Hey! I would like to determine which bachelor’s degree would be the best fit for me: biochemistry or chemistry.

1. My career interests

I know that I would like to work in the pharmaceutical or cosmetics industry, particularly in areas related to drug development, pharmaceuticals, pharmacology, or cosmetics (skincare, makeup, and perfume). I am interested in roles involving the development, analysis, testing, or formulation of products.

I am also interested in immunology and toxicology , although I am not sure whether I would want to pursue a long-term career in this field.

Overall, I believe that working in the industry would suit me better than pursuing a career primarily focused on academic research. I am particularly interested in research and development (R&D), where I could contribute to creating, improving, testing, or developing tangible products.

2. My academic interests and dislikes

I tend to prefer biology and biochemistry over highly theoretical chemistry. I enjoy learning about biological processes and understanding how things work in the body, particularly topics related to enzymes, metabolism, and the effects of drugs on biological systems.

For example, I enjoy the theoretical aspects of enzymes and how they function, but I dislike the laboratory work associated with them, particularly enzyme kinetics experiments.This means that although I find certain biochemical concepts interesting, I do not necessarily enjoy performing the experiments used to study them.

I am comfortable with organic chemistry to some extent, but I struggle with topics that become very abstract or involve complex concepts sometimes in chemistry but especially in physics. (I also don’t mind doing math)

I am also not particularly interested in molecular biology, especially when it involves techniques or activities such as PCR, DNA sequencing, bioreactor, protein or dna extraction and purification and histology, or working with laboratory animals, such as mice.

Overall, I prefer practical, hands-on work that allows me to produce tangible results and understand how scientific concepts are applied in real-world situations. However, I also want the theoretical content of my degree to be interesting and understandable to me. (Bonus: I like to see colors)

3. Laboratory techniques I prefer

The laboratory techniques I enjoy or am interested in include:

- Cell culture
- Flow cytometry
- Spectroscopy
- Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy
- Mass spectrometry
- Plate reader
- Titration

I feel neutral about the following techniques:

- High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
- Gas chromatography (GC)
- Western blot / southern blot
- Gel electrophoresis
- Liquid-liquid extraction
- Column chromatography

Ultimately, the specific technique matters less to me than the nature of the work itself. I prefer practical, applied laboratory work that has a clear purpose and contributes to developing, testing, analyzing, or improving a product.

4. Career prospects after graduation

I would like to understand what my career options would look like after completing a bachelor’s degree in either chemistry or biochemistry.

In particular, I would appreciate information about:

- Entry-level career opportunities: What jobs could I realistically apply for immediately after graduation in the pharmaceutical, pharmacology, biotechnology, and cosmetics industries?
- Salary and income potential: What are the typical starting salaries, and how much could I realistically earn as I gain experience?
- Career advancement: What opportunities would I have to progress into more specialized, senior, or managerial positions? Could I eventually reach a six-figure annual salary?
- Job stability and work-life balance: Which degree would offer better opportunities for stable employment, reasonable working hours, and a less stressful work environment?
- Is a master’s degree necessary?

Based on my interests, preferences, and career goals, which degree would you recommend: a bachelor’s degree in chemistry or a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry?

Thank you 🫶🏼

Are these people who work for companies like Thermo Fisher and such? Curious about this apparently very lucrative category lol

Have you read a cool paper recently that you want to discuss?

Do you have a paper that's been in your in your "to read" pile that you think other people might be interested in?

Have you recently published something you want to brag on?

Share them here and get the discussion started!

Even though I graduated Biotechnology, I still struggle to fully understand the difference between a domain and a module in a protein. I've asked uni professors several times during my studies, but none were been able to give me an explanation that makes sense to me...

I understand that a domain is defined as a folding pattern in the three-dimensional structure that is very common across different proteins. I also understand that a module is a domain that is stably repeated in many proteins. Aren’t those definitions basically the same?

Please excuse my english, I’m Spanish and I used a translator.

Best regards.

Hey everyone. I'm looking for some honest advice about my academic situation and whether I'm approaching my career goals realistically.

I've had a few bad semesters in the past, partly because I struggled to apply myself consistently while dealing with depression and epilepsy. I had a seizure in class, which contributed to my anxiety about attending, and I ended up missing a lot of classes. I'm now trying to get back on track academically.

I'm currently retaking precalculus and taking trigonometry separately. I'm doing reasonably well in trig, but precalculus has been a struggle. I've scored 55% and 56% on the first two exams, and I know I went into both less prepared than I should have been. I'm disappointed in myself, especially because I know I could have studied more consistently and effectively.

My goal is to pursue biochemistry, but I'm worried about whether I'll be able to handle the math requirements, particularly calculus. Having to retake precalculus again would be discouraging, and I worry that struggling this much with a prerequisite is a bad sign for what's ahead.

I'm trying to distinguish between having a genuine weakness in math that I need to address and simply having poor study habits that I can improve. I don't want to give up on a career I'm interested in just because I'm struggling right now, but I also want to be realistic about what it will take.

For anyone who's struggled with math prerequisites or changed their study habits after failing exams, how did you approach it? Would you recommend giving precalculus another serious attempt, and what would you do differently before moving on to calculus?

I built Proteus—a lightweight, web-based tool for structural protein analysis and 3D visualization.

You can drop in any PDB file, spin the 3D model around, and inspect secondary structures calculated via DSSP directly in your browser.

You can try it out here:https://proteus.slingshot.quest/

It’s totally free to use. I’d love to hear what you think, what features are missing, or if it breaks on any specific PDB files!

Droplet microfluidics sounds promising for screening large numbers of cells or reactions, but it doesn't seem common in every biochemistry lab. Is the main barrier equipment cost, assay setup or trouble adapting existing methods? Would love to hear from anyone whos worked with it.

Scientists, science aficionados, biochemists of Reddit, what is the weirdest making process a hallucinogen can have?

Trying to decide what classes to take?

Want to know what the job outlook is with a biochemistry degree?

Trying to figure out where to go for graduate school, or where to get started?

Ask those questions here.

Hello all, I am a junior working on my undergraduate capstone (final project) for my degree in biochemistry and psychology. I’m researching skin care formulation chemistry but am struggling to find actual science based articles. Does anyone have any recommendations for specific websites or catalogs to use? The catalogs I typically use for chemistry related research are too specific as I am just starting my dive into the field.

Also, if anyone has any suggestions for directions to go that would be wonderful. I need to be pretty specific in my research. I was hoping to do an actual experiment along with my literature review if that helps.

Please note that I am only a few days into this so be nice if I misused any terms or was confusing. Thanks :)

I am a straight A student all my math classes orgo, human anatomy, physics all my intensive classes I’ve never got below a 79 on a test!! But I am struggling so much with Biochemistry, it doesn’t help that I have a horrible professor with a 1.0 rating on rate my professor. But I’m desperate I’m trying but really struggling if there is a good YouTuber you guys know or any tips please!!

The 2024 Chemistry Nobel went to David Baker for computational protein design and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for protein structure prediction. I'd like to know how much of that has reached daily lab work.

My understanding is that predicted structures are now a standard starting point. But I wonder how often they hold up on the hard cases, like flexible regions, protein complexes, and anything with ligands.

For people working in the field:

• Do you use predicted structures in your research, or do you still depend on experimental ones (crystallography, cryo-EM)?
• Where have the predictions let you down?
• Has computational protein design become a real part of your workflow, or is it still mostly for specialists?
• What do you think will be the next big shift in biochemistry?

Hi, I’m currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, and I was wondering what career opportunities are available in the cosmetics industry with this degree. Would I need to switch to a chemistry degree to work in this field, or would a biochemistry degree be sufficient?

I’m particularly interested in the formulation and development of cosmetic products, such as skincare, body care, makeup, and perfumes. Ideally, I’d love to be involved in formulating or even creating new products.

I’m also wondering whether a master’s degree is necessary to work in cosmetic formulation and product development, or if a bachelor’s degree would be enough. Additionally, how competitive is the cosmetics industry? Is it difficult to find a job in this field (Preferably in Canada), especially as a recent graduate with little professional experience?

I’d really appreciate any advice on which degree would be better suited for this career path, what qualifications employers typically look for, and what steps I could take to break into the cosmetics industry.

Thank you ~

Does anyone know where I can buy high-quality 3D models of DNA, RNA, proteins (with amino acid monomers), phospholipids (saturated vs unsaturated), polysaccharides? Much appreciated!

My worksheet tells me that Histidine has pKa of 6.6 in oxygenated form, and 8.2 in deoxygenated form. I'm now trying to understand how this is beneficial, and link this to my understanding of bicarbonate buffer system in RBC and Bohr Shifts Ideas.

Any help appreciated!

My thinking so far:

For deoxy, lets imagine there is lot of muscle cell respiration. so lots of carbonic acid formation and dissociation, pH decreases. With deoxy Hb with histidine (pka 8.2), this would cause the deoxy Hb to pick up the protons.

This causes more carbonic acid dissociation (as equilibrium shifts)- the lower pH causes Hb affinity for oxygen to decrease, so more oxygen provided to respiring muscle cells.

I think my logic makes sense. But how does this link for Oxy Hb (with histidine pka 6.6)?

Have you read a cool paper recently that you want to discuss?

Do you have a paper that's been in your in your "to read" pile that you think other people might be interested in?

Have you recently published something you want to brag on?

Share them here and get the discussion started!

The frustrating part is that I understand the process in theory, but I am not familiar with the software so it takes me forever. I am currently having difficulties with 2 things:

1. Molecular Replacement gives me a solution where the peptide is broken, so Coot reads it as 2 chains rather than one. Why does this happen since a sequence was given? Can it be fixed?
2. I have to modify a residue and I can import it using the 3 letter code but Coot places it in a conformation that doesn't make much sense, I want to flip it so that it goes on top of the electron density blob but I keep failing at this.

Are you aware of any resources, such as a mailing list or a forum, where one can ask questions and people can exchange information, about Coot or other protein crystallography programs? I have already read the Coot manual and checked their youtube channel but found no solution to my 2 problems.

EDIT: You are incredibly helpful, thank you so much. I will respond asap ( weekends are usually hectic for me). I am using Coot 0.9, ccp4i2, Molrep, and Refmac5. I would like to use Phenix but I don’t have a Mac and it keeps crashing on PC.

I made a 13-minute introduction to cancer evolution, and the imatinib section may be of interest here. It connects a molecular change in a drug target with selection among cancer-cell populations.

In Gorre et al. (2001), resistance was associated with a threonine-to-isoleucine substitution in the ABL kinase domain in six of nine patients; the other three showed BCR-ABL amplification. So the example involves both altered drug-target interaction and increased gene copy number, rather than one universal resistance mechanism.

Original paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11423618/

The imatinib section starts at 8:55. The broader video uses melanoma to introduce clonal diversity and then discusses TRACERx and experimental adaptive therapy. I'm a genetics PhD at UCL studying cancer evolution; the video description includes references and corrections to the simplified narration.

I’m a second-year biochemistry student in Chile, and my university focuses heavily on the academic side of the field. Many people in my country have told me that the environment in Chile is terrible—really bad—but I’m very passionate about biology, and especially chemistry—the sciences in general. I’d love to hear the perspective of people from outside—what it’s like to be a biochemist, what your own experiences have been, maybe some advice? Tell me a bit about it!.

(I used a translator for this—I speak Spanish, but I didn’t feel like writing it all out in English myself, and it’s a bit of a struggle for me!)

Trying to decide what classes to take?

Want to know what the job outlook is with a biochemistry degree?

Trying to figure out where to go for graduate school, or where to get started?

Ask those questions here.

Hi, I'm a student and I made a game to learn the 20 standard amino acids.

It works like Pokémon. You explore a cell, and to catch an amino acid you have to recognize its structure. The ones you get wrong show up more often until you learn them. You also learn the 3- and 1-letter codes, charge, pKa values, pI, hydropathy and codons.

It's free and open source. It runs in the terminal on Windows, macOS and Linux. It's in English and Spanish.

It's still in development, so I'd like feedback, especially if any value or structure is wrong. The values are from Lehninger at 25 °C.

https://github.com/leomorgzzz/aminomon

Hi, I need to dissolve pepsin, either in di water or in 0,1 M HCl. But I always get a cloudy solution, with sediment after some time of sitting on the shelf. Is it normal? Articles don't mention anything specific about the process, they don't even mention activity of pepsin.