Biochemistry
Department of Biochemistry
Biochemistry is a sub-discipline of biology and chemistry. It is a branch of science that deals with the structure and constituents of living things such as plants, animals, and microorganisms, and with the chemical processes that occur at the molecular level throughout the life of a living thing. Biochemistry is a multidisciplinary field that has its foundation in the health and life sciences and over time has spawned new disciplines such as genetics and forensic medicine. Today, molecular biology encompasses traditional disciplines such as cell biology, enzyme biology, and biotechnology, as well as newer scientific fields such as genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics. The study of biochemistry is intertwined with organic, inorganic, and analytical chemistry, as well as advanced molecular biology techniques. Determining the differences in protein, RNA, and DNA levels in normal and pathological states of the organism are the fundamental topics of biochemistry. Therefore, biochemistry plays an important role in determining the causes of diseases and in developing drugs to be used to eliminate these causes, as well as in determining their targets.
The basic courses conducted by our department are designed to provide students with the fundamental biochemical training necessary to understand, theoretically and practically, the physiological and pathological processes associated with living organisms and the action of drugs. Our undergraduate training will provide pharmacists with advanced theoretical and practical courses, basic biochemical and molecular biology techniques, tests used in the diagnosis and monitoring of disease, and scientifically trained researchers and academicians. In this context, biochemical tests on biological materials used in the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases and drugs that interfere with these tests will also be presented.
Research areas of the department
-Mechanisms of cell death
-Ubiquitination, ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation pathway, proteosomal degradation, autophagy
-DNA damage
-Cancer biology, telomerase activity
-Hormonal regulations
-Investigation of biological activity of drug candidates and elucidation of their mechanism of action
-Effects of free radicals in various pathological conditions, mechanisms of oxidative stress, antioxidant systems, antioxidant molecules, oxidative DNA damage
-In vivo studies in animals
-Development of new protein purification methods
-Drug-enzyme interactions, enzyme inhibition and metalloenzymes
-Studies on immobilization
Academic staff