Kevin Ahern
1) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: How Life Works: Episode 21,Hormones, Stress, and Cell Division
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Cellular communication depends on specific molecular interactions, where the message and the receiver are biomolecules. Follow this process for signaling molecules such as the hormones epinephrine, adrenalin, and epidermal growth factor, which stimulates cells to divide. Cellular signaling is like the children's game called telephone, except the message is usually conveyed accurately!
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Take a tour through the 20 amino acids that link together in different combinations and sequences to build proteins. Besides water, proteins are the most abundant molecules in all known forms of life. Also the most diverse class of biological molecules, proteins make up everything from enzymes and hormones to antibodies and muscle cells.
3) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: How Life Works: Episode 25,DNA and RNA: Information in Structure
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Advance into the last third of the series, where you cover molecular biology, which deals with the biochemistry of reproduction. Zero in on DNA and how its double-helix structure relates to its function. Then look at the single-stranded RNA molecule, which is a central link in the process, "DNA makes RNA makes protein."_x009d_ Also consider how viruses flourish with very little DNA or RNA.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
RNA is more than simply a copy of the DNA blueprint. Focus on the synthesis of RNA, covering how it differs from DNA replication. Also learn how human cells shuffle their genetic code to make about 100,000 different proteins using fewer than 30,000 coding sequences. Finally, see how knowledge of transcription occurring after death helps forensic scientists establish the time of death accurately.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Explore the controls that determine which genes are expressed at a given time, where in the body, and to what extent. Controls that act over and above the information in DNA are called epigenetic, and they can be passed on to offspring for a generation or two. Consider the case of honeybees, where a special food affects which genes are expressed, turning an ordinary larva into a queen bee.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Investigate why water is so singularly suited to life. Composed of two hydrogen atoms for each oxygen atom, water molecules have a polar charge due to the uneven arrangement of shared electrons. See how this simple feature allows water to dissolve sugars and salts, while leaving oils and fats untouched. Also learn what makes water solutions acidic or basic.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Cover the ways that cells become cancerous, notably through a series of unfortunate mutations that lead to uncontrolled cell division. Genetics, environmental factors, infections, and lifestyle can also play a role. Learn why elephants don't get cancer. Then look at approaches to treating cancer, including use of agents that target rapidly dividing cells, whose side effects include hair loss.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Learn how cells solve the problem of reading information in messenger RNA and using it to direct protein synthesis. Focus on how different parts of the translation apparatus work together through sequence-specific interactions. Also discover how antibiotics kill bacteria and what makes the bioterrorism agent ricin so deadly. Close by investigating techniques to create biological drugs on demand.
9) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: How Life Works: Episode 10,Sugars: Glucose and the Carbohydrates
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Probe the biochemistry of sugars that provide us with instant energy, feed our brains, direct proteins to their destinations, and communicate the identity of our cells. On the other hand, when present in large quantities, they can lead to Type 2 diabetes, and the wrong sugar markers on transfused blood cells can even kill us.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Nitrogen is a key component of amino acids, DNA, and RNA, yet animal and plant cells are unable to extract free nitrogen from air. See how bacteria come to the rescue. Then follow the flow of nitrogen from bacteria to plants to us. Also look at strategies for reducing our reliance on environmentally unsound nitrogen fertilizers by exploiting the secret of 16-feet-tall corn plants found in Mexico.
11) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: How Life Works: Episode 12,Breaking Down Sugars and Fatty Acids
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
A metabolic pathway is a series of biochemical reactions, where the product of one serves as the substrate for the next. Biochemists compare these pathways to road maps that show the network of reactions leading from one chemical to the next. Follow the metabolic pathway called glycolysis that breaks up glucose and other sugars. Then trace the route for fatty acid oxidation.
12) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: How Life Works: Episode 9,Fatty Acids, Fats, and Other Lipids
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Lipids are a varied group of molecules that include fats, oils, waxes, steroids, hormones, and some vitamins. Survey the fats that obsess us in our diets and body shapes, notably triglycerides in their saturated and unsaturated forms. Then explore the role lipids play in energy storage and cell membrane structure, and cover the multitude of health benefits of the lipid vitamins: A, D, E, and K.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Roughly 10,000 human diseases may be caused by mutations in single genes. Review the nature of genetic disorders, such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, and Alzheimer's. Also examine diseases that emerge from mutations in mitochondrial DNA. Finally, assess the challenges of using gene therapy and other technologies to treat genetic diseases.
14) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: How Life Works: Episode 16,Cholesterol, Membranes, Lipoproteins
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
The word "cholesterol"_x009d_ evokes fear in anyone worried about coronary artery disease. But what is this ubiquitous lipid and how harmful is it? Examine the key steps in cholesterol synthesis, learn about its important role in membranes, and discover where LDLs ("bad"_x009d_ cholesterol) and HDLs ("good"_x009d_) come from. It isn't cholesterol alone that is plugging arteries in atherosclerosis.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
See how cells manage complex and interconnected metabolic pathways, especially in response to exercise and a sedentary lifestyle. Then discover the secret of warm-blooded animals and what newborn babies have in common with hibernating grizzly bears (with lessons for combatting obesity). Also, learn about a drug from the 1930s that helped people burn fat in their sleep, as it killed them.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Discover how proteins fold into complex shapes, often with the help of molecular chaperones. Then learn the deadly consequences of proteins that do not fold properly, leading to degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and prion diseases. Also look at intrinsically disordered proteins, which lack a fixed structure, permitting flexible interactions with other biomolecules.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Examine the cell cycle of eukaryotic cells and the cycle's effect on DNA replication. Discover that a quirk in the copying of linear DNA leads to the shrinking of chromosomes as cells age, a problem reversed in egg and sperm cells by the telomerase enzyme. For this reason, telomerase might appear to be the secret to immortality except its unregulated presence in cells can lead to cancer.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Study how plants use sunlight and reduction reactions to build carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water. This synthesis of food from air and water occurs in a series of reactions called the Calvin cycle. While humans exploit plants for food and fiber, we also utilize a multitude of other plant molecules called secondary metabolites. These include flavors, dyes, caffeine, and even catnip.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Thus far, your investigations have accounted for only part of the energy available from food. So where's all the ATP? In this episode, see how ATP is produced in abundance in both animal and plant cells, largely via mitochondria (in animals and plants) and chloroplasts (in plants only). You also learn why we need oxygen to stay alive and how poisons such as cyanide do their deadly work.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Close by surveying exciting developments in molecular biology that are now unfolding. One area has been dubbed "omics,"_x009d_ based on the explosion of applications due to genomics, which is the decoding of human and other genomes. Thus, we now have "proteomics,"_x009d_ "transcriptomics,"_x009d_ and other subfields, all exploiting our knowledge of the DNA sequences responsible for specific biochemical pathways.