BSc/MSci Chemistry OR Medicinal and Biological Chemistry OR Natural Sciences OR Biochemistry OR Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine OR Biotechnology AND for Level 3 students. Available to JYA/Erasmus students.

This module develops an understanding of the nature and structure of enzymes, the characteristics of enzyme catalysed reactions and their inhibition. The mechanisms of action and structures of specific proteases, DNA helicases (PcrA, DnaB and RecBCD), translocases, recombinases and molecular motors, FoF1ATPase and Rho transcriptional terminator are covered. Experimental methodology in biochemistry, molecular biology and chemical biology for cloning genes, expressing proteins in bacteria, strategies for purifying proteins, protein engineering through mutagenesis procedures, N-terminal protein sequencing, protein electrophoresis, determination of protein concentrations, probing biomolecular interactions, assaying the activity of ATPases, protein structure determination(X-ray crystallography and protein NMR) and the use of a range of biophysical techniques. At the end of the module the students should have an understanding of the basic principles of: protein expression, mutagenesis and purification, yeast two and three hybrid technology (Y2H, Y3H), equilibrium sedimentation and velocity sentimentation ultracentrifugation techniques, phage display, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), ATPase assays, microarrays, protein NMR and X-ray crystallography. The students should be able to understand the applications of the above technologies in life science research.

Students should gain a good appreciation of the applications for a range of enzymological, chemical and molecular biological techniques to probe cellular processes and catalysis at the forefront in Chemical Biology research. This module represents a culmination of principles and techniques from a biophysical, molecular, biochemical and genetic perspective.