Chemical Biology

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Chemical Biology

• Chem258, Spring 2009

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Chem258 chemical biology

• Instructor
• Martin Case, Cook A321
• martin.case_at_uvm.edu
• Meeting times
• MWF 935 - 1025 am, Angell 104
• Class website
• http//www.uvm.edu/mcase/courses/chem258

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Course structure

• Based on student presentations (2 per student)
• A paper that interests you
• Extensive background not required
• Powerpoint preferred
• Hard copy for class to read and prepare for
• Discussion
• 1-2 class periods
• Be prepared to ask (and answer) questions
• Instructor in the hot seat
• Grading is based on presentations and
  participation in discussion sessions

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Time commitment

• 3 credit class 10 hours per week
• 3 hours in class leaves 7 hours per week
• 3 hours reading and researching other students
  presentations leaves 4 hours per week, 48 hours
  over the semester
• 2 presentations per student over the course of
  the semester
• Expect to spend about 24 hours on each
  presentation
• 24 hours???
• 6 hours reading and researching your paper
• 18 hours to prepare your presentation (it can
  easily take an hour per slide)

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What is chemical biology?

• The application of synthetic chemical techniques
  and tools to the study and manipulation of
  biological systems

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What is chemical biology not?

• Biochemistry
• chemistry of biological systems
• relatively few classes of reactions
• mediated by enzymes
• Bio-organic chemistry
• extension of organic chemistry toward biology
• eg synthesis of natural products

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Some basic principles

• Chemoselectivity
• Biologically inherent (thiols)
• Exogenous via promiscuous systems (azido sugars,
  azidohomoalanine)
• Molecular recognition
• Stereocomplementarity
• H-bonding
• Hydrophobic interactions
• Ultimately everything is aqueous

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Why does it matter?

• Drugs
• Modern medicinal chemistry (inhibitor design) is
  essentially chemical biology
• Different drugs
• Antibody therapeutics
• Interference RNAs
• Probes and diagnostics
• Tumor cell labeling
• Enzyme and metabolite tracking
• 21st century medicine
• Proteomics and glycobiology
• Catalysis

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Chemical biology publications since 1990
record count
year
10
Chemical biology journals

• Chemical Biology (ACS)
• Nature Chemical Biology
• Journal of Chemical Biology (Springer)
• ChemBioChem
• Chemistry Biology
• Chemical Biology (RSC)
• chemical biology articles from RSC publishing