- Docente: Giancarlo Solaini
- Credits: 3
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Biomedical Laboratory techniques (cod. 8484)
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from Oct 15, 2025 to Oct 30, 2025
Course contents
The Biochemistry Course comprises two modules, of which Module 2 includes the following:
OUTLINE
Brief overview of general and inorganic chemistry: the periodic table of elements and their electronegativities.
Main classes of inorganic compounds: elemental substances, oxides and derivatives (acids and bases), salts and their nomenclature.
Aqueous solutions and expression of molecular and ionic concentration. pH: definition and meaning; pH scale. Hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity
Chemical reactions: reversible and irreversible reactions; kinetic and thermodynamic aspects. Chemical equilibrium
Oxidation numbers of elements and redox reactions. Biological significance of redox reactions.
Organic chemistry: aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Main monofunctional compounds: alcohols, phenols, amines, aldehydes and ketones, carboxylic acids and derivatives (esters, amides, anhydrides). Carbohydrates; Lipids (fatty acids, triglycerides, phospholipids).
Amino acids and proteins: general information, classification, and roles. Primary structure of proteins and peptide bond, overview of secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures.
Biological catalysis: enzymes, general characteristics and classification, overview of enzymatic catalysis with definitions and meanings of Km and Kcat, and the energy curve of the catalyzed reaction.
Introduction to metabolism: catabolic and anabolic pathways; overview of their bioenergetics: steady state, Gibbs free energy, energy coupling. Coenzymes in redox processes.
Carbohydrate metabolism. Digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, glucose transport into cells, glycolysis: reactions, enzymes, and ATP synthesis at the substrate level. Overview of regulation of glycolytic flux. Metabolic fate of pyruvate: entry into the mitochondria for complete oxidation or production of lactate (fermentation) through the LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) reaction in the cell cytosol. LDH in clinical diagnostics.
Office hours
See the website of Giancarlo Solaini