FUNDAMENTAL CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY - 2025/6

Module code: BMS1067

Module Overview

This module aims to introduce you as a biochemistry student to key principles of chemistry and how these can be applied to biological molecules that are essential to life. It provides a foundational knowledge of their structures and functions alongside when, where and how they are generated and broken down. The content builds up alongside content from Cell Biology and Physiology modules at this level to help you understand how these can be utilised at a cellular and organismal level and the conditions under which they are regulated. This provides an essential base upon which knowledge is utilised in multiple modules at levels 5 and 6. You will develop your awareness of the need for safety procedures, equipment and organisation in the laboratory, alongside the equipment that is needed to determine how processes in the module content occur and what conditions will affect these. You will learn how to calculate a yield of your product and identification of chemical compounds to confirm the identify of your products. You will learn to analyse data using appropriate software including a basic level of computer coding. Laboratory skills are build up throughout the module across both semesters, supporting you to become more independent, plan your experiments and be critical of your work and results, reflecting on how the results may change with refinements to the competency and type of experimental methods.

Module provider

School of Biosciences

Module Leader

BAILEY Sarah (Biosciences)

Number of Credits: 30

ECTS Credits: 15

Framework: FHEQ Level 4

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Overall student workload

Workshop Hours: 10

Independent Learning Hours: 73

Lecture Hours: 86

Tutorial Hours: 5

Laboratory Hours: 20

Guided Learning: 20

Captured Content: 86

Module Availability

Year long

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A

Module content

The module will be expected to cover the following:

  • Provide a breadth of understanding of the levels of protein structure, and how amino acids influence the three-dimensional folding of protein molecules; enzyme kinetics and reaction mechanisms.
  • Provide a breadth of understanding of the structure and function of lipid molecules, their synthesis and utilisation.
  • Provide a breadth of understanding of the structure of carbohydrates, use of glucose in glycolysis and the importance of this process in the generation of cellular energy.
  • Provide a breadth of understanding of the essential role of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle in maximizing the yield of cellular energy from biological fuels.
  • Provide breadth of understanding of the process of electron transport and its importance in synthesising ATP through the mitochondrial electron transport chain.
  • Practical skills will include the use and competence of calculations e.g. but not limited to, concentration, dilution, moles and molarity, basic statistics, units in chemistry and biochemistry.
  • Development of data analysis skills will include the introduction to relevant statistics package, use of spreadsheet programmes and statistical analysis.  

Assessment pattern

Assessment type Unit of assessment Weighting
Coursework Practical report 1 10
Coursework Reflection 20
Coursework Practical report 2 20
Examination 2 hour Exam (Closed Book, invigilated, in person) 50

Alternative Assessment

Data can be provided for you if you are successful in obtaining and extenuating circumstance to miss any practical session (laboratory and computer based). Practical reports - Reassessment in the late summer assessment will be to design an experiment to answer a specific experimental question.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide you with the opportunity to obtain summative feedback with which you can develop your self-efficacy in the lab alongside theoretical knowledge prior to the summative assessments. This will develop your assessment literacy.Summative AssessmentThe summative assessments consist of:

  • Practical report 1: Elements from practical classes within the module [Learning outcomes 001, 002, 003,004, 005, 007, 011]
  • Reflection: From all practical classes within the module [Learning outcomes 001, 002, 003 and 011]  
  • Practical report 2: Elements from practical classes within the module [Learning outcomes 001, 002, 003,004, 005, 007, 011]  
  • Exam: Closed Book invigilated Exam [Learning outcomes 001, 003 - 011]  
 The first in semester practical report will prepare students by ensuring they gain feedback with a clear landing place and actionable feedback to develop how you answer questions and analyse and present data. The use of your feedback will be encouraged through the reflection which will facilitate a plan to develop your skills and identify a clear landing place for use. The analysis and presentation of data using appropriate software packages is essential to developing the digital capabilities and refining your employability skills as demonstrated by both laboratory skills and communication skills. The reflection is designed between the two practical reports to enable you to develop your self-efficacy and gain help needed to improve your assessment literacy and develop your resilience & resourcefulness, identifying your strengths and weaknesses and how to improve on these for the second report. The second in semester practical report will enable you to apply the feedback gained from the practical report 1 and reflection feedback to competently use software to analyse and present data and interpret the meaning of laboratory data. You will refine your employability skills as you refine your written communication skills and ability to research meanings of data outside the course content through reading of external, reliable sources. The final exam will examine all learning outcomes and comprise test questions designed to assess application of knowledge rather than recall of facts, such as ordering processes or explains how functions explain signs or symptoms.Formative Assessment:Formative assessment will be provided in the form of a combination of smart worksheets to support development of self-efficacy after laboratory sessions, test style questions given either in the lecture or on SurreyLearn as practice for summative assessments. The smart worksheets will give immediate feedback on calculations and there will also be live feedback on the longer questions to help develop an understanding of the expectations with regard to data analysis, importance of scientific terminology and the depth of detail needed for the next piece of work, all of which aid in the development of resilience & resourcefulness and in employability skills. Verbal (lecture) or written (SurreyLearn) feedback will be available for test style questions for each topic, again developing student assessment literacy for the final exam and continual revision of topics occurs to increase awareness of topics in this module.

Module aims

  • Provide a foundation of chemistry knowledge and practical techniques to enable a deeper understanding of how this may be utilised in a biological context.
  • Provide a solid foundation of basic biochemical knowledge that will facilitate your understanding of biological molecules and their roles within a functioning organism.
  • Develop confidence and competence with practical and analytical skills in key biochemical methods and data analysis.

Learning outcomes

Attributes Developed
001 Carry out laboratory experiments with support to develop independent threshold competence & generate consistent data in a wide range of basic laboratory techniques CKPT
002 Demonstrate the ability to apply health and safety knowledge in the laboratory, preparing and maintaining workspaces and equipment to expected laboratory standards. CPT
003 Analyse data generated in the laboratory and critically appraise the relevance of this data using appropriate statistical tests, programmes to analyse and present the results and reflect on the competence of use of laboratory techniques and equipment and application of theoretical knowledge to explain the results obtained. CKPT
004 Apply principles of chemistry to explain different product generation from a reaction, being able to quantify the yield and purity of a product. CKPT
005 Explain the energy flow in a chemical reaction with reference to thermodynamic principles and concepts. CK
006 Identify monomeric and polymeric forms of the biological molecules nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids and proteins and describe the process through which the polymers are formed. CK
007 Apply knowledge of chemical bonding, electrostatic interactions and structure to explain key processes CK
008 Explain the regulation of synthetic pathways with metabolic processing of nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids and proteins to the availability of resources of an organism. CK
009 Explain the links between extracellular signals and intracellular processes in relation to different receptor types having different intracellular messengers and mechanisms. CK
010 Evaluate the impact evolution of biochemical processes on biodiversity through genetics in species across a variety of ecosystems. CK
011 Engage in, and apply knowledge from, independent activities outside the lecture content to support explanations of theoretical knowledge using relevant examples. CKPT

Attributes Developed

C - Cognitive/analytical

K - Subject knowledge

T - Transferable skills

P - Professional/Practical skills

Methods of Teaching / Learning

Learning and teaching methods include:

  • Lectures; Most of the content will be delivered in this way. These will include active learning activities, small group discussions and link to some additional questions posted for to be completed during independent study. These sessions will be interactive and use suitable digital tools such as Kahoot and Poll everywhere to support your active engagement (e.g., checking your prior knowledge and reiterating important concepts). You are encouraged and expected to use prepared information to discuss with others, developing your own communication and team working skills which are key to success beyond university in all career types. Development of communication skills is directly linked to employability and is a key indicator of student success.
  • Formative examination tutorials; (end of module); these help you to ask any last-minute questions and talk through how to approach the exam. Students are expected to reflect on group and individual feedback, which is an essential component of resilience needed for life beyond the university.
  • Recorded content; Lectures and workshops may be recorded and can be viewed at any time to re-cap discussions/additional information.
  • Practical & laboratory sessions; You will work in groups to measure changes in levels of biological molecules and infer the speed at which these occur through calculations on the loss or generation of substrates and products or changes on aspects such as pH . Engaging in these will enable you to develop resilience as you test out hypotheses, investigate new methods and make observations about the application of Biochemistry theories taught in the module content. 
  • Practical Data analysis sessions: You will learn to utilise software to analyse your laboratory data and develop your digital capabilities through (but not limited to) R, R studio and excel, using appropriate scaling and taking readings from data traces.  You are expected analyse your data, develop criticality of your own work and develop resourcefulness as you suggest other more relevant or alternative strategies for gaining the results that you initially set out to obtain. Staff will provide formative feedback throughout the session to allow you to try, fail and then re-try while still being supported in your learning. The Laboratory session prepares students with laboratory skills relevant to a clinical or lab employability setting, further developing your technical skills and digital capabilities as you learn to compare manual and automated results and plot graphs using software packages such as Microsoft excel and R.
  • Independent study: Between lectures you will need to refine your knowledge through reading of textbooks relevant to module topics, extending your knowledge beyond the course content. Completion of pre-or recommended reading and/or formative assessment tasks/tests will help the identification of areas of topics to revise or ask for help with (on discussion boards or in person) to improve summative assessment performance. Scaffolding will be given to help you develop confidence and ensure the development of resourcefulness and confidence in your own ability to carry out further research.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: BMS1067

Other information

N/A

Programmes this module appears in

Programme Semester Classification Qualifying conditions
Biochemistry MSci (Hons)(YEAR LONG) Year-long Compulsory A weighted aggregate mark of 40% is required to pass the module
Biochemistry BSc (Hons)(YEAR LONG) Year-long Compulsory A weighted aggregate mark of 40% is required to pass the module

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.