Two of the most important classes I took as a graduate student were CHE542, also known as chemical biology, and CHE 536, also known as molecular modelling of biological molecules. In both classes, we discussed many different aspects of biology. Both were in my second semester as a graduate student. The classes cemented my very […]
One class I took almost every semester in graduate school was organic chemistry seminar. During the seminar, graduate students would present either a research talk, literature review, or problem set depending on their seniority. 3rd and 4th years students generally presented problem sets, and I’d like to use this platform to share the problem set […]
During my time as a Ph.D. candidate, I was tasked with creating a research proposal as part of my penultimate meeting with my doctoral committee. I was genuinely excited to take a step back from my day-to-day research and create a plan for a totally new project. Unfortunately, my advisor limited me to make proposals […]
In terms of drug design, there’s the important question of what biologically relevant molecule to target for therapeutic effects. In terms of leishmanial drug discovery, a very interesting new co-crystal structure was deposited in the protein data bank. The structure an allosteric inhibitor of Leishmania major co-crystallized with methionyl-tRNA synthetase. This interesting X-ray structure represents […]
A lot has been said about the residence time, or binding kinetics, of small molecules to their targets. Drug binding kinetics has gained increased attention in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology due to its potentially stronger correlation to in vivo efficacy of drugs relative to a drugs thermodynamic affinity for its target. Since this is a […]
About 3 years ago one of my key undergraduate professors, Alisson Shakarian, passed away. It was very shocking news since she was relatively young in age. My experiences with her were positive despite other students complaining about the difficulty of the class. Cell biology and biochemistry II were incredibly informative classes and she did a […]
Medicine can be approached very differently based on one’s guiding principles. For example, one might take the proverb, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” as the defining philosophy to medicine. This would be advantageous with respect to pathologies that are easily exacerbated by attempts to treat them. For example, a person taking antibiotics to […]
The chemistry of life is largely about organic chemistry, and organic chemistry boils down to recognizing the physics behind covalent bonds. In particular, when covalently bonded atomic nuclei have different numbers of protons, there are many physical consequences. Consider two similar molecules: ethanol and ethane. Their compositions differ in only one atom; oxygen. However, Oxygen […]
Chemical information can travel in many ways, one of which is ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequences. In vivo, a complementary RNA sequence to DNA is used to create proteins. This process of DNA to RNA to protein is the fundamental basis of modern biochemistry. Information is a nuanced matter though. Often times, especially in eukaryotic organisms […]
Consider an example of the human brain application functioning; while playing video games. Video games are a popular form of media which requires input to progress normally. On the surface, it seems ridiculous to think video games may have a mental benefit. It can often include repetitions of the same goal or pattern, which is […]