Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Programs/Education » Medical Biochemistry Prep-Course

An eight-week on-line summer prep-course in preparation for taking Medical Biochemistry.

Program Overview: The Medical Biochemistry Summer Prep-Course was designed to provide a comprehensive and useful exposure of a medical biochemistry course to "at risk" entry-level medical students who may have an admissions package suggestive that the student would struggle to be successful in the medical biochemistry course at their medical institution. We chose three criteria that suggest a student might be "at risk" or struggle in the actual Tulane medical biochemistry course. These criteria include (A) the lack of experience in biochemistry as an undergraduate, (B) a life science GPA <3.0, and (C) a lower MCAT score (<27). Are entry-level medical students at your medical institution admitted with any of these criteria? If so, we ask you to consider requiring these students take our Medical Biochemistry Summer Prep-Course.

The course is broken into two course modules, Metabolic Biochemistry and Cellular Biochemistry. Depending on their background in Biochemistry, students can opt to take either or both course modules. The Metabolic Biochemistry module covers six content blocks, including (1) Fundamentals and Kinetics, (2) Carbohydrate Metabolism, (3) Energy Production, (4) Lipid Metabolism, (5) Nitrogen Metabolism, and (6) Complex Disease States. The Cellular Biochemistry module covers an additional six content blocks, including (1) DNA/RNA/Proteins dogma, (2) Glycobiology, (3) Protein Trafficking and Structural Proteins, (4) Blood, (5) Signal Transduction, and (6) Cell Cycle and Cancer. If a student only needs remediation in the Cellular Biochemistry module, some Metabolic Biochemistry Fundamentals topics are included. 

Learning resources are all on-line and include study guides, reading synopses, streaming videos and assessment question banks.

The Course Director (David S. Franklin, PhD, 504- 988-8868, franklin@tulane.edu) is available by telephone or email to answer questions. To assess the student's performance at the completion of each module, an on-line exam is provided. The prepcourse allows a student to gain previous exposure in Medical Biochemistry, prior to entering a similar course at their medical institution. It is not required that students pass the examinations. The exam is for assessment purposes only, and helps to gauge topics still problematic to the student. For maximal benefit during medical school, it is recommended students work hard to do their best in the prep-course.

Course Dates: 5/28/2013 through 7/22/2013 (BOTH modules); 5/28/2013 through 6/24/2013 (Metabolic ONLY); 6/25/2013 through 7/22/2013 (Cellular ONLY).

Tuition Fee: Tuition for one course module is $800 (either Cellular or Metabolic Biochemistry). Tuition for both course modules is $1300. Upon confirmation of tuition and completion of the application process, the student will be provided a link and access to the remedial course website. The student will only have access to learning resources for the appropriate course modules.

Miscellaneous Information: Interested students should contact the Course Administrator (Kristy Catlin, 504-988-0395, kcatlin@tulane.edu) to request or follow up on an application.

"At risk" students who took the summer prep-course (N=9) performed better in the actual Tulane Medical Biochemistry course than "At risk" students who did not take the prep-course (control, N=9).