Question: how many different topics are there within biochemistry?which are your favourite?

Leanne Milton-Harris answered on 20 May 2020:

Hi Jack,

Biochemistry is brilliant! It’s a type of science that looks at how chemical processes happen inside living things, so it’s the best bits of chemistry and biology all together! We look at molecules, things like proteins, DNA and even small chemical molecules, and try to understand how they work within cells. Biochemical process regulate all life, in humans, animals, plants, bacteria, viruses etc., so there is a countless number of topics to study! Some people just focus on structures, what these molecules physically look like. Other people will look at how they function, or will try to develop new medicines that target these molecules. I do a bit of all of those things!

I work in an area of biochemistry that looks at how proteins work, how they interact with each other, and what diseases are caused when this process goes wrong. There are thousands of different proteins, all doing different jobs in different cells, often involved in diseases and all there to be studied. That means even in my tiny area, there are more topics than I will ever see, in my entire lifetime! It’s a very exciting area to work in!