BIOCHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY STUDIES

Aims of laboratory investigations

Biochemistry involves the study of the chemical processes that occur in living organisms with the ultimate aim of understanding the nature of life in molecular terms. Biochemical studies rely on the availability of appropriate analytical techniques and on the application of these techniques to the advancement of knowledge of the nature of, and relationships between, biological molecules, especially proteins and nucleic acids, and cellular function. In recent years huge advances have been made in our understanding of gene structure and expression and in the application of techniques such as mass spectrometry to the study of protein structure and function. The Human Genome Project in particular has been the stimulus for major developments in our understanding of many human diseases especially cancer and for the identification of strategies that might be used to combat these diseases. The discipline of molecular biology overlaps with that of biochemistry and in many respects the aims of the two disciplines complement each other. Molecular biology is focussed on the molecular understanding of the processes of replication, transcription and translation of genetic material whereas biochemistry exploits the techniques and findings of molecular biology to advance our understanding of such cellular processes as cell signalling and apoptosis.