I thoroughly enjoyed this class. As my first biochemistry course, I did not know exactly what to expect, especially in an honors version of the course. The entire class makeup was excellent, with a mix of lecture, in-class discussion, and scientific article evaluation building holistic knowledge on the topics at hand. The professors strayed away from the traditionally memorization-heavy aspects of biochemistry, instead telling us to focus on the conceptual elements. Quizzes and tests felt setup in the way we would have to answer questions in the real world; we were given formulas and pathways but had to apply our knowledge of biochemical mechanisms and principles to apply the information we were given to a problem. I acquired a lot of information and ways of thinking about the cellular environment, and have already started applying that to my work in a laboratory setting.
Throughout the quarter, we had to read and effectively summarize scientific articles. Our last assignment was to take an (assigned) journal article and write an extensive summary that also extends the work done to past and future experimentation. My paper, on the discovery of the mitochondrial pyruvate transporter, can be found below.