BCH 462: General Biochemistry

Fall 2002

Arizona State University

Neal Woodbury

Office: PS D 105 Email:

Phone: 965-3294 Office Hours: Monday 11:40 – 12:30 and Friday 1:40 – 2:30

Lecture time: MWF 10:40 – 11:30 in PSH-135

Teaching Assistant: Trent Northen

Office Hours: TBA

LRC PS H-137

Required Textbook: Biochemistry 2nd Edition by Garrett & Grisham (1999) Saunders College Publishing.

Website: http://www.public.asu.edu/~laserweb/woodbury/classes.htm

Here you will find detailed reading assignments, a study guide, lecture outlines, etc.

Grading: Quizes will be 10% of the grade (see below). There will be three Midterms that will each be 20% of the grade and a Final Exam that will be 30% of the grade. Because this is the first time I have taught this course, I will have to see to some extent how the tests go before giving an absolute grading scale. However, certainly anything higher than 90% is an A, 80% a B and so on.

Quizzes: Each class will begin with a quiz. The quiz will consist of one simple multiple choice question that will come out of the reading assignment for that day. Note that the detailed reading assignments will be available on the web at least a week in advance. The reading assignment is for the material to be covered in class that day. In other words, you need to read the material for the lecture BEFORE the lecture if you want to do well on the quizzes. You can miss or get zeros on up to four quizzes for any reason and it will not hurt your grade. There are no make-ups on quizzes. If you are late for class, you get a zero.

Exams: Almost all (roughly 90%) of the material covered in the exams will be directly out of the book. On the web you will find detailed reading assignments for each chapter covered and a list of study questions or problems you should use as a guide for your reading (I will also use these as a guide for making up tests). The remainder of the material on exams will come from additional topics covered in the lectures (for example, the book is rather old, and I will provide updates in some areas). Format on exams will be part multiple choice, part short answer or fill-in and one or two more detailed questions that test your ability to put different aspects of biochemistry together to solve problems. If you miss an exam for a legitimate reason (if you are ill, there is a death or life threatening illness in your immediate family or you go on an ASU sanctioned trip), then the exam will simply not be counted (your grade will be based on the other exams). There will be no make-up exams. If you have an excused absence from either two exams or the final, you generally will receive an incomplete for the course.


Tentative Lecture Schedule:

Note: the schedule for which chapters are covered when is just an estimate – a detailed reading assignment list is on the web and will be updated as the course proceeds. The exams, however, will occur on the dates shown. Because the schedule is tentative, the topics covered by each exam may not be exactly those indicated here.

Date / Material
1/22 – 1/24 / Chapter #32 The Genetic Code
1/27 – 2/3 / Chapter #33 Protein Synthesis
2/5 – 2/7 / Chapter #7 Carbohydrates
2/10 – 2/14 / Chapter #18, 19 Intro to metabolism and Glycolysis
2/17 / Exam #1
2/19 – 2/24 / Chapter #20 TCA cycle
2/26 – 2/28 / Chapter #8 Lipids
3/3 – 3/5 / Chapter #9 Membranes
3/7 – 3/12 / Chapter #10 Membrane Transport
3/14 / Exam #2
3/17 – 3/21 / SPRING BREAK
3/24 – 3/28 / Chapter #21 Oxidative Phosphorylation
3/31 – 4/4 / Chapter #22 Photosynthesis
4/7 – 4/11 / Chapter #23 Gluconeogenesis and Pentose Phosphate
4/14 / Chapter #24 Fatty Acid Catabolism
4/16 / Chapter #25 Fatty Acid Biosynthesis
4/18 / Exam #3
4/21 – 4/23 / Chapter #26 Amino Acid Biosynthesis
4/25 / Chapter #27 Nucleic Acid Biosynthesis
4/28 – 4/30 / Chapter #34 Topics in Signal Transduction
5/2 / Chapter #17 Molecular Motors
5/5 / AIDs
5/12 / Final Exam, 12:20 – 2:10 PSH135