Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry of living organisms. Biochemists seek a molecular explanation of life by attempting to understand its underlying principles. Biochemistry is concerned with the relevance of a molecule to an organism and the correlations between its structure and its function. Modern biochemistry grew out of the application of chemical techniques to biological problems and is the foundation of biological science and medicine. In many ways, it combines biology and chemistry but the subject now covers such a broad range of activity that it is difficult to draw a neat border around biochemistry. Biochemistry provides a foundational level of understanding that can be applied to many different fields, such as immunology, pharmacology, nutrition, and collaborative fields that may not even exist yet. The opportunities are endless!
Some of the most exciting areas of current biochemistry research include:
- structural biology
- enzyme mechanisms
- signal transduction and regulation
- biotechnology
- protein folding and disease
- molecular cell biology
- gene expression and development
- metabolic diseases
- proteomics and bioinformatics
- molecular evolution
- membranes and transport
