BIOL 6733 - Enzymology

 

Spring 2002

 

Instructor: Dr. Mihaela Leonida

 

 

Text: N.C. Price and L. Stevens, Fundamentals of Enzymology, Oxford University Press, 1999.

                                                  Final Exam                               15 %

                                                  Mid Term Exam                       15 %

Grading Policy                                 Project  Internet                        15 %

                                                  Simulation/Research paper      15 %

                                                  Presentation                              15 %

                                                  Case study                                 15 %

                                                  Biosensors paper                       10%

 

Exams:  Exams are take home exams and have to be computer processed.

 

Case Study: Based on the Internet and literature data you will “solve” a case and write a report about it. Students can work alone or in teams (not more than 2).  The results will be presented both in the form of a case report (computer processed) and orally.

 

Simulation: Students will work in pairs. Each group will get a set of data together with a hardcopy of the tutorial. The software will be installed on 5 computers in the Computer Center (DH). You can go and do the simulation (acquire data) when it is convenient. The data have to be transferred to Excel in order to be processed. The results will be presented as a typed lab report: title, scope, equations, tables, graphs, results, and discussion section.

 

Project: A computer search of the available databases of biochemical data will be used to find the structure of an enzyme, identify its active site, characterize it and answer questions given to you by your instructor. The results will be presented as a (computer processed) report.

 

Presentation: Each student will give a 15 minutes oral presentation about a recent paper in the area of extremophiles (enzymes working in extreme conditions of temperature/pH/salinity.      

 

Grade Distribution:  The course will not be graded on a curve.

 

Academic Integrity: The Dean has asked us to call your attention to the University policy on cheating, plagiarism, and other violations of academic integrity. You can find a complete statement of policy in the FDU Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Bulletins.

 

 

ENZYMOLOGY – BIOL 6733

 

Week

Topic

1

-Brief history of enzymology

-Enzymes as catalysts. Cofactors

-Nomenclature and classification of   enzymes

-Using the personal computer and the Internet for research in enzymology

2

-Enzyme purification

-Objectives and strategies

-Sources

-Methods

-How to judge the success of a purification procedure

-Examples of purification procedures

3

-The structure of enzymes

-Building blocks and determination of primary structure

4

-Determination of secondary and tertiary structure

-Determination of quaternary structure

-Folding and unfolding

-Assignment: Internet search of databases and report on the structure and characteristics of a given enzyme

5

-Enzyme kinetics (review)

-How do we obtain kinetic data?

-How do we analyze kinetic data?

-Kinetic calculations

-Assignment: simulation of a kinetic experiment

6

-Enzyme mechanisms

-Experimental approaches

-Take-home exam

7

-Examples of enzyme mechanisms

8

-Student presentations

9

- The control of enzyme activity

-Control of metabolic pathways

10

- Enzyme in organized systems

-The occurrence, isolation and properties of multienzyme protein

-RNA polymerase

-Fatty acid synthase

-Enzymes involved in DNA synthesis

11

- Enzymes in the cell

12

- Enzyme turnover. Kinetics and significance

-Protein degradation

13

-Clinical applications of enzymology

-Case study reports are due

14

-Enzyme technology

-Stabilization of enzymes

-Use of enzyme and microorganisms in brewing and cheese making

-Synthesis of chiral compounds for the pharmaceutical industry

-Enzyme fuel cells

-Biosensors

 

 

RESEARCH PROJECT

 

         The topic has to be from the area of enzymes used in drug synthesis or enzymes used in fiber optic biosensors

The project will be based on new literature, published not earlier than 1998 (at least five references). The articles have to be from scientific journals. Beside the new literature, background references like books, popular science magazines or older articles from science journals can be used and should be listed in the reference section too.

The steps required for the completion of the project are:

a)Find a topic and clear it with the instructor. If this seems difficult let Dr. Leonida know and help will be provided.

b)Find references (if the articles are not free on the Internet and FDU library does not carry that particular journal, you can ask for them in the library –Periodicals- and they will be brought in through interlibrary loans. This process takes at least 2 weeks, so you need to plan ahead of time).

c)Read the papers and look for additional background material.

d)Write an abstract of max. 250 words about the topic and attach a list of the main references.

e)After the abstract was approved start writing the paper. It has to include: title page, abstract page,

and the bulk of  the paper with illustrations, tables, schemes, formulas and equations as needed. Each of the tables, schemes and figures has to be self-explanatory. The last page has to be a list of references. Examples are given below for how to list different type of references:

Books:

1.      Price, N.C., Stevens, L.A, Fundamentals of Enzymology, 3rd ed., Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1999, pp.117-129.

Articles:

1.      Moser, T.L., Smith, R.A.,”Angiostatin binds…..”, Science, 1999, 285, 1926.

If an article is found on the Internet the name of the journal, volume, year, page are also available and should be listed in the References section (as shown in the example).

No late projects will be accepted.