Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine

BIOC 339s Syllabus

BIOC 339-S Introduction to Biochemistry Summer Online Course

Course Syllabus

Summer 2019

Instructor

Michael Gunther, Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Course Director
Room: 3119-A
Phone: 293-0714
Email: mgunther@hsc.wvu.edu

Course Description:

BIOC 339 is a 4 credit, on line introductory biochemistry course suitable as a first biochemistry course for undergraduate students. It is strongly biased towards the study of the biochemistry of higher animals and is especially suited to students intending to progress further in the Health Sciences (Medical, Dental, Pharmacy and related students). Material covered in this course includes structures, properties and functions of biomolecules, including sugars, fats, amino acids, nucleotides, proteins, biomembranes and nucleic acids. Topics also include enzyme kinetics and mechanisms, metabolic pathways, and mechanisms regulating metabolism and gene expression. The course consists of 50 power point lectures over 2 months. The power point presentations are supplemented with instructor notes, animations, audio clips, and review questions, and audio recordings synchronized with the Powerpoint files will also be provided for each lecture to simulate a classroom experience. Four exams will be administered during the first 8 weeks, and a comprehensive final exam will be administered in the 9th week. Students must have successfully completed Organic Chemistry and Biology to enroll for this course – to receive a waiver from these prerequisites, permission must be obtained from the course coordinator, Michael Gunther, Ph.D.

Course Objectives:

This is an introductory course in biochemistry. The objectives for the course are for the student to develop an understanding of the three main areas of biochemistry:  protein structure/function relationships and enzymology; metabolism; and molecular biology. The student is expected to demonstrate knowledge in these three broad areas, as well as in the more focused Learning Objectives provided at the start of each “Lecture” subset of the material.

EXAM PROCTORING POLICY (for WVU Exercise Physiology students only): For WVU Exercise Physiology students to receive credit for this course, they must take the same exams on site or in the presence of a proctor approved by the course director.  The course director will work with students who require proctored exams and who cannot travel to Morgantown to arrange an appropriate proctored environment for all exams.

Biochemistry 339 – Summer 2019

Rules and Regulations

Lectures.

All lectures and exams are accessed from the WVU Health Sciences Center (HSC) Secure On Line Environment (SOLE) site. All registered students will have access to SOLE and be provided with a SOLE email account.

Course Materials.

Textbook

Biochemistry: The Molecular Basis of Life by McKee & McKee, 6th edition is a required text. Lectures are based on this text, and students will benefit from having this text to follow, to supplement lectures and to successfully complete homework assignments (see below) and exams. The text is available at the WVU Health Sciences Book store. The text can also be ordered through Oxford University Press by calling 800-445-9714. Relevant ISBN numbers to include the textbook plus the online homework (at a discount) can be found below under “Homework”. Please note that I am not sure that the bundle discount exists any longer in 2019.

Homework

Interactive homework problems will be assigned on a weekly basis and are accessed by logging on to http://www.saplinglearning.com/. Access to the Sapling homework is purchased either online or in combination with the textbook. Performance on the homework will account for 15% of the final grade (see “grading” below). 

PowerPoint Files

Lectures will be presented as PowerPoint slide shows. The PowerPoint files will be available on the WVU HSC SOLE site; all enrolled students will have access to SOLE. For most presentations, both a self-directed powerpoint presentation and also a virtual lecture consisting of audio recorded by the professor synchronized with the powerpoint slides will be available.

Lecture Notes

Notes accompanying each lecture are also available on SOLE.

Discussion boards and Chat sessions.

Communication tools include "Discussion" and "Chat". Students can ask questions about any lectures at any time via the Discussion board, so that all students can view the questions and answers – questions submitted to instructors via email will not be answered. Specific times before each exam will be established for students and instructors to communicate in real time, generally on Tuesday of the second week of each block.

Exams.

There will be 4 Exams, occurring in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th weeks of the course, as well as a final exam the 9th week. Each mid-term Exam will consist of 50 multiple choice questions. Students will have a 15 min "window" in which to log in, and Exams will be closed 75 min after a student logs in. The comprehensive Final Exam will be administered during the tenth week and will consist of 100 multiple choice questions. Note: WVU Exercise Physiology students must take all exams on site at WVU HSC OR in the presence of an approved proctor. Off-site proctoring for students who must take proctored exams must be arranged in advance with the approval of the course director. After an exam, a student will have 4 days only, to bring any questions regarding that exam’s grade to Dr. Gunther. No grade changes will be made after this deadline. An optional fifth 50 point comprehensive makeup exam will be made available to the students the day before the final exam, and students may choose to take this exam to allow their lowest score among all five 50-question exams to be dropped.

Grading.

The following scale is a guide for how grades are usually assigned; however, final grades may deviate slightly from the scale below, but will not be more stringent than below:

Grades.

Final grades in this course will be based upon the performance upon the exams (85%) and the homework sets (15%). Each mid-term examination will provide 100 points, while the comprehensive final examination will provide 200 points, for a total of 600 points possible from the exams. The grading scale to be used, as discussed above, is as follows; slight deviations from this scale might occur but the grading scale to be used will be no more stringent than the following:

A = 90 - 100%
B = 80 - 89%
C = 70 - 79%
D = 60 - 69%

Faculty consultation.

Students are encouraged to consult instructors concerning any aspect or problem related to the course. Concerns relating to lecture material should be addressed to Dr. Gunther, who is available for consultation at any time. Faculty often contact students via email regarding information related to this course – students should check their SOLE email accounts regularly.
Academic Integrity/Dishonesty. The integrity of the classes offered by any academic institution solidifies the foundation of its mission and cannot be sacrificed to expediency, ignorance, or blatant fraud. Therefore, we will enforce rigorous standards of academic integrity in all aspects and assignments of this course. For the detailed policy of West Virginia University regarding the definitions of acts considered to fall under academic dishonesty and possible ensuing sanctions, please see the Student Conduct Code at: http://studentlife.wvu.edu/studentconductcode.html.

Social Justice Statement:

The West Virginia University community is committed to creating and fostering a positive learning and working environment based on open communication, mutual respect, and inclusion.

If you are a person with a disability and anticipate needing any type of accommodation in order to participate in this class, please advise me and make appropriate arrangements with the Office of Accessibility Services (304-293-6700). For more information on West Virginia University’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, please see http://diversity.wvu.edu/.