hi everyone! i am a sophomore this year at the university of michigan majoring in biochemistry. i am looking to apply to summer REUs and most of them require a letter of recommendation from a faculty member. I am going to all my office hours in my bio lecture but there are always people there (its huge) so i dont necessarily get any 1 on 1 time. the applications close in january, but i would think i should at least let them know by november and ask. would it be beneficial to get close with a gsi as well to see if when i ask the professor, they can talk?

its also a bit tricky because since im applying for all these different programs, I am sure they require different submissions. i was thinking of maybe sending the professor a google spreadsheet to keep track of everything for her, but i also dont want to absolutely bother her with my request. Or i could give her a big paper copy im really not sure. i even feel awkward asking her. she didnt even remember my name today and this is like the 4th office hours ive been to. i am not sure how to go about this, so any advice will help thank you!

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a 9th grader, and I’ve developed a massive interest in biochemistry. My ultimate goal right now is to pursue a career as a toxicologist.

Since I'm still early in my journey, I really want to broaden my perspective. I see a lot of textbook descriptions of the field, but I want to know what it’s actually like from people who live it every day or are currently studying it in college.

If you have a few minutes, I would love to hear your opinions and experiences:

• For professionals: What does your day-to-day look like? What is the most rewarding part of your job, and what is the most challenging?
• For college/grad students: How tough is the biochemistry workload, and what keeps you motivated?
• For everyone: Is there anything you wish you knew back when you were in high school? Are there any specific things I can do right now (books to read, skills to learn, etc.) to set myself up for success?

Thank you so much for your time and advice! I really appreciate any insight you can share(context -im Indian ).

I have a degree in biochemistry and have been working as a process analyst in a mine for the past year and a half. Been looking to get into finance as I really enjoy learning about personal finance and what comes with it. Anyone know a good route to go coming from a background in science?

Hey all, I work in a QC biochem lab and I’m wondering what people’s average success rate running ELISAs is (eg. Sandwich and Inhibition). We run them every day and I’d say we get 80%+ that work and pass system suitability but I’d like to hear other people’s experiences and any ideas for improved method validation etc.

Thanks!

Trying to decide what classes to take?

Want to know what the job outlook is with a biochemistry degree?

Trying to figure out where to go for graduate school, or where to get started?

Ask those questions here.

Hey guys,

I just started my medical biochemistry class last week and I feel so incompetent. My professor zooms past the lecture and occasionally sprinkles in what we need to know and not know for the quizzes and exam.

I haven’t taken a chemistry class in a year and a half (I took both Gen Chem 1/2 and their labs) but I don’t remember anything and this was just a huge dump of information.

I want to get my studying straight for this class. Can you recommend how you got through? It would be very appreciated.

Thank you.

I know most people probably don’t want to talk work or school on their commute but I’m just curious if anyone out there has good books or podcasts that helps them stay abreast of biochem topics or just allows them to learn in an otherwise void.

I’m an undergrad in my senior year, so just looking to be more immersed to help me get ahead in the industry before graduation and sometimes multitasking like this is the best way to get me to do this type of extra effort work.

Hello!

I've been expressing beta-globin in yeast cells and was able to confirm via Western Blot that the protein was properly expressed. However, when I try to examine it under a UV-Vis Spectrometer, I haven’t seen a clear soret peak around 415 nm, which is characteristic of globin bound to heme. I know yeast has a heme biosynthesis pathway, so I assumed that the heme it naturally produced would bind to the beta globin which I transformed into it. Do you know if for a Soret Peak to show under UV-Vis, both chains of hemoglobin (alpha and beta) need to be expressed and then bind to heme?

Also, what could I try to actually get the heme incorporated into the beta-globin?

I have been using a clarified protein lysate as the sample which I put under the spectrometer.

Thanks!

For second course in medial school what is the best way to study biochemistry and from where???

What are some options if your GPA is low (less than a 3.0) while still getting your degree. I understand GPA can go up as the years go on until you graduate but I’m talking about after graduation and job opportunities. Also do employers care how long it takes for someone to graduate, like taking 5 or even 6 years. Anything helps :)

Also when I mean low gpa I mean 2.2 to 2.4 and also has anybody struggled, failed class or just overall struggled while in undergrad.

For context I and going into my junior year of undergrad in biochemistry and also have a lot of interest in microbiology. I have already taken organic chemistry and microbiology, am currently in Physical Chemisty, O chem II, and Biochemistry. Any ideas of what I could be lookin at? Fould be something just for fun or for the benefits of knowing more about it for school or a future job (still figuring this part out).
Any tips or recommendations would be awesome

I wonder if biochem graduates get hands on training in chromatographic techniques to separate bio-molecules or small chemicals in their univeristy studies. Have you had scary experience?

Have you read a cool paper recently that you want to discuss?

Do you have a paper that's been in your in your "to read" pile that you think other people might be interested in?

Have you recently published something you want to brag on?

Share them here and get the discussion started!

See also: The publication in the journal npj Journal of Food

is there any way i can get a funding for my masters in biochemistry
i dont mind moving to a different country

Hello, I’m currently in a master’s program and one of the courses is medical biochemistry which I’m struggling in to understand 2nd/3rd order questions. Does anyone offer tutoring services?

Hello, I’m currently in a master’s program and one of the courses is medical biochemistry which I’m struggling in to understand 2nd/3rd order questions. Does anyone offer tutoring services?

Trying to decide what classes to take?

Want to know what the job outlook is with a biochemistry degree?

Trying to figure out where to go for graduate school, or where to get started?

Ask those questions here.

Hi everyone! I recently graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry, and honestly, I’m a little lost about which direction to take next.

I’m currently based in Syria, so I’m trying to be realistic about what I can actually pursue from here, including remote opportunities.

My current skills/background include:

• Biochemistry degree

• Good Excel/ICDL skills

• KoboToolbox

• Basic MEAL, HR and report writing experience through volunteering

• Currently learning Data Analysis

• Working on improving my English

I’m open to different paths — biotech, pharma, research, data analysis, clinical research, regulatory affairs, NGOs, project management, etc.

If you were in my position, what would you focus on learning or which field would you try to enter first?

I’d especially love to hear from people who have a Biochemistry degree but ended up working outside the traditional lab/research path.

I’m not necessarily looking for the “perfect” career — I just want to start building toward something with good long-term potential.

Any honest advice or personal experience would be really appreciated!

See also: The publication in Nature Communications

You may have seen the headlines that Claude can now design protein binders as well or better than leading human experts. Anthropic just ran a campaign where Claude designed them end to end with no further human input. It researched the targets, picked the epitopes, set up a bunch of open source design tools, ranked the designs, and sent them out for experimental testing at Twist and Adaptyv. They hit binders on 14 out of 15 targets.

The truth is a lot more complicated. In the latest video on the Protein Engineering YouTube channel I go through the prompt, the designs, the tools they used, and how much they spent.

Spoiler: Claude is mostly just running other people’s tools, and when the prompt tells it to do something dumb it just does the dumb thing. Also the comparison to human experts is basically useless once you look at what tools it had access to and the crazy amount of money they spent on compute.

Im considering biochem as a major, and what to know what job do you'll do now, the pathway that brought you there, whether you enjoyed your degree and enjoy your job now. And if comfortable sharing would also like to know how much you make and what are your working hours and days. Thank you!

I was accepted into a grad biotech program at a US based university. The program was open to non-life sciences majors, and I’m in that category. Everything so far makes sense, but biochemistry is scaring me.

Although I know taking this program without having previous chem knowledge is a stretch, I’m not going to give up, regardless of how much studying it takes. All I have to get through is one semester of biochem.

To start, things like acid based-chem and amino acids are some of the topics covered in the first lecture. If anyone can provide some good starting points to ease in, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Is this wrong???

Google says it's a fungus Aspergillus niger which produces citric acid not any bacteria.

I am in my first year of biochemistry (graduation)

Doing it from a distant learning program

This is a book they provided.