What is Biochemistry?
Biochemistry is a blend of biology and chemistry. Today it is one of the games changing fields in the medical industry. With the current lifestyles of people, diseases and medical complications are increasing day by day. It simply started with brewing wine and today it is expanded up to remodeling tissues.
Initiation
So how did it originally initiated? It started with the evolvement of Robert Boyle and when he started questioning the theories and concepts that were already in the scientific world. Robert was working with another scientist called John Mayow who was interested in finding the scenario behind breathing and oxidation. Then Antoine Lavoisier started investigating chemical oxidation. In the late eighteenth century, photosynthesis came into play and made a revolutionary change.
In Eighteen twenty-eight, Friedrich Wohler understood that the belief by finding synthetic urea in his laboratory. Then after five years, Anselme Payen found the first enzyme and now the scientists know it as amylase. With that major changes started happening in the 20th century. Many findings such as metabolic processes and even DNA developments were found in this era.
Today biochemistry is catering the global issues such as biodegradation, polluted soil, and scarcity of fuel with different advanced technologies. Scientists are implementing advanced photosynthesis technologies, production of biofuels, and development of new feedstocks which can increase the efficiency and the production level in the industries. Even in the medical sector, different developments are made to cure diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and even genetic complications.
Biochemistry degree
Biochemistry is simply a field that conducts studies on chemical particles and the basic procedures that function in living beings and plants. Under this field, you get to study both chemical and biological processes. It is also a field that includes subcategories such as physics, molecular biology, and immunology.
B.Sc. in Biochemistry is a three years duration program that comes under the branch of science. A student who is interested in studying this degree program should have the minimum qualification of 10+2 standard (Advanced Level) from the Biology stream.
Under this program, the student can obtain knowledge in the areas such as fundamentals of biochemistry, fundamentals in genetics, animal diversity, immunology, general English modules, chemistry, and metabolism. The course contains practical sessions as well where the students can test different concepts and theories under a microscope in well-equipped laboratories.
And finally, there will be a written examination combined with practical sessions to evaluate the knowledge of the student and to evaluate whether the student is ready to work in a real-world laboratory.
Career opportunities
Biochemistry is a very practical field that opens many job opportunities to the students who study this field. It does not frame only the field of biochemistry but also allows working and studying in the fields such as clinical biochemistry, molecular genetics, immunochemistry that are integrated with chemical engineering and technology.
So what are the opportunities that you can get by studying this program? Here are some ideas.
- Biochemist
- Academic researcher
- Biotechnologist
- Medicinal chemist
- Research scientist
- Gene therapist
- Research associate
- Forensic scientist
- Cell biologist
- Agricultural scientist
- University lecturer
- Structural biologist
- Analytical Development scientist
- Research & Development scientist
And there can be job offers in hospitals, universities, the agricultural sector, food development companies, cosmetic production companies, forensic departments and even in pharmaceutical companies.
So what are the general tasks that you have to do if you choose to become a biochemist? Simply you need to have a creative mind. They will always need new ideas and solutions that they can use to enhance their lives. You must have a clear understanding of the current health issues and diseases and conduct experiments to find out ways to cure them. You need to be a good team player because you will have to work with different people such as engineers, policymakers, and scientists from different fields and sometimes even with health care professionals.
Postgraduate opportunities
Here are some postgraduate opportunities that you can consider after finishing your degree.
- University of Edinburg – M.Sc. in Medicinal & Biological Chemistry
- New York University – M.Sc. in Biomedical Informatics
- University of Bucharest – M.Sc. in Applied Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- The University of Cambridge – MPhil in Biological Science (Biochemistry)
- University of George Washington – M.Sc. in Bioinformatics & Molecular Biochemistry
- Manchester Metropolitan University – M.Sc. in Clinical Biochemistry
- University College Dublin – M.Sc. in Clinical & Diagnostic Biochemistry
- University of Manchester – M.Sc. in Biochemistry
- Trinity College Dublin – M.Sc. in Immunology
- University of Kent – M.Sc. in Biotechnology & Bioengineering
Future Developments
Considering the current developments in this field, the governments have also identified that Biochemistry will become an evolutional sector soon. And the governments in many countries are keen on investing funds in many research & development projects in this field. And the authorities are looking forward to recruiting knowledgeable employees with a sound skillset.
Moreover, drug companies are still in the struggle of finding new medicines for many diseases. Agricultural companies are finding new ways to develop more efficient crops that will enhance the harvest and also methods to mitigate the diseases of the animals and develop their health systems. The fuel industry is having the eager to find alternative fuel methods and to protect the scarce resources. Not only those companies, is almost every manufacturing company looking forward to strategies and methods that can enhance the productivity and the quantity of the outputs by protecting the standard qualities.
With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, the scope of Biochemistry will be more expanded. It has enabled the opportunity to see the mechanism of the brain functioning by using technology just like the way that Tony Starks developed Jarvis in the (Marvel) movie. And the miracles are yet to happen.
And you will always find work if you study Biochemistry in any country in the world.
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