Create a Research Hypothesis (100 points) (1st draft)
Purpose: Developing a research hypothesis will satisfy student learning outcome #6 (SLO #6), which states that at the end of this class, you should be able to demonstrate the ability to employ biochemistry concepts and critical thinking skills in written and oral communication. In other words, you should be able to use the biochemistry concepts you have been exposed to in this class and integrate them so you can suggest a hypothesis with relation to how your suggested functional group change of your assigned drug would affect its interaction with its biological target.
Skills: The purpose of this assignment is to help you practice the integration of concepts (critical thinking) that is essential to your success your chosen professional life beyond school.
These skills include but are not limited to the following:
- Remember facts and figures
- Fundamental understanding of biochemistry concepts
- Applying the correct biochemistry concept to answer a problem in a context
- Analyze concepts regardless as to how they are presented (i.e. diagrams, graphs, or chemical structure)
- Evaluate and extract necessary information
- Suggest the creation of a new interpretation (i.e. how the change of a functional group affects drug : biological target interaction)
Knowledge: This assignment will also help you to become familiar with the following important biochemistry knowledge:
- Biochemical and chemical structures
- Functional groups
- Tertiary/quaternary protein structure
- Covalent bonds and weak interactions
- Amino acid abbreviations
Task:
Developing your research hypothesis will involve you locating an image of your assigned drug (See student drug assignment document). You will use the image to answer the discussion questions in TopHat. You will suggest a change in a functional group (e.g. carbonyl to hydroxyl) and hypothesize how the change will affect interaction of the drug with its biological target (e.g. change the number of weak interactions between the drug : biological target) . The information in Modules 1 – 5 will assist. Don’t freak out; I will also assist you with this process.
Criteria for Success:
1. Formatting (15 points) – 1.15 line spacing, 1- inch margins, and 11 point, Times Roman font; spelling and punctuation.
2. Brief Introduction to Assigned Drug (10 points) (4-5 sentences)In this section, provide a brief overview of your specific drug. The overview section should provide a summary of the when the drug was discovered, purpose/use of the drug, how the drug is administered and the biological target. You should also provide a line or structural formula image of your drug.
3. Research Hypothesis (35 points): This section should provide a description of the targeted functional group to change and why you chose the specific functional group. You should then state your hypothesis. Also, draw the structure of the modified drug with the new functional group.
4. Possible outcomes (30 points): Suggest how the modifications you are proposing could possibly affect the binding of the modified drug to its biological target site, as well as other possible binding sites.
5. References (10 points): List of references you used in APA style.