How Much Different is Biochem in College from PA School

[PAHopeful1819]

Hi,

 

I am currently taking Biochem right now (loving it) and I was just wondering how much different Biochem in undergrad was from PA school. I know the content of Biochem taught in undergrad varies from school to school but it'd still be helpful to hear about individual experiences even. I'm taking the Biochem for non-chem majors so it's the same material with less orgo elaboration.

 

There's a lot of small sections on pathophysiology relating to the topic we're learning about from each section and I figured the Biochem in PA school is very clinically focused and am expecting a decent amount of overlap. We've covered Carbs, Lipids, Amino Acids, Proteins, Techniques in Biochem, Enzymatic Reactions, Enzyme Kinetics, Signal Transduction Pathways, Digestion, and we're getting into Metabolism. Did you / do you guys have a lot of Orgo elaboration in your PA biochem?

[cop to pa]

It's more about what's happening on a macroscopic/organ level scale at baseline and when abnormal. I have done no calculations at all outside of labs and pharm.

[pastudentw]

In my program it is set up so that biochemistry and physiology is a combined course which I think has works great. Then we have the same professor who teaches us pathophysiology. On Monday we learn the normal state of function and then Tuesday we learn the abnormal states of those functions. I love how it is set up. We don't focus on much organic chemistry since it is assumed we have had biochem and organic chem beforehand. We really only talk about topics that are clinically relevant.

[EMEDPA]

remember many fine PA programs neither require it nor teach a specific biochem course in their programs, but instead include what you really need to know in other courses.

I have 2 BS degrees, a masters, 3 postmasters certificates, and a doctorate and have never taken ochem or biochem.