Past Classes- Grinnell College
General Chemistry & Lab (CHM 129)
Organic Chemistry 1 & Lab (CHM 221)
Organic Chemistry 2 & Lab (CHM 222)
Intro Biological Chemistry & Lab (BCM 262)
Chemistry & Biology of Nucleic Acids (BCM 395)
Past Classes- Tulane University
Introduction to Biological Chemistry: Class
Introduction to Biological Chemistry covers two main areas over the course of the semester: (1) the structure and properties of the main classes of biomolecules, and (2) metabolic processes related to synthesis and degradation of those biomolecules, including regulation and energy storage.
The structure and function portion of the course covers amino acids (proteins), carbohydrates, nucleic acids and lipids. Each of these classes of molecules is largely composed of individual monomers that are polymerized to form the biomolecules (our genetic information, proteins, muscle tissue) that are biologically important. You will be expected to know structures of monomers, and the chemistry that connects them into the relevant biopolymers.
The metabolism portion of the course covers how each of the classes of biomolecules are created and degraded, and how biological systems manage to balance energy and raw materials through regulation of these metabolic processes. An emphasis will be placed on understanding the theory behind regulation and connections between different pathways.
Introduction to Biological Chemistry: Lab
A fundamental part of Biological Chemistry is learning how to safely manipulate and characterize biochemical compounds in a hands-on fashion. This lab is tied in closely with material you will learn in the lecture during the semester, providing you with an opportunity to learn the technical skills that go along with the course knowledge.
Organic Chemistry II: Class
Organic Chemistry II: Lab
A fundamental part of Organic Chemistry is learning how to safely manipulate and characterize organic compounds in a hands-on fashion. This lab is tied in closely with material you will learn in the lecture during the semester, providing you with an opportunity to learn the technical skills that go along with the course knowledge.
General Chemistry: Class
General Chemistry: Lab
A fundamental part of Chemistry is learning how to safely manipulate and characterize chemical compounds in a hands-on fashion. This lab is tied in closely with material you will learn in the lecture during the semester, providing you with an opportunity to learn the technical skills that go along with the course knowledge.
Chemistry & Biology of Nucleic Acids
This course provides a background to nucleic acid structure and function from both a chemical and biological perspective, including synthesis, characterization and applications. The laboratory will consist of an introduction to techniques in nucleic acid chemistry in both chemical and biological contexts.
Organic Chemistry I: Class
The overall goal of this semester of organic chemistry is to familiarize you with carbon-based chemical structures, techniques for structure determination, and basic reactivity. It is intended to prepare you for both second semester organic chemistry (which focuses on chemical synthesis) and biochemistry (which involves much of the reactive chemistry we will cover this semester). The ability to predict chemical structures and apply those structures to predictions of chemical reactivity and properties is very important, and something we will come back to throughout the semester. The material you will cover over the semester during lecture will blend with what you are learning in lab. You will not always cover material in the lecture first- sometimes material from the lab will inform what we cover in lecture.
Organic Chemistry I: Lab
A fundamental part of Organic Chemistry is learning how to safely manipulate and characterize organic compounds in a hands-on fashion. This lab is tied in closely with material you will learn in the lecture during the semester, providing you with an opportunity to learn the technical skills that go along with the course knowledge.
Chemistry 1898: Chemistry in the Community
The Chemistry in the Community class takes freshman chemistry majors to local schools to teach through demonstrations. Over the 5 years I co-taught it, I was able to re-designed the course, prepared course materials (syllabus & course booklets), organize outreach with schools, teach preparatory labs prior to outreach, and oversee all outreach.
Chemistry 7440: Chemistry of Nucleic Acids
This course will examine the chemical principles behind DNA and RNA structure and function. Emphasis will be placed on the following topics: chemical synthesis of nucleic acids and their analogues, non-covalent interactions of nucleic acids with small-molecules. Friday lectures will focus on techniques pertinent to the examination of nucleic acids in living systems, including human cell culture, microscopy, transfection and delivery, and extraction of native nucleic acids. The laboratory portion will focus on techniques related to nucleic acids in human cell culture.