The purpose of this course is to provide an in-depth examination of nucleic acid chemistry, three-dimensional structure and biological function. It is designed to complement courses in molecular biology and molecular genetics, and an undergraduate-level background in these subjects is assumed, as is a general background in biochemistry. Ideally, students will have completed Chemistry 200A (biophysical methods) and Chemistry 200B (protein structure and function), but this year, 200B is offered after 200C, so I can't really make it a requirement. The main point is that this assumes a general knowledge of basic aspects of protein structure, as nucleic acids for the most part are of interest in the context of how they interact with their cognate proteins. The course will rely upon student's having at least a working knowledge of these subject areas. The first part of the course (lectures 1 through 8 or 10) will be fairly standard didactic lectures, whereas much of the rest of the course will be conducted in a participatory seminar format, and different topics will be assigned in advance to the students in the class. The quality and depth of these student presentations will form an integral part of the coursework assessment.

Welcome to Chemistry 200C:  Nucleic Acids Structure and Function.

This is a graduate-level course that will be of interest to biophysical chemists, biochemists, molecular biologists, and possibly to some with backgrounds in bio-molecular engineering, bio-informatics, bio-organic chemistry and related fields.

The course will be based mainly upon readings and presentations from the primary scientific literature. Several books in the library, including Blackburn and Gait's Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology, are also worth consulting, (but given my horrid experience with the publisher, I no longer will assign this book. They don't deserve your money.) There have been many breakthroughs in the last few years that simply haven't made it into any of the textbooks.

The links at the top of the page will allow you to navigate the course web site.