PY1 Review - Biochemistry

Out of all the classes on our PY1 schedule, biochemistry frightened me the most.  While I have taken biology and I have taken chemistry, I had never been enrolled in a class that combined the two.  Other PharmD students had majored in biochemistry, and I had absolutely no idea what to think.  By the second class, my fears were realized as I sat through a 90 minute presentation without understanding a single word.  Biochem would be my downfall in pharmacy school.

Actually, biochemistry turned out to be one of my favorite classes.  Many of the topics had been covered in the high school bio courses I taught or at the very least extended from the same concepts.  If I had really known about biochemistry during my undergraduate years, I may have ended up majoring in it and began pharmacy school 10 years sooner!  In pharmacy school, biochemistry serves as the prerequisite to the medicinal chemistry on PY2.  Two semesters divide the topic into nucleic acids and not-nucleic acids.

Aspartate - structure with acidic side chain

The first semester began as a review of organic chemistry followed by the basics of proteins,
carbohydrates, and lipids.  From organic, you should know all of the functional groups names and relative pKas.  Under proteins, the course covers some about structure, but mostly enzymatic kinetics.  Michaelis-Menten mechanics drive every theory about enzymes and drugs.  For carbohydrates, you must memorize the catabolic processes of glycolysis, Krebs, and electron transport chain and the anabolic processes including gluconeogenesis.  Finally, lipids cover the basic structures of triglycerides and phospholipids.  If it sounds like a lot of information, it is.  Those that majored in biochem sailed easily through this part.  Others, like me, had to do a lot of work to keep up and it didn't get any easier next semester.

Irinotecan - mechanism of action.

In the second part of biochemistry, we studied anything and everything related to nucleic acids.  I was really interested in this part as many antibiotics target the DNA differences between us and them.
 Oncology also attacks the properties of our own DNA to kill rapidly growing cells.  This course began with the basics of DNA, similar to what I taught to my classes but again with a bit more detail.
Once through the discoveries of Watson and Crick, we went over the way cells use the DNA template for replication, transcription and translation.  Really, the order of topics should be familiar to anyone.  The difficulty came from the depth of information covered and the density of exam questions.  Compared to the first semester, we talked about all kinds of drugs affecting DNA, RNA, and ribosomes.  I know more about Topoisomerase 1 than I think I will ever use, but I understand the importance of irinotecan in the treatment of colorectal cancer.  Success in Biochem 2 required a lot of work, but it was worth it in the end.

I feel good about my understanding of biochemistry after this year.  I won't be earning a PhD in the topic, but I can hold my own.  Will it help my career as a pharmacist?  I think so.  That really determines which direction you go.  While you may not use gluconeogenesis, you do have to know that cortisol (and any other prescription steroid) stimulates the process.  Otherwise it varies.  Oncologists, yes.  Community, maybe not.  Overall, it broadens your knowledge base and provides more opportunities for you to pursue after pharmacy school ends.