Professor Richard Brutchey and Professor Matthew Pratt
Department of Chemistry

COURSE OVERVIEW

CHEM 203Lg is designed for non-science majors, and satisfies the Category IV general education requirement for Science and Its Significance. This Chemistry course will provide students with a solid understanding of HIV/AIDS and the discovery and development of drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS. As such, you will be held accountable for learning basic concepts of chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular and cell biology. The course will be taught in a linear fashion, starting with drug discovery and development. The drug discovery and development component of the course will start with understanding the structure and bonding of drug molecules. We will then move on to introducing some basic biochemistry to understand what enzymes are and the different kinds of ways drugs may interact with them. Given this background, we will finish this part of the course with a discussion of drug development, which covers topics such as how your body processes drugs and how we can statistically analyze the efficacy of drugs. The second half of the course will focus on the effects of HIV, ranging in scale from our bodies to the global pandemic. We will begin by understanding basic molecular and cellular biology, giving us to the tools to then explore our immune systems and how we fight disease. After this background we will continue by looking at the history and epidemiology of HIV and AIDS, followed by an investigation of the molecular mechanisms of HIV infection. We will then move on to discuss how from the moment of infection our immune system is in constant losing battle with HIV and how drugs have both entered and exited the fray. Lastly, we will finish the course by looking at the future of AIDS pandemic and ethical questions raised by treatment and prevention.

CHEM 203Lg will give you an understanding of why chemistry and biochemistry are important in the context of drug development and treating disease. You will gain an understanding of how pharmaceutical companies develop drugs and what factors go into whether they make it to market or not. You will gain an understanding of what HIV/AIDS is, how it is treated, and what its socioeconomic effects are. Upon completing this course, you will be able to talk about the chemistry and biochemistry of drug development and HIV/AIDS in a well-informed, cogent manner.

Analytical Techniques and Methodologies..

Students will be asked to demonstrate comprehension of basic concepts in chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular and cell biology that are pertinent to the overall theme of the course. Students will be expected to take basic concepts presented to them in lecture and apply that knowledge to similar but different situations on exams. They will solve problems requiring the development of skills in such specific areas as statistics, enzyme inhibition kinetics, computer modeling and data analysis, and information gathering.

Laboratory Experience..

The laboratory component of CHEM 203Lg is meant to complement the lecture material presented in class. To the best of our ability, the topics covered in lecture are matched as closely as possible in time to the laboratory experience. The laboratory will require students to do online research, analyze data, manipulate molecular models of drugs and enzymes, do statistical treatments, and think about the societal impacts of HIV/AIDS. The laboratory component is done completely online.

Expectations..

For many students, this will be their first exposure to chemistry since high school. The course is designed with this in mind; however, being a Chemistry course at a top-tier university, students are expected to work hard and keep up with the material presented in lecture and lab. There are many ways for students to seek help in the course, including faculty and TA office hours, the online forum, and supplementary instruction (SI). We strongly encourage students to take advantage of these opportunities if needed to maintain good standing in the course.

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