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. 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. The following books are resources I have used in preparing my notes; most are available in Fogler, or they may be borrowed overnight from me:
| 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 |
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:
You are encouraged 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 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. All work may be submitted either electronically or on dead trees.
I will not grade anything line by line or assign numerical scores. Work that is incomplete or inaccurate will be returned for correction, with a deadline of one week. Students whose work is complete and satisfactory at the end of the semester will receive an A. Others will receive B, C, D, or F depending upon how much work is unsatisfactory or missing: one grade lower for each missing requirement.
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.