Varsity Tutors Biochemistry mobile app

When it comes to biochemistry, you may be heading into a familiar, yet entirely new course in biology and chemistry. You need to have a solid foundation in these concepts in order to successfully apply the principles to one another. This class delves into a branch of science that focuses on the chemical bioprocesses of living things. If you are taking biochemistry, you will need to have an understanding of molecular biology, chemistry, immunology, and physics to succeed. One of the most beneficial strategies to optimize your success in school is to study regularly and efficiently.

With the Varsity Tutors Biochemistry app available from the iTunes and the Google Play Store for both Android and Apple devices, you can access free professionally-written materials to create your own personal study regimen. You can get additional practice for the subject, whether you’re reviewing biochemical signals or protein synthesis. There are hundreds of concept-specific and full-length practice tests, flashcards, and other materials you can use as you study.

On the app, there are timed, full-length practice tests that provide a detailed report upon completion. It breaks your score down into basic concept areas so you can see how well you know the information covered by each section. Each test provides a full review of the concepts that you struggled with as well as the areas in which you excel. You can additionally see a detailed explanation of problems that you may have answered incorrectly. This allows you to more effectively target your studying.

The Learn by Concept feature allows you to explore a wide range of topics on a deeper level. You can find detailed explanations of concepts like DNA replication, pH regulation, glycolysis regulation, hydrolases, and many others. Learn by Concept breaks broad topics down into easy-to-consume sections that allow you to focus your attention on a single concept at a time. Whether you need to refresh your memory on a core concept, or if you are having trouble understanding a particular problem, this feature can provide the support you need.

The app even offers a Question of the Day feature that’s similar to a pop quiz. The questions are taken from the practice exams, and there’s a new one every day. After you answer, you are given a detailed analysis of your performance, including your scoring percentile, solving time, and accuracy. You can do one question per concept, which allows you to practice with any section that you feel you need to.

You’ll also find hundreds of pre-made flashcards that you can use to study wherever and whenever the urge strikes. You can even create your own set with the Flashcard Maker. With all of the flashcards, you can pick and choose what concepts you see to further customize your study time. With so many available, there will be no shortage of relevant questions that can help you get a quick study session in before a test.

You will need to delve deep into biochemistry to understand and apply these complex concepts. Using the free Varsity Tutors Biochemistry app can help you to boost your chances of successfully understanding the subject. Download the app to start getting that extra boost today.

Your Biochemistry class combines two branches of science: biology and chemistry. The curriculum concentrates on chemical bioprocesses in the human body and in other living things. Knowledge of chemistry, physics, and immunology factor in. You’ll be covering protein synthesis and the chemical signals that supply messages between cells in animals and plants. Biochemistry covers an array of challenging subjects, but being prepared can help you thrive in this fascinating course. The main branches of the field are animal biochemistry, plant biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, metabolism, immunology, genetics, and enzymology.

One of the first sections of Biochemistry is anabolic pathways and synthesis. The topics you will encounter here include carbohydrate anabolism and the concept of regulating carbohydrate synthesis. The enzymes, reactants, and products of lipid synthesis are important to learn, as is how lipid synthesis is regulated. After these concepts are covered, they are applied to the more sophisticated process of DNA replication and regulation, how transcription is regulated, and how proteins are synthesized and translated.

Metabolism, biochemical transmissions, and anabolic and catabolic pathways are covered in Biochemistry once you understand how proteins function. They have a broad influence on macromolecules, such as DNA in lifeforms from eukaryotes to prokaryotes. The course will include many definitions along the way, so it is important to focus on the vocabulary at this stage, and a few formulas. This leads in to what you’ll learn about the major elements used by living cells, which include oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and calcium.

You will then learn about biochemical signaling, and how hormones and neurotransmitters are involved. Hormone, peptide hormone, and steroid hormone pathways and synapse biochemistry are major topics encountered in this part of Biochemistry. Another area is signal transduction pathways. The course will cover G proteins, integrins, second messengers, and ligand-gated ion channels at this stage so that you can understand the dynamics of signaling in a biological system. You will also get a background on toll-like receptors and the tyrosine kinase pathways.

Biochemistry then moves on to cover catabolic pathways, which leads into carbohydrates and alternative pathways. Topics related to this area include fermentation and anaerobic respiration. Ethanol and lactic acid fermentation are components of this field as well. The course will then move into gluconeogenesis and the energetics, enzymes, and regulatory processes involved in this process, and then the energetics, enzymes, and regulation associated with glycogenolysis.

The knowledge you gain on metabolism, messaging, and pathways leads to more comprehensive topics, including the citric acid cycle. You’ll learn the processes and concepts associated with these chemical reactions that aerobic organisms need to produce energy from fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Biochemistry then goes on to cover electron transport. You’ll learn concepts such as ATP synthase, electron transport chain energetics, and oxidative phosphorylation. From glycolysis, you’ll go on to learn about photosynthesis, the process by which plants generate chemical energy from light. Light reactions are then taught, and you’ll also learn more about the Calvin cycle. In this part of the course, it’s important to understand energy pathways and how elements such as chlorophyll factor in.

The Biochemistry curriculum covers lipid catabolism next, as well as the enzymes and regulatory processes related to it. Protein catabolism is another important area you will encounter in this unit. You’ll be exposed to biological topics like enzyme kinetics at this stage, which come complete with models, equations, and graphs, and then learn about enzyme inhibition, which includes the varieties of competitive, mixed, and noncompetitive and uncompetitive inhibition.

Adding to the vast array of knowledge you have already attained, Biochemistry will then teach you about the properties of carbon and water, and other macromolecules. You will learn about pH regulation and thermodynamic regulation in this part of the course. These topics will lead into the fundamental molecules of life, such as amino acids, nucleic acids, and monosaccharides and carbohydrates. The concept of molecular bonds follows in a logical path to learning about how biology works at a chemical and molecular level. You’ll learn about covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds, and then how to identify biochemical molecules, their structures, and the proteins and nucleic acids involved in specific ones. The concepts you’ll learn will ultimately apply to the various aspects of DNA and RNA that are covered in the course.

Biochemistry doesn’t end with genetic material, which is a fundamental example of proteins. You’ll next learn about the general structure and functions of various proteins, and concepts such as protein hydrolysis and the regulation of protein degradation. Protein folding will then be covered, and you’ll learn what primary, secondary, and tertiary structures are. The different types of proteins include structural/ transport proteins, transferases, and kinases. Also, the course will cover structural elements, with a look at active sites, globular and fibrous proteins, and peptide bonds.

The field of Biochemistry involves various experimentation techniques. These include chromatography, x-ray diffraction, mass spectrometry, and electrophoresis. It’s essential to know these and others because they’re used in the laboratory to track biochemical processes, and even as diagnostic tools. From fractionation to surface plasmon resonance and more, you’ll have a thorough understanding of how professionals use these to accomplish many different things in the smallest of proteins and cells up to complex organisms.

Depending on your school’s Biochemistry curriculum, other topics may be introduced. The field of biotechnology is becoming a hot topic, in that living systems can be used in engineering, manufacturing, food production, and medicine. Bioluminescence, or the ability of organisms to produce and emit light, is having technological implications as well. Other fields include genetic engineering, endocrinology, nutrition, and toxicology. Biochemistry also has many environmental applications that may factor into your career decisions down the road.

Biochemistry will teach you how proteins, signaling, and metabolism impact how organisms function. It has numerous applications, from medicine to engineering. The topics of the course integrate the many aspects of living processes and organisms that affect life on a molecular level. At the very least, it will expand your knowledge, but your hard work in this course may pay off later on.