Biophysical Chemistry
4.0
creditsAverage Course Rating
Course provides working understanding of physical chemistry of the cell, emphasizing problem solving. Topics include classical and statistical thermodynamics, thermodynamics of proteins and nucleic acids, protein folding, calorimetry, ligand binding thermodynamics, linkage, cooperativity and anticooperativity, allosteric models, lattice statistics, helix-coil transition, and polymer theory. When appropriate, students visit the laboratory to set up data collection and learn to analyze the resulting data computationally, using nonlinear least-squares methods.
Fall 2014
Professor: Doug Barrick
The instructor in this course was given near-unanimous praise by the students. Many said that he made the material more engaging, interesting and fun. Despite this, the work was still difficult and there is a good deal of homework. Some students thought they should be given some instruction on computer programs like Mathematica. Other suggestions for improving the course included giving fewer problem sets, coding cheat sheets and making biochemistry a pre-requisite. Prospective students should have a strong understanding of calculus II and be ready for a good deal of work. Students highly recommended the instructor.