Everyday BioChem

A key motivation for learning biochemistry is to appreciate how biochemistry relates to your everyday life. For example, how biochemistry explains the chemical basis of life and what can go wrong in human disease. With this knowledge, you can understand “how it works and why it matters” in biochemical terms. Listed here are 26 examples of everyday biochemistry presented as chapter openings (CO) in Miesfeld’s Biochemistry (3rd Edition).

CO-1: The Chemistry of Life: Fermentation

CO-2: Biochemistry of Antifreeze Proteins

CO-3: Improving Food using CRISPR-Cas9

CO-4: Jellyfish Green Fluorescent Protein

CO-5: Protein Engineering of Factor IX

CO-6: Fetal Globin Treats Sickle Cell Disease

CO-7: Altitude-Induced Alkalosis

CO-8: Statins Inhibit Cholesterol Synthesis

CO-9: Ouabain: A Poison that Saves Lives

CO-10: mRNA Vaccines Induce Immunity

CO-11: Taste Requires GPCR Signaling

CO-12: Cancer Cell Growth: Warburg Effect

CO-13: Citrate Production by Fermentation

CO-14: Contaminated Tempeh Cakes

CO-15: Paraquat: The Marijuana Herbicide

CO-16: Industrial Strength Galactosidase

CO-17: G6PD Mutations Cause Favism

CO-18: Making Soap from Pig Fat

CO-19: Nonfat Foods Can Make You Fat

CO-20: Round-Up Ready GMO Plants

CO-21: Methotrexate-Resistant Cancer

CO-22: Drugs to Treat Type 2 Diabetes

CO-23: Defects in DNA Mismatch Repair

CO-24: RNA Splicing Defects and Blindness

CO-25: Novel Antibiotic Discovered in Worms

CO-26: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells