The Profession of Biochemistry

The Profession of Biochemistry

“If cancer is to be cured, the earth’s pollution cleaned up, or the aging process slowed, it will be biochemists . . . who will lead the way” (“Biochemists” 13). Biochemistry is the profession of studying the chemistry of living things and using that knowledge to solve real world problems (13). This career is a demanding but interesting job. After researching biochemistry, I found that it is a field with a very diverse set of responsibilities, working conditions, and educational requirements; and my interest in becoming a biochemist is now more heightened than before.

One of the most prominent responsibilities of biochemists is studying the chemical makeup of living things (13). They look at and study food, drug, tissue, air, water, plant, animal, and cell samples (“Biochemist” 14; “Biologists”). If the individual is a research biochemist, her job is only to write down the information they find and move on. Applied biochemists use their research to solve real life problems. They can use complex lab equipment to run experiments, and it is even plausible that they might design their own experiments (“Biologists”; “Biochemists” 16).

In my research, I found that there are three major fields of biochemistry, and each field has its own set of responsibilities. The three major fields of biochemistry are medicine, nutrition, and agriculture. Biochemists in the field of medicine have the broadest set of responsibilities. They can do things from mass producing life-saving chemicals, like insulin, to increasing fertility in humans or endangered animals. Medicinal biochemists also search for chemical explanations for problems, do drug design and evaluation, cure diseases, and increase immunity to certain illnesses (15). Nutrition is also a field of biochemistry. Nutritional biochemists study the chemical effects of food on the bodies of the creatures consuming it. In nutritional biochemistry, diet is compared with diseases, like heart disease, to see if diet affects the disease. Last, but not least, biochemists can work in the field of agriculture. Their job is to help with crop cultivation, to genetically engineer crops, and to prevent spoilage (16). All three major fields of biochemistry are different, but every biochemist’s responsibility is to better society using the chemistry of living organisms.

Unlike the diversity of their responsibilities, biochemists have a uniform set of working conditions, depending on where they work.