Instructor: Professor Ray Fort Jr., 252 Aubert Hall. Email: rcfort@maine.edu. Web: http://chemistry.umeche.maine.edu/fort.html.

Office Hours: whenever I'm in the office; no appointment needed.

Course Resources: No textbook is required, but the bookstore will have available, designated for this course, Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, 5th ed., by Nelson and Cox.

• If you already own a good text you need not purchase this one.

• Since Lehninger (new) costs more than $200, sharing a copy with a friend is a good idea.

• We will use the book as a reference, rather than a text; that is, we will not proceed step by step though the book using it as our principle source of information.

A. M. Lesk, Introduction to Protein Architecture	A. M. Lesk, Introduction to Bioinformatics	A. M. Lesk, Introduction to Protein Science
A. Fersht, Structure and Mechanism in Protein Science	C. Branden and J. Tooze, Introduction to Protein Structure, 2nd ed.	R. B. Silverman, The Organic Chemistry of Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions
J. McMurry and T. Begley, The Organic Chemistry of Biological Pathways	Anna Tramonto, Protein Structure Prediction	M. Ptashne, A Genetic Switch: Phage Lambda Revisited
M. Ptashne and A. Gann, Genes and Signals	James C. Wang, Untangling the Double Helix	John C. Avise, Inside the Human Genome: A Case for Non-Intelligent Design

We also will make use of the current literature; a list of useful journals may be found on the main page.

Student Responsibilities and Grading: You will be expected to:

• participate in classroom discussion; this means ASK QUESTIONS!

• complete four problem sets corresponding to the four major divisions on the web page; there are separate problem sets for graduate and undergraduate students

• prepare a paper of at least 1500 words (undergraduates) or 2500 words (graduate students) on a topic related to the course discussion - NOT your research, or a paper you used for some other class
  • This is a class about molecules; your paper must also be about molecular behavior

You are will need to consult the literature when working problem sets; you may also discuss ideas with me or your classmates. However, the work you hand in must be developed by you as a result of these consultations and discussions. That is, you may not simply copy an answer word for word from a book, a journal article, or another person. I expect COMPLETE and rigorous answers.

Topics for the paper may be chosen freely, but MUST be related to something we have talked about in the course. A list of ideas is available on the web site. You must clear your topic with me prior to beginning work on the paper, NO LATER than 16 March. I will expect to see at that time a one-page outline of the paper, including lead references.

The problem sets and the paper MUST be word processed, and should include appropriate illustrations and references to all sources you consulted in their preparation. The paper should be in the format of a journal article in your field, as should the references. All work may be submitted either electronically or on dead trees.

I will not grade anything line by line or assign numerical scores. I will assign a letter grade based on the correctness and completeness of your answers. If the grade is less than an A, I will give you some guidance toward fixing the difficulties. If you wish to follow that guidance and resubmit work, you have one week to do so, and I will then regrade. If you wish to keep the assigned grade, do nothing. MY intent is that you will use the classroom discussion as the basis for exploration and learning, without worrying about tests and deadlines. I am assuming that you all are in this course because you want to learn. If not, please drop.

"The Prize is the pleasure of finding things out."

Richard Feynman, on learning that he had been awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics