teaching applied biochemistry. Within the framework of the homework exercise, the student will derive a mechanism for the covalent attachment of glucose to hemoglobin. This process is critical in the understanding of both nonenzymatic glycation and the molecular basis of diabetes mellitus. The homework exercise is designed to teach first principles using a data-driven question-guided approach. The accompanying case study is designed to contextualize the principles derived by the student into a tangible clinical application. In the case study, students interpret analytical chemistry data from a clinical setting for a diabetic patient with other medical complications and must make conclusions on the best control and treatment for the patient. In order to make the proper clinical assessment, students must understand the mechanistic principles regarding nonenzymatic glycation of proteins that they learned in the homework exercise. Overall, the homework exercise and the case study tether together principles from organic chemistry (electrophiles/ nucleophiles, Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, thermodynamics, blood glucose concentration, and cation exchange column chromatography) with those from biochemistry (covalent and noncovalent interactions, lock and key vs. induced fit paradigms, and organic mechanisms for nonenzymatic formation of hemoglobin A1c, HbA1c and carbamylated hemoglobin, CHb) into a practical and tangible medical application.

Biochemistry question-guided derivation of a potential mechanism for HbA1c formation in diabetes mellitus leading to a data-driven clinical diagnosis

251st National Meeting (2016)

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