SCIE1120 Chemistry and Life
Undergraduate course/Teaching assistant, Hongkong University of Science and Technology, Department of Chemistry, 2024
The course aims to introduce students without an extensive science background into the chemistry of life and in life as well as some elementary units and mechanisms of life shaped by core chemical molecules and other compounds. Co-taught by lecturers from chemistry and life science, respectively, approximately one half of the course deals with an introduction into the chemical universe that makes life possible; simple sugars and complex carbohydrates, amino acids, peptides and proteins, DNA, RNA and lipids. Interactions and laws governing these substances and ways we can observe what they are doing are covered. The other half of the course is about how these compounds are involved in some of the basic mechanisms of life; from the functions and evolution of membranes to cells all the way up to humans and other organisms; areas covered include genetics and genomics, diseases, food and health, and biotechnology.