Course code:
403B2		 Course name:
Regulation of Biochemical Processes

Academic year:

2025/2026.

Attendance requirements:

401B2 / 402B2

ECTS:

4

Study level:

basic academic studies

Study program:

Biochemistry: 4. year, winter semester, compulsory course

Teacher:

Milan R. Nikoliæ, Ph.D.
associate professor, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Beograd

Assistant:

Simeon L. Miniæ, Ph.D.
assistant professor, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Beograd

Hours of instruction:

Weekly: two hours of lectures + one hour of exercises + one hour of labwork (2+1+1)

Goals:

This course will enable students to acquire basic and advanced knowledge of the mechanisms of biochemical regulation.

Outcome:

Students have mastered the essential biochemical regulatory mechanisms and basic laboratory techniques.

Teaching methods:

Lectures, theory exercises and experimental exercises.

Extracurricular activities:

—

Coursebooks:

Main coursebooks:

  • Milan R. Nikolić, Duško P. Blagojević, Mihajlo B. Spasić: Regulacija biohemijskih procesa. Univerzitet u Beogradu - Hemijski fakultet, Beograd, 2021. ISBN: 978-86-7220-074-4.
  • PowerPoint presentations which accompany the lectures.

Supplementary coursebooks:

  • Gerhard Krauss: Biochemistry of Signaling Transduction and Regulation, Fifth, Completely Revised Edition, Wiley-VCH Verlag, 2014.

Additional material:

http://www.chem.bg.ac.rs/~mnikolic

  Course activities and grading method

Lectures:

10 points (2 hours a week)

Syllabus:

Course contents:

1. Homeostasis in the context of the thermodynamics of open systems;

2. General principles, concepts and mechanisms of the regulation of biochemical processes; 

3. Structure, organization, and characteristics of signaling pathways: primary messengers, receptors, the coupling of receptors, second messengers, adaptor proteins and effector proteins, transcription factors;

4. Signaling through G protein-coupled receptors;

5. Phosphatidylinositols signaling system;

6. Signaling through catalitic receptors;

7. Signaling through nuclear receptors;

8. Signaling coupled with ion-channel-coupled receptors;

9. Gaseous signaling molecules;

10. Integration pathways for signal transmission: vision and muscle contraction/relaxation;

11. Signaling systems: signal integration, crosstalk mechanisms, and networks;

12. Disruptions in signal transmission pathways; basics of redox signaling;

13. Experimental approaches and methods in the cell signaling.

Exercises:

10 points (1 hour a week)

Syllabus:

  • The first messengers: structure, activity, function.
  • Intracellular signaling proteins: structure, activity, function.

Labwork:

10 points (1 hour a week)

Syllabus:

  • Reactive species as signaling (redox) molecules.
  • In vitro activity of selected first messengers.

Written exam:

40 points

Oral exam:

30 points