Category Archives: Teaching

Central Dogma: The Movie

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Cindy Hemenway

Cindy Hemenway

It all started in 2004 when I was trying to explain the trombone model for DNA replication to students in BCH453/553 (Biochemistry of Gene Expression). The conversation went like this…

Student X:  Dr. Hemenway, it is really hard to visualize how that looping process works.

Dr. Hemenway: Yes, it would be nice if we could build a working model to understand it better.

Student Y: Can we do that for extra credit?

Dr. Hemenway: Great idea!

The rest is history.  After years of students asking if I had examples for them to see, I finally gave in and filmed them in action.  Although I was hesitant to do this because it might hinder the creative process, the reality was that I was finding it hard to get enough notes taken down on my grading sheet during their presentations.  And, there were so many memorable projects!

So, please enjoy the links below of the spring, 2012 BCH453/553 students modeling prokaryotic DNA replication forks, eukaryotic transcription and prokaryotic translation.

 

New Course Offered: ‘Physical Chemistry for Life Scientists’

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Chuck Hardin

Chuck Hardin

Have you seen the bumper sticker “Honk if you passed P-Chem”? I recently finished teaching the first semester of a new course offering designed to make P-Chem “come alive” for our students.

It seems obvious to me that every dry, hyper-theoretical lesson one encounters in the standard P-Chem course deserves to be refocused to highlight how it bears on biochemistry. Not only does it reveal how the biochemistry works, it also provides a much more interesting and example-driven way to actually hook into the concepts. For example, we learned about diffusion theory by covering the limitations placed on the use of pheromones by the size of an organism and the rates of diffusion of both the pheromone and the organism. In another, we used the Boltzmann distribution to understand how voltage-gated ion-channels work. In a third, we looked at the use of lattice models and the canonical ensemble to understand how the search process that leads to protein folding works.

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Hardin and Knopp Publish New Textbook: ‘Biochemistry – Essential Concepts’

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Chuck Hardin

Chuck Hardin

Editor’s Note: Drs. Chuck Hardin and Jim Knopp recently published a new textbook/workbook with Oxford University Press (2012, ISBN 97 80199 765621, website: OUP.com). Chuck described the process of publishing a book to Biochem Blogs.

So we wanted to publish a book? We had no idea what we were getting into. It turned out that developing, contracting and completing a textbook required way more than just writing the words. When viewed in the rearview mirror, it was more like pursuing and completing a research project.

Oxford really puts their authors through the ringer. For example, the book is full of illustrations. In fact, completing the composition process involved extracting 843 figures from the manuscript, documenting them, then sending them to the composition editor, who inserted all 843 figures into the officially composed print version. Whew!

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A Happy Glucose Holiday Season

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Clay Clark

Clay Clark – @biochemprof I'm on ScienceSeeker-Microscope

 

If you don’t believe in pathways, you might want to listen. Each year in his biochemistry class, Dr. Jim Knopp sings “the glucose song.” This year, he had special visitors from Ladies in Red, an all-female a cappella group associated with the Music Department at NCSU.

To kick off the holiday season, please enjoy The Glucose Song, as sung by Ladies in Red.

To see the lyrics: Continue reading →

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Confessions of a first time instructor

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Dr. Greg Buhrman

Dr. Greg Buhrman

This is the second blog piece I’ve written, although it may be the first one you’ll read. Dr. Clay Clark asked me to blog about my experiences teaching BIO 414 (Cell Biology) for the first time. I wrote one piece half-way through the semester about one particularly interesting teaching experience. Then Clay asked me for the backstory but I never felt introspective enough to get into it. Now it’s the day before graduation and I’m feeling introspective, so here goes…

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Teaching the business of science

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Clay Clark

Clay Clark - @biochemprof

Earlier this year I was asked to serve on the executive committee for the NCSU Molecular Biotechnology Training Program. This program is directed by Dr. Bob Kelly and is designed to augment graduate training by exposing students to biotechnology through laboratory-based courses and seminars.

Students also are encouraged to participate in the Professoriate Training Program (PTP), which gives them the opportunity to work with a professor one-on-one to enhance classroom teaching skills.

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