Biochemistry and Biotechnology for the Biology Olympiad

Explore essential biotechnology techniques and lab chemicals for the Biology Olympiad, including DNA transformation with calcium chloride and heat shock, gel electrophoresis, blotting, PCR, cloning, chromatography, and cell isolation.

Learn nucleic acid extraction, phenol-chloroform separation, ethanol precipitation, and agarose gel electrophoresis to analyze DNA fragments. Examine southern blotting, pulsed field gels, and 15N/14N density experiments to illustrate semiconservative replication.

Examine DNA and RNA analysis techniques, including northern blot for transcript abundance, PCR and RT-PCR for amplification and gene expression, and sequencing with gel and capillary methods.

Explore dna fingerprinting using restriction digestion, southern blotting, gel separation, and probe imaging; map genes with fluorescent in situ hybridization and analyze chromosomes via g-band staining.

Explore protein–DNA interactions with EMSA, DNA footprinting, and ChIP, highlighting cross-linking, immunoprecipitation, and downstream analysis by qPCR or sequencing.

Explore proteomics techniques with SDS-PAGE for protein separation by mass and subunit analysis, isoelectric focusing, and 2D electrophoresis. Learn blotting and detection with antibodies and probing for post-translational modifications.

Learn manual hemocytometer counting, plating for colony forming units with dilution, and automated flow cytometry to measure cell concentration, viability, and growth.

Explore histology techniques to study animal and plant tissues, including fixation, dehydration, embedding, sectioning, and staining. Learn to identify tissues and apply H&E staining, plus antibody-based immunofluorescence to visualize proteins.

Explore gene manipulation techniques that modify genomes using recombinant or synthesized DNA delivered by vectors, and learn plasmid purification, restriction enzyme cloning, and restriction maps.

Learn microbiology techniques such as the Ames test for chemical mutagenicity using Salmonella and histidine auxotrophy, and gram staining with replica plating to identify bacteria and analyze phenotypes.

Explore microscopy types, including light, fluorescence, and electron microscopes, with oil immersion and confocal imaging, plus methods like energy transfer and photobleaching to study living cells and protein interactions.

Explore basic metabolic processes in cells, distinguishing producers and consumers, photo and chemo autotrophs, photosynthesis, respiration, and key thermodynamics concepts like entropy and Gibbs free energy.

Explore thermodynamics, energy conservation, and entropy, and see how energy transforms from sunlight to chemical energy in photosynthesis. Understand oxidation–reduction and ATP’s role in anabolic and catabolic processes.

Explore how photosynthesis converts light energy into chemical energy by examining chloroplast structure, pigment absorption, paper chromatography of pigments, and the Calvin cycle.

Explore the light dependent reactions of photosynthesis, where water splitting at photosystem II releases oxygen, drives electron transport, builds a proton gradient, and yields ATP and NADPH through chemiosmosis.

Explore how glucose is absorbed in the intestine via SGLT1 and GLUT transporters, then metabolized through glycolysis, glycogen synthesis and breakdown, routed to pentose phosphate pathway and fermentation for energy.

Trace sugar utilization from the pentose phosphate pathway producing NADPH and ribose-5-phosphate for biosynthesis and redox defense, through glycolysis to acetyl-CoA and the citric acid cycle for energy.

Examine anaerobic respiration and fermentation, including ethanol and lactic acid pathways, then compare Cori cycle lactate shuttle with Cahill alanine cycle and their nitrogen waste like urea and uric acid.

Explore gluconeogenesis, the production of glucose from non carbohydrate substrates like lactate, glycerol, and glucogenic amino acids, mainly in the liver and kidney, for Biology Olympiad preparation.

Analyze fatty acid metabolism, focusing on beta oxidation and ketogenesis during fasting, producing ketone bodies for brain and muscle energy, and explore ketosis and ketoacidosis.

This lecture maps core metabolic pathways centered on glucose 6 phosphate, detailing glycolysis, glycogenolysis, gluconeogenesis, pentose phosphate, lipid genesis, beta oxidation, ketosis, and the citric acid cycle.

Explore solution chemistry, isomers, and bonds—from hydrogen to covalent bonds—and water properties, including acids and bases, condensation, hydrolysis, and essential Biology Olympiad formulas.

Explore the mass action law and equilibrium concepts, including reaction quotient Q versus K, and apply pH, acid-base definitions (Arrhenius, Bronsted-Lowry, Lewis), Ka, pKa, and buffers to biochemistry.

This lecture explains how protein and RNA enzymes catalyze reactions by lowering activation energy, with substrate specificity, induced fit, and saturation, covering oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, lyases, isomerases, and ligases.

Discover how membrane lipids build the plasma membrane, from phospholipids and cholesterol to membrane proteins, and how tail length, saturation, temperature, and cholesterol regulate membrane fluidity.

Explore carbohydrate structure from monosaccharides to polysaccharides, including glycosidic linkages, alpha and beta glucose, and blood group antigens.

Identify biomolecules through key chemical tests: lipids with Sudan dye, proteins with biuret and Bradford assays, and nucleic acids with the phenol test, plus Benedict's and iodine for carbohydrates.

This lecture classifies fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) and water-soluble vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, C), outlining coenzyme roles and deficiencies such as beriberi and scurvy.

Explore lipid-soluble vitamins vitamin a, vitamin d, vitamin e, and vitamin k, detailing active forms, sources, functions in calcium and bone metabolism, antioxidant roles, and deficiency signs.