Biochemistry

The Biochemistry course at Oxford is a highly integrated program covering broad areas of molecular life sciences. Key focus areas include physical and biological chemistry, structural biology and molecular dynamics, cell biology and development, metabolism, molecular biology and genetics, membrane biology, as well as applied mathematics and statistics. The course consists of lectures, grouped classwork and lab practicals. Visiting students are normally integrated into the first or second year of the Oxford undergraduate Biochemistry course. Note that the above topics are taught only in specific terms of the year and may thus not be all available to students visiting for one or two terms.

In addition to the course, we offer dedicated small group tutorials, allowing for in-depth learning and understanding. The visiting student tutorials in Biochemistry at St Edmund Hall will focus specifically on molecular and cellular biology and genetics. We offer tutorials that cover both basic and advanced aspects of DNA replication, DNA repair, transcription, and protein translation. Topics in classical genetics, the cytoskeleton, the cell cycle, and basic development can also be covered. For more advanced students, we focus on understanding chromosome and chromatin structure and function and the mechanisms by which it influences gene expression. Additional tutorial topics include key technologies such as molecular cloning, CRISPR-mediated gene editing, and next-generation sequencing technologies.

Students joining tutorials for one or two terms will have a choice of the above “Molecular and Cellular Biology and Genetics” topics. Prior to the start of term, visiting students will have the opportunity to discuss with their tutor which specific topics can be covered, depending on the term and whether Biochemistry is taken as a major or minor option.

Single-term visits would take place in Michaelmas term. Students joining for two terms or an entire year will typically be integrated into the regular 2nd-year course and will have tutorials not only with the St Edmund Hall tutor but also with other tutors covering topics outside molecular and cellular biology.

Your Tutor

Professor Lars Jansen is a molecular geneticist with a Ph.D. from Leiden University, the Netherlands, focused on DNA repair. He then trained in human cell biology at the University of California, San Diego, and spent 10 years at the Gulbenkian Institute for Science in Lisbon. He joined the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford in 2018. His lab focuses on understanding chromatin structure and epigenetic memory in human cell systems.

Professor Jansen has a broad interest in molecular and cellular biology with a specific focus on molecular genetics. He shares his expertise through lectures on Cell Biology at prelims and aspects of chromatin structure and chromosome biology in 2nd- and 3rd-year courses. Additionally, he offers a broad set of tutorials in basic cell biology and fascinating areas of molecular genetics, including DNA replication, DNA repair, transcription, gene regulation, chromatin structure and function, epigenetics, chromosome biology, and the cell cycle.

Visit the Department of Biochemistry website