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 at the level of biosignaling

Outcome:

Students have mastered the essential biochemical regulatory mechanisms to maintain systemic homeostasis in the human body

Teaching methods:

Lectures, theory, 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 GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2014 (DOI:10.1002/9783527667475)
  • Ernst J. M. Helmreich: The Biochemistry of Cell Signalling, 1st Edition, Oxford University Press, 2001 (ISBN-10: 9780198508205)

Additional material:

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

  Course activities and grading method

Lectures:

10 points (2 hours a week)

Syllabus:

Lecture units

– The principle of homeostasis in the context of thermodynamics of open systems

– General principles, concepts, and mechanisms of regulation of biochemical processes

– Structure, organization, and characteristics of signaling pathways: first messengers, receptors, receptor coupling, second messengers, ions, adapter and effector proteins, transcription factors

– Biosignaling via receptors coupled to trimeric G proteins

– Biosignaling through the phosphoinositide family

– Biosignaling via catalytic receptors

– Biosignaling via nuclear receptors

– Biosignaling coupled with a change in the amount of ions

– Gaseous signaling molecules

– Integration of signal transmission pathways – Muscle contraction and relaxation; Molecular basis of vision; Basics of redox signaling; Regulation of cell cycle, death, and immune response

– Signal systems: mutual communication, networks, and specifics of signal transmission

– Disturbances in biosignaling: causes and consequences (on the example of malignant tumors)

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