SCEN 4110/GBCH 6110 Syllabus, spring 2015

COURSE TITLE
Basic Medical Biochemistry
INSTRUCTORS
Sam Landry (Course Director), Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 988-3990,
landry@tulane.edu
Diane Blake, Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 988-2478, blake@tulane.edu
Hee-Won Park, Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 988-7140,
langston@tulane.edu
Zachary Pursell, Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 988-1974,
zpursell@tulane.edu
PROMOTIONAL COURSE DESCRIPTION
Preparing to take the MCAT? Want to reduce the stress of first-year medical school? Basic
Medical Biochemistry from the Tulane Medical School is specifically tailored for med
school preparation. Basic Med Biochem offers biochemistry in an interdisciplinary
framework that recapitulates the integrated basic sciences curriculum, which is being
adopted by med schools nationwide.
COURSE CATALOG DESCRIPTION
Basic Medical Biochemistry aims to establish the students biochemical competency for
admission to medical school and success in the first-year medical curriculum. The course
focuses on topics, mechanisms, and analyses that are most relevant to human health and
disease, including biomolecule structure and function, gene regulation, and metabolism in
cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. The instructors are faculty in the Tulane Medical
School, and classes are held on the medical campus. Course topics are drawn from those
addressed by Tulane medical students. Instructional methods include those currently
employed in the Tulane Medical School, such as the flipped classroom and team-based
learning. Students will be provided an array of learning aids, including instructional videos.
Pre-requisite course: one semester of organic chemistry.
TEXTBOOK
Title: Marks' Basic Medical Biochemistry
Author(s): Michael A Lieberman PhD , Allan Marks MD , Alisa Peet MD
Publication Date: Mar 29, 2012
Edition: Fourth
ISBN/ISSN: 9781608315727
COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The objectives and content of Basic Medical Biochemistry are designed to provide students
with a comprehensive understanding of cellular structure and function, and the manner by
which cellular processes are normally integrated and regulated. This course stresses both the
normal cellular function and why disease states occur if normal cellular processes are
disrupted.
OUTCOMES:
Students will be able to
1. Apply principles of biochemical structure in order to organize and explain molecular
functions, biochemical pathways, and regulation.
2. Describe how information is processed at the molecular level (DNA/RNA/Proteins).
3. Explain how information is processed at the cellular level (intracellular and intercellular
signal transduction).
4. Discuss the structures and functions of subcellular organelles and how they are
coordinately regulated (protein targeting/transport, mitosis, cell cycle, apoptosis,
etc...).
5. Explain how normal structure, function, and/or regulation can be disrupted to cause
various disease states.

TOPIC OUTLINE
Day
M
W
F
M
W
F (7150)
M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F

Date

1/12/2015
1/14/2015
1/16/2015
1/19/2015
1/21/2015
1/23/2015
1/26/2015
1/28/2015
1/30/2015
2/2/2015
2/4/2015
2/6/2015
2/9/2015
2/11/2015
2/13/2015
2/16/2015
2/18/2015
2/20/2015
2/23/2015
2/25/2015
2/27/2015

Topic
1. Fuel Metabolism (Landry)
2. Biomolecules (Landry)
3. Amino Acids (Landry)
MLK Day
4. Protein Structure (Landry)
5. Hemoglobin: Oxygen binding in respiration (Blake)
6. Immunoglobulins: Structure of antibody therapeutics (Blake)
7. Collagen: Genetic Diseases of Connective Tissue (Blake)
8. Enzymes I: Properties and Catalytic Mechanism (Blake)
9. Enzymes II: Kinetics and Inhibition (Blake)
10. Enzymes III: Regulation and Drug Design (Blake)
11. Nucleotide Structure (Pursell)
12. DNA Replication, Damage and Repair (Pursell)
13. DNA Analysis and Technology, DNA-Binding Proteins and Gene Regulation (Pursell)
Exam I: Covers Lectures 1-13 (38%)
Mardi Gras Holiday
Exam Review
14. Organization of the Human Chromosome (Pursell)
15. Human Genome and Genomics (Pursell)
16. Metabolic Design (Park)
17. Glycolysis I (Park)

M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F
M
W
F
F(1-5pm)

3/2/2015
3/4/2015
3/6/2015
3/9/2015
3/11/2015
3/13/2015
3/16/2015
3/18/2015
3/20/2015
3/23/2015
3/25/2015
3/27/2015
3/30/2015
4/1/2015
4/3/2015
4/6/2015
4/8/2015
4/10/2015
4/13/2015
4/15/2015
4/17/2015
4/20/2015
4/22/2015
4/24/2015
4/27/2015
4/29/2015
5/1/2015
5/8/2015

18. Glycolysis II (Park)

19. Gluconeogenesis (Blake)
20. Glycogen Metabolism (Blake)
21. Pentose Phosphate Pathway (Blake)
22. Metabolism of Other Sugars and the Normal Flora (Park)
23. Regulation of Carbohydrate Metabolism and Cancer (Park)
24. Pyruvate Dehydrogenase and Citric Acid Cycle I (Park)
25. Electron Transport and Oxidative Phosphorylation (Park)
26. Lipid Metabolism I - Synthesis (Park)
Exam 2: Covers Lectures 14-25 (35%)
27. Lipid Metabolism II - Breakdown (Park)
Exam Review
SPRING BREAK/EASTER
SPRING BREAK/EASTER
SPRING BREAK/EASTER
SPRING BREAK/EASTER

28. Lipid Metabolism II - Ketone Bodies and Triacylglycerols (Park)

29. Lipoproteins and Heart Disease (Park) Simulation
30. Protein digestion (Landry)
Simulation
31. Diabetes TBL (Landry)
32. Urea Cycle (Landry)
Simulation
33. Nitrogen Metabolism I (Landry)
Simulation
34. Nitrogen Metabolism II (Landry)
Simulation (also 23rd?)
Exam 3: Covers Lectures 26-34 (26%)
Simulation
Exam Review
Simulation
Study period begins
Exam period begins
Cumulative Final Exam

COURSE POLICIES:
Attendance:
With the exception of the TBL and Exams, attendance is not required, although it is felt that
many would benefit by attending lectures and interacting regularly with the course director
and instructors. It is the students responsibility to learn the material, regardless of
attendance.
Exam Policies:
There will be a total of four exams: three "block" exams and a cumulative final exam. Each
exam is a weighted percentage of the final grade, based on the number of lecture hours
covered in each block. Absence from any exam without prior written excuse results in a
score of 0 on that exam.
Challenges to Exam Questions:

Challenges to exam questions are not accepted. Before exams are returned, results are
carefully screened by statistical item analysis. Poor questions are removed or adjusted via
internal faculty challenges only. In addition, any question that is answered incorrectly by
65% or more of the class will be removed from the exam. All students receive credit if a
question is removed from an exam. Constructive comments on exam questions are
welcome.
Practice Exams and Extra Credit:
Students are given the opportunity to earn extra credit by writing exam questions that will
be used on practice exams prior to each block exam.
- Each student is assigned two lectures in the course (look at file Student Lecture
Assignments for Practice Exam Qs in the Student Information on the course website).
- For each assigned lecture, the student creates one exam question in multiple choice format
(5 possible answers please).
- The submitted question must indicate the correct answer, and include a brief explanation
why the correct answer is right, and each distracter is wrong. Failure to provide the
explanations voids the ability to receive extra credit.
- Questions must be emailed to the course director no later than two days after the assigned
lecture.
- For each assigned lecture, students receive 1 point added to their final course average for
submitting a practice exam question in the correct format within the two day time limit.
- Submitted questions will be used to generate a one hour on-line practice exam prior to
each block exam. If a student passes the practice exam (70%), the student will earn another
point extra credit. With three practice exams, an additional three points can be earned.
Additional requirement for the graduate course:
Graduate students registered for GBCH 6110 will be required to present a research paper
from the primary literature in a series of separate class meetings. Students in attendance
will evaluate the presentation.
Objectives: Students will organize, summarize, and evaluate a research project as reported
in the paper; practice oration; and exercise peer review.
Outcomes: Students will apply biochemical knowledge to describe and evaluate a scientific
project; they will develop skills in oral presentation; and they will demonstrate
professionalism in providing constructive criticism of others presentations.
The presentation will be evaluated by the instructor and students for clarity and relevance.
The presentation will be worth 5%, and the students critiques of others presentations
(evaluated by the instructor for professionalism) will be worth 2% of the final grade.
GRADING/EVALUATION:
The course grade (100%) is broken down as follows. An additional 6 points extra credit can
be earned, and added to the total.
Weight (%) of Final Grade (For the graduate course, all percentages will be proportionately
reduced to accommodate a grade on paper presentation, worth 7%)
Block One Exam: 25%
Block Two Exam: 24%

Block Three Exam: 18%

Final Exam: 30%*
TBL: 3%
Extra Credit: 6% (submitted practice questions, 2%; practice exams, 3%; self-assessment,
1%)
Total Potential Points: 106
* If the Cumulative Exam score is greater than the combined weighted % average from the
three block exams, the student will receive 50% of their grade from the Cumulative Exam.
The block exam weight will be reduced to contribute a weighted total of 47% to the
students final average (instead of the listed 67%).
Letter grades will be assigned according to the final average percent: A, 93-100; A-, 9092.99; B+, 87-89.99; B, 83-86.99; B-, 80-82.99; C+, 77-79.99; C, 73-76.99; C-, 70-72.99;
D+, 67-69.99; D, 63-66.99; D-, 60-62.99; F, 0-59.99.