Enzyme are the chemical work horses of our body. They exist to facilitate reactions that would otherwise require lots of heat and/or pressure to make them happen. Without them, we would not be able to digest food, replicate our DNA, repair our damaged cells or send messages throughout the body. We look at what enzymes are made of, how they are used in the production of medicines as well as their other medical and biotechnological uses. Students will discover that the human body is full of enzymes.
Practically we will characterise some of our enzymes, study their action and efficacy as catalysts using a variety of different substrates (sugar, starch, sugar analogues). Finally they will discover the biotechnological uses of enzymes and the enzyme inhibition that form the chief characteristics of many drugs.