can't even really hang out with them or make friends with them.

I'm taking a bunch of really useless classes as well, to add to all of this, which waste a lot of my time and make me really question whether or not this was worth it, and the programming classes I do have are really slow paced (which makes them easy which is good, but they're mindnumbingly boring).

I think it's all been quite easy, but this just doesn't feel like me, y'know? I just never really thought I'd be here studying this, I thought no matter what happened in high school I'd still get into a good science program but here we are... I could get really good grades but I find myself barely getting by due to just not having any passion for this. It's gotten to the point to where if I see a chemistry meme or any mention of it I just get depressed and keep thinking about what could have been

And here's my dilemma: There's a (Agricultural) Biotech program open which I can apply to next year, and start a 4 year degree in (mainly plant) Biotechnology, meaning I can get into something pretty close to the field I'm so passionate about, but at the same time the job market for it is pretty bad esp in egypt, it'd also be harder to leave the country as biotech isn't exactly what you would call a lucrative field... and I could go study in Germany but I'd still need 12K euros for that, you could say my problem is just money and whether or not I can land a high paying job.

I've always been the kind of people that doesn't really care that much about money, I can handle being frugal, as long as I have enough to practice my hobbies I can deal with having a low salary if It's a job I'm actually passionate about, I just need to leave this country.

Sorry for the scatterbrained post.

Tldr: Should I leave this CS degree for something I'm actually passionate about but that's worse in the job market and will probably make it harder for me to leave the country, or just suffer through 3 more years of this so I can leave sooner?

I'm currently a sophomore and I'm just curious about this. For those who got a job as a biochem major, how well do you need to know about stuff during undergrad years? For example, stuff from orgo chem, calculus, etc.

came up with a simple method to drastically decrease the need for liver transplants^^

Integrating antioxidants into alcoholic beverages would offer a scientifically supported opportunity to reduce alcohol-induced damage without altering the flavor.

Compounds like N-acetylcysteine (NAC), alpha-lipoic acid, and Vitamin E could mitigate these effects, with preliminary modeling suggesting reductions of oxidative damage in liver cells by up to 70%, lower alcohol-related cancer risks by 20–30%, and significant benefits for vulnerable populations such as heavy drinkers, women, and for those with ALDH2 deficiencies.

Overall Damage Reduction Estimate

• Acetaldehyde: Up to 70% reduction.
• ROS: Up to 90% reduction.
• Inflammation: Up to 70% reduction.
• Ethanol Direct Toxicity: Up to 20% indirect reduction

It would reduce 50–70% of alcohol-related physical toxicity

Broader Impacts:

1. Public Health Benefits:
   • Potentially save tens of thousands of lives annually by reducing alcohol-related diseases.
   • Improve quality of life for moderate and heavy drinkers by mitigating accumulated damage.
   • Extend healthy lifespans for older adults who consume alcohol.
2. Economic and Social Gains:
   • Reduced healthcare costs from alcohol-induced diseases.
   • A more capable workforce, with less cognitive and physical decline among moderate drinkers. Even a seamingly minute benefit to live long Cognition would have cumulative, compounding and messurable effect on GDP

• Antioxidant-enriched alcohol could significantly reduce the need for liver transplants by mitigating alcohol-induced liver damage. Alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD) accounts for up to 50% of liver transplants worldwide, with approximately 35,000–40,000 transplants performed annually. By reducing oxidative stress, inflammation, and acetaldehyde toxicity—key drivers of ARLD—this intervention could prevent 50–70% of alcohol-related liver disease cases from progressing to end-stage liver failure, resulting in 5,000–12,000 fewer transplants annually. This would not only save billions in healthcare costs but also alleviate the global organ shortage, improving access to transplants for non-alcohol-related conditions.

I want advocate for a project akin to the fortification of salt with iodine but I am unsure where to start. Any suggestions?

Hi, as stated in the title, I'm wondering how to find good internships in biochemistry in any European country. I'm asking this for my gf, she's been asking companies for a few months now to no avail. Do you guys have any tips on how to find companies (not universities) that hire interns please ?

We would be very grateful for your help :)

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.

I recently graduated with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology with a pretty subpar GPA, and during my time in undergrad, I was never able to join any labs I was interested in mostly because I was pre-health and didn’t find that it was really important that I had research experience. I realized during my senior year that I found bioinformatics really interesting, wanting to pursue a higher degree in that field. The intersection between my biochem program and bioinformatics was really connected so I’ve been looking into master’s programs to get into bioinformatics, only to find that these programs reallly care about research/work experience. Now I’ve been applying to research associate and lab tech roles and almost all of them have a requirement of prior working lab experience. Now I’ve been trying to get research experience from professors at a nearly university, but now I feel as if I’m gonna run into this problem again. I feel like I’m being defined by my failures and shortcomings when I reach out to try to join a lab, and I just would appreciate any advise on how to actually get into a lab. I have class work lab experience and professional experience but I don’t know how many “we don’t have space” meetings I can take anymore

Hi! I’m currently a uni student (biochemistry). I was wondering if there are jobs that are available for students like me that is related to biochemistry or any stem fields. Can you guys comment down suggestions. I don’t mind if it’s paid or not (better if paid). I am just trying to gain experience.