Undergraduate programs across the nation are increasingly offering interdisciplinary study programs as markers of their commitment to educate individuals for the demands of contemporary life. Yet, as students engage in interdisciplinary learning projects, an unaddressed question looms large: how to adequately assess student interdisciplinary work.…

Despite the fact that knowledge of the major biochemical metabolic pathways is essential to understanding the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and management of many human diseases, there is disagreement among medical educators regarding the relevance of intermediary metabolism to the practicing physician and the expectations for medical…

We describe a simple undergraduate exercise involving the titration of a weak acid by a strong base using a pH meter and a micropipette. Students then use their data and carry out graphical analyses with a spreadsheet. The analyses involve using mathematical concepts such as first-derivative and semi-log plots and provide an opportunity for…

In departure from the standard approach of using several problems to cover specific topics in a class, I use a single problem to cover the contents of the entire semester-equivalent biochemistry classes. I have developed a problem-based service-learning (PBSL) problem on HIV/AIDS to cover nucleic acid concepts that are typically taught in the…

The main objective of this class experiment is to show the influence of carbon source and of different fluoride concentrations on the biofilm formation by the bacterium "Streptococcus mutans." The observation of different biofilm morphology as a function of carbon source and fluoride concentration allows an interesting discussion regarding the…

This article reports the results of a recent study to evaluate the usefulness of physical models of molecular structures as a new tool with which to teach concepts of molecular structure and function. Of seven different learning tools used by students in this introductory biochemistry class, the use of the physical models in a laboratory was rated…

A practical experiment on the PCR is described that has been used over several years as part of an undergraduate biochemistry and molecular biology course for chemistry students. In the first experimental session, students prepare their own DNA samples from epithelial cells of the mouth and use them as templates in the PCR. In the second session,…

An HPLC and a UV-visible spectrophotometer are identified as instruments that helps to incorporate more biologically-relevant experiments into the course, in order to increase the students understanding of selected biochemistry topics and enhances their ability to apply an analytical approach to biochemical problems. The experiment teaches…

The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at Texas Tech University (TTU) administered an in-house written chemistry placement examination (CPE) to determine whether students were prepared for Chem 1307, or whether a remedial course, Chem 1301, was required. The results indicate that the placement remediation program as implemented at TTU is…

This short article was written in response to a proposed practical featured in the Spring 2002 issue of the "Journal of Biological Education." Beaumont, Cotterill and Williams described a system representing a useful way by which the deleterious effects of free radical attack on enzymes can be demonstrated to undergraduate bioscience students,…

A simple multidisciplinary and inexpensive laboratory exercise is proposed, in which the undergraduate student may correlate biochemical and anatomical findings. The entire practical session can be completed in one 2.5-3 hour laboratory period, and consists of the quantification of collagen and total protein content from tissue sections--without…

Paraphilic disorders are psychiatric syndromes primarily characterized by deviant sexual thoughts, cravings, urges, and/or behaviors. Paraphilic men may engage in inappropriate sexual behaviors when cravings for socially unacceptable sexual acts become overpowering. These often chronic disorders may not only cause emotional distress and social…

Synapses formed by the olfactory nerve (ON) provide the source of excitatory synaptic input onto mitral cells (MC) in the olfactory bulb. These synapses, which relay odor-specific inputs, are confined to the distally tufted single primary dendrites of MCs, the first stage of central olfactory processing. Beta-adrenergic modulation of electrical…

The neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) has been shown to modulate cerebellar-dependent learning and memory. Lesions of the nucleus locus coeruleus or systemic blockade of noradrenergic receptors has been shown to delay the acquisition of several cerebellar-dependent learning tasks. To date, no studies have shown a direct involvement of…

Expression of the immediate-early genes (IEGs) has been shown to be induced by activity-dependent synaptic plasticity or behavioral training and is thought to play an important role in long-term memory. In the present study, we examined the induction and expression of the IEG-encoded protein Egr-1 during an in vitro neural correlate of eyeblink…