Frontiers in Biochemistry

New discoveries in biochemistry often seem to come rapidly. What are some of these currently exciting areas? Where is the cutting edge of biochemistry today?

Although we understand the chemistry and metabolism of bacterial cells, we have now learned that cells of higher organisms are much more complex than had been anticipated a few years ago. The simple picture of how genetic information is expressed and regulated in bacterial cells is now known not to be completely adequate to describe the same processes in animal and plant cells. Biochemists are exploring the special ways animal and plant cells regulate the myriad processes which must occur in order for the organism to grow and divide in an orderly fashion.

Chemical communication is another frontier. Different tissues and organs use chemicals to communicate with each other. These chemicals may interact with components of the central nervous system to send or block signals.  The chemicals may also be hormones released by one organ and carried in the bloodstream to another organ.  Many details of the signal transduction elude our understanding.

The biochemistry of cancer has been widely studied, but a cure continues to elude us.  Major efforts are underway  to explore the nature of the disease and its control. Meanwhile, many exciting discoveries are being made in understanding the fantastically intricate, yet awesomely powerful, natural defense mechanisms which our bodies possess.

Finally, the brain itself is a frontier in biochemistry. How we learn, how we store learned knowledge, how chemicals induce or block pain, how we assimilate and interrelate perceptions and stimuli are all largely unsolved and challenging areas of research.

Research careers in biochemistry are fascinating because they are studies at the molecular level of ourselves and of our relationship to all other living organisms that provide food, cause disease, or interact with us in other ways.  If you are interested in exploring the unknown in a biochemical research laboratory, you should consider studying biochemistry at Purdue University.