PDF version of the Syllabus can be found here.

When: Mon., Thu., & Fri., from 10:00 AM to 10:50 AM - Where: RH 101
Instructor: Dr. Guillermo Moyna
Office: GH-360 - Lab: GH-338, 336, 351, 361
Phone (Office): (215) 596-8526
Phone (Lab): (215) 895-1169
E-mail: g.moyna@usip.edu
Web-page: http://tonga.usip.edu/gmoyna/

This is my second time teaching this course, which I originally inherited from Dr. Mike Bruist. Although I hope that the course will get better with time (i.e., it should be better this semester), the topics and policies remain pretty much the same...

Textbook:

Fundamentals of Biochemistry (ISBN 0471-58650-1)
Voet, Voet, and Pratt (VVP)
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Please, note that the book has changed from what we have used in the past. Also, make sure that the book you get has the CD-ROM with it. We may use this CD-ROM for some of our classes and assignments.

As mentioned above, this is the first semester that we will be employing VVP as the textbook for the course. Keep in mind that the class topics will not follow the order of the book. Furthermore, some topics will be covered in more detail in class, and other will have more detail in the book. However, anything not present in the textbook will be posted on the web or handed out to you.

Grading:
 

3 midterm exams	3 x 20 % = 60 %
Final exam	20 %
Quizzes and problem sets	20 %

Exams will be given during one class period. They are scheduled tentatively for Sept. 29, Nov. 3, and Dec. 8. The definitive schedule will try to accommodate you (the whole class) as much as possible. The final is comprehensive and has the same weight as an in-class exam, and will be scheduled by the registrar. No heavy duty programmable calculators may be used during exams (believe me, I can tell which ones are and which ones are not programmable, and no, I will not have spares to hand out). Furthermore, mathematical problems will be set up in a manner that does not require the use of a complex calculator, so something that adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides is pretty much all you will need.

Makeup exams will be given provided that I have approved them before the exam to be made up has been given. This means you must contact me in person, by phone, or by e-mail before the exam and I must agree that you can take the makeup. In the past I have agreed to makeups because of health problems and unusually heavy workloads. Makeup exams will be scheduled outside of class time and the exam will approximate the same format as the in-class exam.

Recitation Schedule:

There will be one recitation section scheduled for this class. It will meet weekly at a time to be set during our first class. There will be an additional review session before each exam. Although I cannot force you to attend, I encourage you to do so. We will go over homework and exam problems during recitation, and topics given in class could also be discussed further. However, no new course material will be handed out during recitation. Also, your questions will pretty much define its structure, so I will encourage you to go over class materials and homework sets before recitation so as to take the most advantage of it.

Problem sets and quizzes:

Homework problem sets will be assigned roughly weekly. You are encouraged to work on the problem sets in groups; however, everyone must write up their own answers. Problem sets are due by 5 pm on the indicated date. Late problem sets will be penalized 5% per day late (the weekend has two days).

Exam, quiz, and homework answers will be posted on the web-page dedicated to the course.

E-Mail & Web-page:

The whole world is going "e" and we WILL follow suit. Considering that I spend a good part of my day behind a computer monitor, that is probably the best place to find me and contact me. Please take advantage of e-mail for asking me questions. It is often easier to quickly type out a question than to find me around campus. If you have any questions about setting up your e-mail account, e-mail programs, etc., etc., do not hesitate to ask me.

Also, I have a web-page which I update frequently with materials for this and other courses. I will try to post as much materials relevant to the class as possible, such as old tests, lecture outlines, homework questions, solution to homework problems, links to other web-pages with useful materials, etc., etc.

Lecture Schedule:
 

Topic	Chapter in VVP	Lectures
Introduction & Molecular Logic of Life	1	1
Review of Thermodynamics	1	1
Cell structure and organization	1	1
Biomolecules	1	2
Water, pH, pK	2	4
Amino acids and peptides	4,5	3
Introduction to proteins	5	4
Three-dimensional structure of proteins	6	3
Hemoglobin	7	2
Enzymes	11,12	4
Lipids	9	3
Biological membranes and transport	10	4
Carbohydrates	8	3
Nucleotides and nucleic acids	3	3
Exams	-	3