Talk:Biochemistry

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Reorganising the article[edit]

In my opinion the article in its present form does not possess sufficient structure, covering biomolecules in too much detail and in an illogical way - e.g. 2 separate sections on proteins, while only treating metabolism in a small section under carbohydrates, and with very little on gene expression/regulation etc.. In addition it largely lacks any in-line referencing.

I've copied the article to a user page and am currently experimenting with a fairly substantial reorganisation, please feel free to check it out and discuss your thoughts on it. PiFanatic (talk) 19:05, 16 January 2011 (UTC)


I think you are absolutely right. The big concern with the article in general is for me that there is actually no clear definition of biochemistry itself. As a scientific field it mostly comprises the study of all biological systems on a molecular level. This means that almost any life-science discipline has something to do with biochemistry, because every biological process has a biochemical cause. Therefore I would suggest that this article should differentiate between the "textbook" knowledge (e.g. Stryer) and the real science. Maybe this could be achieved by introducing the basic concepts of biochemistry and then give some further link to the different sub-disciplines (e.g structural biology, metabolomics, chemical biology) and/or related disciplines (molecular biology, genetics, physiology, etc.) --InvertedRepeat (talk) 22:17, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

The overview has some grammatical issues and a lot of redundant information. It is also not very clear or precise in language in the explanation making it confusing for the readers.The detailed description in the overview can be written more effectively .Faizanwar08 (talk) 16:08, 9 October 2018 (UTC)

History Refference[edit]

alchemy —Preceding unsigned comment added by Drrake (talk • contribs) 09:22, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

MCOTF:Suggestions here[edit]

Looking over the article, here are some of my suggestions:

  • the first line- biochemistry is the chemistry of life - a bit vague, isnt it? How about Biochemistry is the name given to a hybrid branch of chemistry which specialises in the chemical processes in living organisms....
  • subdisciplines section- I dont think it is just these topics that are covered - biochemistry is divided either into many topics such as carbs, proteins etc ~(+MANY more such as hormonal), or into cellular and molecular biochemistry. There is significant overlap with physiological disciplines.
  • More relevance to medical and zoological topics - introduction of topics like "pharmacology" or "toxicology".

What do you guys think?

PhatRita 15:18, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Merriam-Webster defines it as "chemistry that deals with the chemical compounds and processes occurring in organisms". How about something like "Biochemistry is the chemistry of life, a bridge between biology and chemistry that studies how complex chemical reactions give rise to life. It is a hybrid branch of chemistry which specialises in the chemical processes in living organisms." Just writing that off the top of my head in the middle of the night. — Knowledge Seeker দ 05:26, September 1, 2005 (UTC)
Yes! That is a much more captivating introduction. Cybergoth 04:16, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Regarding the Relationship to other "molecular-scale" biological sciences section:

  • I would suggust using the term molecular genetics rather than "genetics". It is more specific to the "molecular scale" of biochemisty. Cybergoth 04:21, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
    • I wasn't sure where you wanted this change, Cybergoth; why don't you go ahead and change it yourself—I agree with your suggestion. — Knowledge Seeker দ 04:17, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

I've started to expand this article, but there are a couple areas I'll need help on. I'll try to do some reading, but my memory of non-human biochemistry is pretty shaky—I barely remember the Calvin cycle and light and dark reactions and such; my microbial biochemistry is very weak too. Also, I may need some help with lipids—we'll see. Feel free to rewrite the sections I'm doing. Am I putting too much/too little in? — Knowledge Seeker দ 06:25, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

Micheal E. Sugar ?[edit]

is this a real person or just vandalism? Today, there are three main types of biochemistry as established by Michael E. Sugar. mathew (talk) 01:03, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

I concur. I'm removing the reference, unless anyone has any serious objections. Jhay116 (talk) 20:13, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Training[edit]

It would be interesting to have a section on training, similar to what's been added to articles about medical subspecialties. Jack Daw 18:37, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Metabolism[edit]

The article metabolism is to a large extent an introduction to biochemistry and contains much more info on biochemistry than the present article does. therefore I think it should be more clearly highlighted here. --Etxrge (talk) 16:45, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Animal Biochemistry[edit]

The article Animal Biochemistry could become a redirect or even deleted or what ever, but it is giving noting new! Somebody should get ride of it!--Stone (talk) 21:26, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Neurobiochemistry[edit]

There should be some reference to the subfields of Biochemistry e.g. neurobiochemistry, clinical biochemistry and others. Those with knowledge in these fields could contribute. Also since the biochemistry page must be considered the "main page" more links to biochemistry pages would be nice. Magnusig (talk) 11:09, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

Expansion on Lipids Functions in Article[edit]

The article mentions a fair amount of detail involving the roles of carbohydrates and proteins in biochemistry. Although lipids are defined, the article has no mention of their importance in biological systems. Extracting some of the information from the "Lipids" main-page would give a more complete overview as far as the macromolecules relevant to biochemistry. Including the below information would achieve this objective: The main biological functions of lipids include energy storage, acting as structural components of cell membranes, and participating as important signaling molecules. A biological membrane is a form of lipid bilayer, as is a liposome. The formation of lipid bilayers is an energetically-preferred process when glycerophospholipids are in an aqueous environment. In an aqueous system, the polar heads of lipids orientate towards the polar, aqueous environment, while the hydrophobic tails minimize their contact with water. Triacylglycerols, stored in adipose tissue, are a major form of energy storage in animals. Animals use triglycerides for energy storage because of its high caloric content (9 KCal/g), whereas plants, which do not require energy for movement, can afford to store food for energy in a less compact but more easily accessible form, such as starch (carbohydrate). Recently, evidence has arisen supporting the idea that lipid signaling is essential to cell signaling. Lipid signaling may occur via activation of GPCR's or nuclear receptors, and members of several different lipid categories have been identified as signaling molecules and cellular messengers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kjmusic13 (talk • contribs) 16:23, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

Current Topics in Biochemistry[edit]

The article doesn't address any current issues dealt with in the field of biochemistry. I feel as though it would be greatly enhanced if some of the big issues could be added to it in order to give an understanding of the impact of biochemistry on the world. These wouldn't necessarily need to be very in depth, so long as a link was provided to another Wikipedia page discussing the topic. Taking information directly from the Wikipedia main pages and having them listed here would help alert the reader to the topics. Some important ones may include:

Stem Cells (Main page: Stem Cells)

Stem cells are cells found in most, if not all, multi-cellular organisms. They are characterized by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiating into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Stem cell therapy is thought to be a way to help repair damaged tissues. However, there exists a widespread controversy over human embryonic stem cell research that emanates from the techniques used in the creation and usage of stem cells. Opponents of the research argue that embryonic stem cell technologies are a slippery slope to reproductive cloning and can fundamentally devalue human life. Those in the pro-life movement argue that a human embryo is a human life and is therefore entitled to protection. Contrarily, supporters of embryonic stem cell research argue that such research should be pursued because the resultant treatments could have significant medical potential. It is also noted that excess embryos created for in vitro fertilization could be donated with consent and used for the research.

Anabolic Steroid Use (Main page: Anabolic Steroid)

Performance enhancing substances have been used for thousands of years in traditional medicine by societies around the world, with the aim of promoting vitality and strength. Anabolic steroids have been used by men and women in many different kinds of professional sports to attain a competitive edge or to assist in recovery from injury. Such use is prohibited by the rules of the governing bodies of many sports. Anabolic steroid use occurs among adolescents, especially by those participating in competitive sports. It has been suggested that the prevalence of use among high-school students in the U.S. may be as high as 2.7%. Male students used anabolic steroids more frequently than female students and, on average, those who participated in sports used steroids more often than those who did not.

Sammich117 (talk) 05:59, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Spam link[edit]

The external link reference to the Protein Zone seems to be a site selling books on proteins.65.4.1.40 (talk) 00:04, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Removed. Tim Vickers (talk) 00:32, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Suggestions[edit]

I didn't want to unceremoniously trash Suzanne's text for this article (taken from BioChemistry), so I'm putting it here so that she or others may incorporate it in this page as appropriate --dja

Biochemistry considers the chemical properties of biological systems. Formally, biochemistry includes a description of the macromolecules, including proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, and [[:nucleic acids|nucleic acids]], and small molecules present in cells. The bulk of biochemical investigation focuses on the properties of proteins, many of which are enzymes. For historical reasons, the biochemistry of metabolism has been one of the most extensively described aspect of the cell.

have hopefully incorporated above material appropriatelly -- sodium


Wilhelm Schuessler[edit]

There seems to be no reference whatsoever to Dr. Wilhelm Schuessler, who discovered the 12 essential mineral elements of which the body is both composed and requires for life. Schuessler was a German Scientist, homoeopath and Medical Doctor who lived in Oldenburg Germany ( 1821 - 1898 )and considered the father of Biochemistry having worked with many such as Rudolf Virchow (cellular pathology) The first biochemic association was founded in Oldenburg on July 17th 1885.The Institute of Biochemistry (Schuessler) Biochemischer Bund Deutschland (Ev) is still "alive and well" with web page at www.biochemie-online.de Further information may be obtained in the English language by contacting The Institute of Biochemic medicine (Asia Pacific) A branch of the Biochemischer Bund Deutschland - which is located in Australia biochemics@bigpond.com.au

(removed from article --jag123 10:42, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC))

This article lacks direction[edit]

I think this article would give non-biochemists a slightly misleading notion of what the subject is about. The article jumps straight into detail about lipids and carbohydrates and fails to give a clear outline of what modern biochemistry as opposed to old school biochemistry is really about. Lets not forget that the focus of the subject has changed markedly over its history.

I think it would be really important to point out that biochemistry now underpins all life sciences from plant science to medicine and therefore all life science subjects are now effectively branches of biochemistry. Thus biochemistry has become a victim of its own success with all life science subjects involved in their own biochemical research. Biochemistry's own area of investigation now mainly lies with the processes that go on within living cells and is essentially the same as molecular cell biology.Tom the biochemist (talk) 18:31, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

I think the article definitely needs some work as regards structure and content. I don't think 'monomers and polymers' really does justice to the depth of the subject. A fairly substantial rewrite might be necessary for some parts. The article should ideally give an overview of what is covered by the subject and how it links in to other disciplines, while leaving the fine detail to more specific pages. PiFanatic (talk) 18:24, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Seemingly Magical?[edit]

I think the 'seemingly magical phenomenon of life' in the first paragraph sounds a bit woolly, perhaps something like 'incredible complexity of life' or similar would be better?

PiFanatic (talk) 18:44, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

this is more like a C-class article...no discussion of experiments and methods[edit]

These sections are relevant to the topic of biochemistry, but biochemistry is also a discipline, i.e. a profession. How the Krebs cycle was elucidated or how the Hershey-Chase experiment was carried out, and basically the tools available to a biochemist should take up half of this article. 216.197.66.61 (talk) 03:04, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Needs rewriting[edit]

As others noted, this article is poor. Biochemistry is not just describing carbohydrates or proteins, most of what's written here can go into their own individual pages (and why would there be two separate sections each for protein, carbohydrate, lipids and nucleic acids anyway?) What's needed here is a broad view of biochemistry as a discipline, its concepts, practices and applications. It would need extensive rewrite, I'm not sure if I can do it, but I'll probably give it a go some time, and work through it slowly. A lot of what's currently here will be deleted as they can be linked to their own pages. Hzh (talk) 20:17, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

I've started by merging duplicate sections, the rest of the rewrite will come later. Those who want to contribute are welcome to do so.Hzh (talk) 13:12, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

External links modified[edit]

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Assessment comment[edit]

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Biochemistry/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

rated top as intro to high school/SAT biology content - tameeria 14:24, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Last edited at 14:24, 17 February 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 09:42, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Citations needed[edit]

The section - Starting Materials: the chemical elements of life - and onward need citations.  "In agriculture, biochemists investigate soil and fertilizers, and try to discover ways to improve crop cultivation, crop storage and pest control."  in the first section needs a citation also  The history section on the beginning of biochemistry is slightly out of order - needs to be reorganized, mostly the last part about Lavoisier.

Ashbyaa (talk) 17:31, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

Broader Information[edit]

This article generally could benefit from adding more subsections, such as on the relationship of biochemistry to other fields, or common biochemical lab techniques. Some of the sections, such as "Metabolism" needs an introductory sentence or two, additional subheadings on metabolic processes, and perhaps a subsection on regulation. Other sections, such as "biomolecules" have way too much detail, and could stand to be substantially condensed.

392MetabolicEditor (talk) 06:16, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

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Article improvement assignment[edit]

I will be working on improving this article with two others for an assignment for my English class, one of my group members usernames is yaxyu143. Currently we will be monitoring for grammatical errors as best we can. In addition we are working on sources to include and cite in this article. Any other suggestions or feedback would be helpful! (my username is samhendrickson135) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Samhendrickson135 (talk • contribs) 05:03, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

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