Find an interesting biochemistry website and put its link in this entry and describe what is found there.

http://www.wiley.com/college/boyer/0470003790/animations/animations.htm This biochemistry website that I found is not only interesting but will also be of value to myself and other students who read my blog. This website is loaded with different interactive animations that show one what happens along with providing an explanation. Some of the animations that are found on this website include an amino acid game, catalysis, cell structure, citric acid cycle, DNA replication, enzyme inhibition, glycolysis, protein folding and synthesis etc. the website also has chapter indexes, concept reviews, structure tutorials, and quizzes. I think this website was an awesome website to stumble upon. I will be using this website and I hope other students will as well.

What knowledge have you connected with past knowledge?

I have connected much of my knowledge from previous classes with the new information we are learning. I have learned quite a bit of knowledge about enzymes in previous classes. I knew that they increase reaction rate but I was unaware of how they do this and how much they are actually speeding up the reaction. I also learned alot about different types of bonding such as hydrogen, covalent, etc. I did not know the application of these types of bonding except for different molecules using these to bind to one another. I did not know that proteins use these types of bonding. For example, the alpha helix has hydrogen bonds and these bonds hold the structure of the protein in the alpha helix. If these hydrogen bonds were not there the structure would change and would result in a change of the function of that protein.

Find a protein using PDB explorer–describe your protein, including what disease state or other real-world application it has.

         The protein data bank appears to be a website where all the proteins and their functions are located.  This is very useful for record keeping.  The protein that I chose to look at, Kinesin-5 (K5), is found in bipolar disorder.  The protein is 451 amino acids long.  The protein has several β pleated sheets  linkers, and multiple α helix's.  There are approximately 5 subunits.  This protein is a target for small molecule inhibitors which is being used in cancer clinical trials. 
         In conclusion, I think this website was interesting.  It was fun to look at different proteins to see that they look similar yet have a minor difference that changes the function completely.  This data base is extremely useful in identifying the proteins that cause specific disorders.

What is biochemistry, and how does it differ from the fields of genetics, biology, chemistry, and molecular biology?

Biochemistry is very different yet similar to genetics, biology, chemistry, and molecular biology. Biochemistry involves the use of chemistry to explain biological processes as well as studying the structure and the chemical aspect of molecules in living organisms. Chemistry mainly studies the reactivity of these molecules as well as the structure and characteristics of these molecules.  The major difference is that chemistry is not about the living organism; its focus is mainly molecularly. It does not go far on the structural organization of the human body. Genetics is extremely different from biochemistry. It actually studies how characteristics are inherited and not so much about the reactions and characteristics of these molecules.  Biochemistry is also quite different than biology.  Biology is basically the study of life.  It focuses on their behavior, environment, origin, function, and evolution opposed to reactions of these organisms.  Molecular biology is surprisingly quite similar to biochemistry.  Molecular biology also uses chemistry to explain the interactions of the molecules.  It differs mainly in the way that it is interested in the DNA/RNA processes.
         In conclusion, biochemistry has many differences as well as similarities to each of these fields.  They are very similar in the way that some study the human life and some study the chemical reactivity of these molecules.  They are very different in the way that each of these fields do not incorporate both chemistry as well as biology.  They are mainly similar to one of these fields; either biology or chemistry.