Details of LS4113 (Autumn 2026)
| Level: 4 | Type: Theory | Credits: 4.0 |
| Course Code | Course Name | Instructor(s) |
|---|---|---|
| LS4113 | Chemical Biology | Amit Basak, Rahul Das, Rupak Datta, Supratim Datta |
| Preamble |
|---|
| The course will introduce students to the simple building blocks of life and how they assemble to form a functional unit. The course will deal with the fundamental biochemical
principles, regulation, and structural aspects of living matter. |
| Syllabus |
|---|
| What is Chemical Biology: its impact on both Chemistry and Biology; the critical role chemistry plays in unravelling complex biological phenomena and advancing the fields of medicine, drug discovery, and biotechnology.
Molecules of life and energetics of the living system: Building Units, Peptides and proteins; Nucleic acids; Glycans and Lipids. Biomacromolecules: Structures, Function: DNA/RNA; Proteins and their structural Hierarchy. Thermodynamics of protein folding. Molecular interactions and recognition; Molecular recognition and thermodynamics of binding; Specificity in Macromolecular recognition; Allostery of Hemoglobin. Biocatalysis : Rate of molecular processes; Principles of Enzyme Kinetics ; Cofactors and Coenzymes and various types of regulation, Role of inhibitors. Introduction to Molecular Biology: The Flow of genetic information; Central dogma : Replication & DNA repair; DNA transcription and translation. Introduction to Eukaryotic Gene Expression. Sequencing techniques including Real-Time; Solid phase synthesis. Carbohydrates and Glycobiology: Structure and stereochemistry of sugars; Glycosylation, Lipids and Membranes: Amphipathic molecules and self-assembly; Chemical tools to study membranes. Bioorthogonal Chemistry: Click chemistry and Staudinger ligation Metabolic labelling; live-cell imaging. Tools of Chemical Biology Chemical Probes; Small molecule inhibitors and activators; Activity-based probes; Affinity Chromatography. Introduction to Molecular Microbiology: Cellular architecture of microbial cells (bacteria, viruses, and yeast). Introduction to microbial diversity and evolution. Chemical architecture of the cell wall. Lipid diversity. Primary and secondary metabolites. Industrially important microbial products (Antibiotics, Enzymes, Vitamins, Vaccines, Biofuels, and value-added products). Microbial Bioengineering: Microbial growth kinetics and fermentation. Strain improvement, mutation, and selection. |
| References |
|---|
| The Molecules of Life: Physical and Chemical Principles by John Kuriyan, Boyana
Konforti, and David Wemmer, Biochemistry by Voet and Voet, Lewins Gene XII, Essentials of Chemical Biology. Structure and Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules Andrew Miller and Julian Tanner. Introduction to Bioorganic Chemistry and Chemical Biology. David Van Vranken and Gregory Weiss, Foundations of Chemical Biology. C. M. I. Dobson J. A. Gerrard, and A. J. Pratt |
Course Credit Options
| Sl. No. | Programme | Semester No | Course Choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IP | 1 | Not Allowed |
| 2 | IP | 3 | Not Allowed |
| 3 | MP ( Chemical Biology ) | 1 | Core |
| 4 | MP | 1 | Not Allowed |
| 5 | MP | 3 | Not Allowed |
| 6 | MR | 1 | Not Allowed |
| 7 | MR | 3 | Not Allowed |
| 8 | MS | 3 | Not Allowed |
| 9 | MS | 5 | Not Allowed |
| 10 | MS | 7 | Not Allowed |
| 11 | MS | 9 | Not Allowed |
| 12 | RS | 1 | Not Allowed |
| 13 | RS | 2 | Not Allowed |