Biochemical Principles of Energy Metabolism

Everyone knows that energy is essential for sustaining life. How can you define energy in life? Have ever thought about ways of how carbohydrates like glucose from your diet can be used for extracting energy? A scientific field that focuses on energy production and flow though living cells and organisms is called bioenergetics. Energy metabolism covers various biochemical ways of energy transformation and regulatory mechanisms of over thousands chemical reactions. Without fine control of those metabolic processes, cells and organisms cannot maintain activities linked to life. This 7 week-course will give you a clear introduction to the basic fundamentals of energy metabolism. We will first establish the concept of energy metabolism and subsequently examine biochemical steps involved in energy production from glucose oxdiation as well as glucose synthesis via photosynthesis. We will also learn about metabolic reactions related to fat as well as regulatory actions among different organs. Finally, dysregulated energy metabolism in pathological conditions such as diabetes and cancer will be discussed. Everyone knows that energy is essential for sustaining life. How can you define energy in life? Have ever thought about ways of how carbohydrates like glucose from your diet can be used for extracting energy? A scientific field that focuses on energy production and flow though living cells and organisms is called bioenergetics. Energy metabolism covers various biochemical ways of energy transformation and regulation of thousands of chemical reactions. Without fine regulation of those metabolic processes, cells and organisms cannot maintain activities linked to life. This 7 week-course will give you a clear introduction to the basic fundamentals of energy metabolism. We will first establish the concept of energy metabolism and subsequently examine biochemical processes involved in energy production as well as photosynthesis. We will also learn about metabolic reactions related to fa as well as regulatory actions among different organs. Finally, dysregulated energy metabolism in pathological conditions such as diabetes and cancer will be discussed

• Understand fundamentals of energy metabolism in organisms
• Explain chemical energy conversion in cells
• Describe role of carbohydrates in energy production
• Analyze regulatory mechanisms in metabolic pathways

• No deep prior experience is required, but basic computer and internet skills are helpful
• Ability to read course instructions in English and complete short practice activities