Class announcements are listed in reverse chronological order; most recent first.
There will be no re-grade period, nor will exam be published or the key posted. If you think your score isn't what you expected by at least 5 points or more (less than that will not change your grade), then see me sometime in the Fall. THANKS FOR A GREAT SEMESTER! DT
⋅ PROJECT: The Part 3 is due midnight Sunday May 2, 2026.
⋅ Exam 5 will be on Wednesday May 6. It will start at 8 AM and be over at 11:00 AM. It will be held in MORSE. It's NOT a longer exam, so don't feel like you have to show up at 8 AM, but if you need the extra time you can have it. This exam will ONLY cover material from the end of Exam 4, lipid and nitrogen biosynthesis, EXCEPT, it will include about a third from the problematic questions from exams 1-4.
⋅ LAB: Your final lab grades will be calculated in the next couple days and tentative standing without exam 5, HW, or Projet posted by Sunday so that you can see if you even need to take this last exam.
⋅ LAB: REMINDER THAT TODAY IS MONDAY'S SCHEDULE, Monday's labs meet TODAY. This is the end of lab.
⋅ The distribution for each question is up. From the questions on exams 1-4 in which less than half the class got correct a set will be taken to put on Exam 5, which will make up 33% of that exam. The remaining 67% will derive from new material.
⋅ Due to the Holiday, Dr. Tolan's office hour from 4-5 today will be cancelled.
⋅ LAB: REMINDER THAT MONDAY IS A HOLIDAY. The Monday lab section will meet on Wednesday, which has a Monday SCHEDULE. (Note: Chapter 10 is still due on Monday).
⋅ Today starts the las lab, a pymole exercise. Since, Monday is Patriots Day, there is NO CLASS. There will be a substituted Monday on Wednesday next week, so all Monday's schedules, including Monday's lab section, are on Wed. The normal Wednesday's scheduled classes are canceled.
⋅ Exam 4: Exam will be in Sleeper; 781 comm ave CGS-129 7PM. There will be two Review sessions today at 10:15 and 4:00.
⋅ Dr. Hushka Office Hours this week: The new times are 10:30-11:30 tomorrow (instead of 11-12) and instead of 3-4 pm tomorrow, he’ll do 3-4:30 on Wednesday. Both these will be in SCI 373.
⋅ New v8 of syllabus with all the venues for exams and review sessions for the rest of the semester.
⋅ Grading: Chapter 9 report is published, Regrades of exam 3 are done, and Feedback on creativity project-Part 2 is in the form of a comment directly on your document.
⋅ Some useful additions are on the Announcements page.
-no new announcements
-Happy Easter/Passover!!
⋅ PROJECT: Feedback on Part 2 of your projects will be posted by next week, but no need to wait to start thinking about part 3.
⋅ DEADLINE: There are several people who are in trouble and should pay attention to the W/P-F deadline this Friday. If you need extra help, please contact Dr. Tolan who can put you in touch with an excellent tutor for Biochemistry.
⋅ OFFICE HOUR: In lieu of Good Friday on April 3, Dr. Tolan will not be holding any Office hours (11-12 and 4-5 PM) that day.
⋅ Exam 3 was graded and released Sunday. The Average was 66 ±18, which is similar to previous years for this exam.
There are several people who are in trouble and should pay attention to the W/P-F deadline this Friday. If you need extra help, please contact Dr. Tolan who can put you in touch with an excellent tutor for Biochemistry.
⋅ PROJECT:
Part 2 of your projects are due by the end of day today. Please send email to Dr. Tolan after putting assignment in your folders and be sure to use 2026_Group#xxxxx
in subject line of email.
⋅ OPPORTUNITY: Anyone wanting to do Honors as a senior and needs a lab, get in contact with Dr. Tolan.
⋅ OFFICE HOUR: In lieu of Good Friday on April 3, Dr. Tolan will not be holding any Office hours (11-12 and 4-5 PM) that day.
⋅ LAB: Chapter-9 Reports are due starting today.
⋅ LAB: A new version of the Chapter 9-Report template is posted with some small clarifications.
⋅ LECTURES: Amino-acid degradation: Those slides where the details of the pathways are described, but you are not responsible for learning all the details, are denoted with a RED "X" in the upper left corner.
⋅ RESOURCES: PLP Mechanism. Also, new additions to website, and see resources in Achieve
⋅ Exam 3 will be next week. The review sessions will be on Monday (see syllabus). Material for the exam will go from the lectures before spring break (Lecture 15) thru Monday's lecture (Lecture 23). A list of study objectives is posted below:
⋅ LAB: Lab reports should be graded and will be posted soon. The template for Ch 9 has been out. The Chapter 9 Report is due after an extra week as there is much more data to analyze.
⋅ Homework: Due dates have been changed for HW 11-13, and HW14, is now due on Friday. Other due dates have been changed.
⋅ Registration Next Fall, Dr. Liu will be teaching Natural Products Chemistry (CH 650). it should be a great course and dovetail with BB 422.
The next part (Part 2) is not due until March 30, but don’t procrastinate and use get creative, contact your team, throw ideas around.
-With that topic, create a one-page document that describes a diagnostic strategy (if your topic is a disease), or a detection method (if your topic is a metabolic pathway). Make a logical description of the strategy/method, and be as creative as possible.
-You should include a diagram of the pathway involved, and include it with your one-page of text or whatever equivalent media you wish to use.
⋅ Reminder that on Achieve there is a nice animated mechanisms in for FA-Synthetase.
⋅ LAB: Lab reports should be graded over Spring Break so you will have feedback for your Chapter 9 Report; The Chapter 9 Report TEMPLATE will be out soon. You will have an extra week for doing this report as there is much more data to analyze, but don't delay.
HAVE A GREAT SPRING BREAK!!
⋅ The Web site has some additional information on fatty acids you should know.
⋅ PROJECT: The first part of the Metabolism Project, which was due Monday. Each group will have feedback by Friday, but you have to have shared your folder so that Dr. Tolan can edit it. You will get your feedback when a document with your topic is placed in your folder. In the meantime spend time outdoors, play games, write journals, etc., as suggested to enhance your creative juices!!
⋅ EXAM: Exam 2 grade will be posted today, but you got it back from GradeScope on Sunday. Regrades are open. For those who took the exam on Sunday, you can pick up your exam in Dr. Tolan's office hours. Regrades will be considered within a week of you picking it up as long as you pick it up before Spring Break.
⋅ LECTURE: Exams will be graded by next week, but not posted until everyone takes their makeup exam, which is this Sunday. Exam will be posted on Monday, which has a key at the end.
⋅ The Drop deadline was Tuesday, so everyone enrolled will get a grade. the Ave grade in 421 will be calculated for the class and establish the median grade for this class.
⋅ WHAT'S DUE NEXT WEEK:
1) LAB: Your Chapter 6/8 Laboratory Reports are due starting today for the Wed section. See Gradescope.
2) The first Homeworks (10 and 11) for Exam 3 on Achieve by Sunday, so enjoy your weekend!!
3) The list of topics for Creativity Project from your Group by at midnight on Monday
For those who legitimately cannot make Thursday after 9, there is a signup sheet posted on Google Drive. Give your name and available times this weekend. It will be a different exam than Thursdays.
For those with accommodations, your time will be from 7-10. You can meet in LSE-704 by 7 PM (building locks at 7:00).
This closure will only affect the plans for Exam 2. For other plans, such as office hours, we already stated below. Right now the plan is to hold the exam on Thursday evening. We realize that there are some who are taking lab courses during that time, so we plan to schedule it as late in the evening as possible. This plan is contingent on getting a room reserved for this time. If absolutely necessary, we might need to schedule a makeup time for a different exam for those who cannot make it at all due to snow, etc., probably for over the weekend.
Details will be forthcoming and announced in class Wednesday, or on this site.
⋅ First, the lecture on Monday will be cancelled. Thus, Exam 2, still scheduled for Tuesday evening, will cover only through Friday's lecture-14 up to cytochrome C.
⋅ Second, there will be no review sessions previously planned for Monday. A recording of the one we had last year for exam 2 is posted with the lectures.
⋅ Third, the Monday evening lab (B5) has been canceled. You will be given TF data to complete your Lab Reports, which are due 48 hours later than posted.
⋅ Fourth, office hours might be cancelled for both Monday and Tuesday. , unless stated otherwise. TFs will post an announcement in the ‘lab-announcements’ slack channel if they are able to hold their office hours over Zoom. Dr. Hushka will have office hours over Zoom(password bb422) at 3-4 pm.
⋅ Fifth, new versions of the lecture and lab syllabi, as well as the Semester Calendar, have been posted as well that outline all these schedule changes, including some new office hours for Dr. Hushka.
⋅ Exam 2 will cover material through most of Monday's lecture. It will not cover any of the Clinical Correlations as you have enough to study.
⋅ New additions to the Announcements page have been posted for your edification and to help you study.
⋅ LECTURE: Next week we will have Exam 2. It will cover through some material on Monday.
⋅ LAB: Your Lab Report for Chapter 6/8 is due starting right after the exam next week. The template for the Chapter 6/8 report is posted.
⋅ PROJECT: Your first assignment of the Metabolism Project is due in two weeks (March 2). Please take some time of meet with your groups to come up with your list of topics.
⋅ LAB: Your discussion quiz scores are Posted, as well as the comportment for the first two weeks.
⋅ PROJECT: Your project GROUPS were posted on the web site on TODAY along with more info about the project. You have a until March 2 to get your groups together and decide on a list of topics.
⋅ LAB: Discussion Quiz grades and comportment sub-totals will be posted by end of week on Posted Grades page.
⋅ PROJECT: Your project GROUPS will be posted on the web site by FRIDAY. You have 17 days to get your groups together and decide on a list of topics.
⋅ LECTURE: Exam-I scores were posted Friday at noon. The average was 75 ±15 with a low score of 33 and a high score of 96. Regrades are open until noon Friday via Gradescope. Your SID should be there. For those in A1 last fall, it should be the same number. Make sure that your score matches with your ID#. If not, please inform Dr. Tolan ASAP. There were 16 people below the SD. The next exam isn't until after the DROP deadline, so if you need help please see me in office hours. I can also point you to some tutoring options.
⋅ LECTURE: Exam-I stats: The relative performance the class did on each question is plotted. By popular demand, several of these questions, wherein most students did poorly, may be collected from this and the other 3 exams, and appear as a section worth 33% of Exam 5. The questions will be announced before Exam 5. Also discussed was the grading for the class: after the drop deadline the average grade in 421 for all those still in 422 will be used as the average grade in the class.
⋅ GRADING: Also discussed was the grading for the class. After the drop deadline the average grade in 421 for all those still in 422 will be used as the average grade in the class.
⋅ WEBSITE: Additional Items Updated: Weekly schedule; Lab Roster; Syllabus is now V4; Dr. Tolan's Office hours have moved from Monday to Tuesday;
⋅ PROJECT: Details and slides will be on web site by Monday.
⋅ DISCUSSION: Your quiz grades will be posted on the website as they become available.
⋅ LECTURE: Exam-I scores will be posted Today. The average was 75 ±15 with a low score of 33 and a high score of 96. In addition, your exams were "returned" via GradeScope. To find your Course ID#, which will be used for posting scores under "Posted Grades," see link there. Otherwise, simply login to GradeScope and go to your account in bottom left. Your SID should be there. For those in A1 last fall, it should be the same number. Make sure that your score matches with your ID#. If not, please inform Dr. Tolan ASAP.
⋅ LECTURE: Exam-I Regrades: These are all done through GradeScope. As usual, you have one week from Today 12PM to request for any changes.
⋅ LECTURE: Exam-I stats: The relative performance the class did on each question is plotted. By popular demand, several of these questions, wherein most students did poorly, may be collected from this and the other 3 exams, and appear as a section on Exam 5. The questions will be announced before Exam 5.
⋅ GRADING: Also discussed was the grading for the class. After the drop deadline the average grade in 421 for all those still in 422 will be used as the average grade in the class.
⋅ LECTURE: Exams will be graded by Friday with the hopes that the scores will go up on our web site under Announcements/ Posted Grades by then. Dr. Tolan will be grading the whole exam via Gradescope. Everyone has been given a course-specific ID number. You can see your SID through Gradescope by going to your account (click on the bottom left). It should be a number from 1-100. The grades for the whole class will be posted (click on "Posted Grades") using this and only this identifier. If you do not want your grades posted in this way, please let Dr. Tolan know ASAP. You have one week from the posting of exams through GradeScope as usual. You will be notified by GradeScope when they get posted, and your re-grade requests all go through Gradescope.
⋅ Also posted after each exam is the exam with a key at the end. This will usually go up on the Web site right after the exam ends on Wednesdays. In addition, after the exams are graded, the scoring matrix for each question will be posted there.
⋅ WHATS DUE THIS WEEK:
1) The first Homework for Exam 2 (HW#4) on Achieve by Sunday
2) ⋅ LAB: Your Chapter 7 Laboratory Reports are due before you lab section meets on the day of your lab.
⋅ LECTURE: Updates on web site announcement page were pointed out.
⋅ LAB: Add deadline is today, so the labs you attend as posted on website will be those you are in (MyBU is still not quite correct). We will make corrections, if any, after the Exam.
⋅ REVIEW SESSIONS: Exam 1 is on TOMORROW from 7-9 PM in MORSE and will cover through today's lecture. Two review sessions have been set up for TODAY. One will be 10:15-11:00 in SOC B57 and the other will be 4:00-5:00 in PSY B51.
⋅ REVIEW SESSIONS: Exam 1 is on Tuesday from 7-9 PM in MORSE and will cover through Monday's lecture. Two review sessions have been set up for next week. Both will be on Monday. One will be 10:15-11:00 in SOC B57 and the next will be 4:00-5:00 in PSY B51.
⋅ LAB: The web site has the up-to-date Lab Roster. This list supersedes MyBU.
⋅ TF's office hours have started, feel free to contact them via email or go to their office hours. See the matrix to see who is available. You don't need to go to those of your TFs if they don't fit your schedule.
‐ A hopefully Final Lab Rosters has been posted. PLEASE, double check that you are listed in the correct section. If you prefer a different name be used than that listed, please inform Dr. Hushka ASAP. TFs will expect you to show up as listed on these rosters.
⋅ ACHIEVE: Some students were unable to register through the B&N link, so we added a second portal for initial enrollment; on Bb, go to "Content" and there should be an "ACHIEVE" folder. Inside there is a link to register. The First HWs (#1-3) for Exam 1 have had their due dates re-set. Quizzes for Exam 1 are open until 4 PM the day of the exam. All due dates should be correct now.
‐ Instructions were reviewed for finding your course ID by which we will be posting grades.
‐ Template for Ch7 LAB REPORTs will be posted on the discussion page later today
‐ Dr. Tolan's and TF's office hours will begin this week.
⋅ OFFICE HOURS: Dr. Tolan's office hours will begin NEXT week.
⋅ ACHIEVE: The First HW is DUE be due this Sunday at midnight. The Adaptive quizzes are not due until 4 PM on exam day. There are no makeup homework or quizzes, or changing of due dates, ever.
The course logistics were described using the main web site. You must attend and confirm you were present at the first lecture by noting this on the sign-up sheet what was passed around. Please contact Dr. Tolan ASAP if you missed class.
We will finalize the Lab/Lecture and post them on the web sites by this weekend. You should get an invite to the GradeScope Course at that time.
The first meetings of lab and discussion were described as noted below for 1/20.
The different features of the Web site were pointed out. Check here for latest syllabus, announcements, lecture outlines and slides, as well as office hours and other goodies. Please browse.
Also, listen to Dr. Kornberg's introduction to the Course with a powerpoint slide you can download here.
If you are not present on January 21, you risk losing your seat. To be assured a place in a Laboratory Section and Lecture, you must attend the first day. If you have valid reasons for not being at the first class, please inform Dr. Tolan beforehand. If section you need is full, email the information to Dr. Hushka .
We will update the Lab/Discussion assignments and post them in LAB Rosters as they change until the DROP deadline.
Pre-lab Discussions will begin TODAY (1/21/2026).
Labs will begin WEDNESDAY (1/28/2026).
Web site is becoming populated; different features will be pointed out at first lecture. Check here for latest syllabus, announcements, lecture outlines and slides, as well as office hours and other goodies. Please browse.