Another Day, Another Class by Bryan

So as promised earlier, this week I’m highlighting another one of my classes, 7.05 Biochemistry.

Class Details:
Lecture: 3 times a week for 1.5 hours
Recitation: Once a week for 1 hour
Problem Sets: 8, not graded
Exams: 4, graded
Final Exams: 0

This class is also taught by three different professors:
Michael Yaffe
David Bartel
Gene Brown

Interesting tidbit #1: Professor Yaffe is from Baltimore and his dialect is very strong. Thus, he pronounces what we know as H20 as “woodur.” Too bad I don’t have a sound recording of it.

Tidbit #2: Professor Yaffe is also an MD. Thus, to prove it to us and also demonstrate the effects of EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) on blood, he drew blood from the head TA in front of the entire lecture in 10-250.

So basically, this class is designed to teach us about basic biochemistry, so we’re learning about proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and how they exist in the body. So far, it’s been pretty good.

Today, in lecture, we learned about epinephrine. And of course, what would an MIT class be without some form of software associated with it. In his last day lecturing us, Professor Yaffe put up a transparency with a picture of his favorite computer game offered by Mad Scientist Software. (I thought he was joking). At this point, I took out my laptop and tried to validate his software allegations. Surprisingly, the game “Cardiac Arrest” actually exists. Being the gamer that I am, I decided to play and while the graphics were decent at best, I definitely realized I’m not cut out to be premed.

Oh well…grad school here I come.