Biomolecular program offers top tools to undergrads

By David Shield

Biochemistry professor Stan Moore. Photo by David Shield

While it may not be a household name at the U of S just yet, the Biomolecular Structure Studies program promises its students an inside look at one of science’s most rapidly expanding fields.

A collaborative program between the University’s chemistry and biochemistry departments, Biomolecular Structure Studies looks at how biological systems work on the molecular level. Research in this field is currently filling the pages of academic journals like Nature and Science – and is being used in everything from drug design to cancer research to genome studies.

Coming up on the first anniversary of classes, the professors behind the relatively new program say they’re pleased with what they’ve seen so far. Chemistry professor David Sanders says he’s especially excited about a lab course that will be offered for the first time next fall.

“We’ve got some neat experiments that (students) are going to be able to do, and we’re really excited about that course to be finally put in place next fall. We’re really looking forward to see what happens with that,” he says.

While students in the program are getting an inside view of cutting-edge research methods, Sanders says they’re also getting access to state-of-the-art technology, including equipment at the Structural Sciences Centre and training on the Canadian Light Source synchrotron. He says undergraduate access to this kind of technology is practically unheard of.

“We’ve got a fourth-year course that is devoted to using the equipment in the Structural Sciences Centre, which is grand. As an undergraduate, I’d have loved to have that, but I didn’t have the opportunity … Being able to do a pure lab course, to learn techniques of how to do these things will be very helpful,” he says.

Biochemistry professor Stan Moore says offering the program only makes sense, especially with the availability of beamlines at the Canadian Light Source.

“I would think in terms of a biochemistry or an advanced chemistry curriculum, (Biomolecular Structure Studies) is pretty topical, really. Without it, it would be like offering a biology program without any mention of genome studies, for instance.”

Moore says he’s excited to see what lies ahead. He adds the program’s small class sizes and in-depth focus will give students an extra boost.

“I enjoy teaching this stuff. This is what I eat, sleep and drink. So to be able to do it and get paid for it is a treat,” he says.

He says the areas of studies available using these methods are practically endless.

“Basically, any protein that takes part in any biological process in your body, in a bacterium or in a virus, you can study by these methods. The potential is enormous,” he says.

Sanders says research being done in Biomolecular Structure Studies focuses on a number of health applications and on how the body’s systems communicate with one another.

“People (in this field) who are interested in cancer research are looking at the cancers themselves, looking at how cancers interact with DNA and how DNA is communicating and all these signals, what we call signaling pathways. This is a really big topic in cancer research, because that’s how they believe cancers work. They disrupt all these signaling pathways, which are really finely tuned and designed to do specific things very rapidly. If those mess up, things go wrong, and some of those things that go wrong are cancer,” he says.

Now that the program has begun offering classes, Sanders says it’s important to start increasing awareness among undergraduate students that the program is out there.

“We need to get out to classes, we need to push all this stuff forward so students start to see yes, this is here, and this is something that Saskatoon can offer that no other university – certainly in Canada – can offer in terms of access to materials,” he says.

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