Department of Biochemistry

Philosophy, Objectives and Scope of Programme

The Philosophy of the Department of Biochemistry is grounded by the discovery that chemical reactions in vitro and the surrounding environment with their general laws are also operational in vivo in the cells of all organisms. For the past one hundred years, this observation has triggered the explosive growth of biological research dwelling on the interconnectedness of biology and chemistry, which projected Biochemistry not only as an essential science fundamental to the root of modern industry but also of central importance to the global eradication of poverty, hunger and disease.

While the cardinal objective of the department is to produce students imbibed with scientific culture and universal laws and skills of biochemical research, other objectives include the application of biochemistry to particular needs of Nigeria and her fraternal Pan-African neighbours in their forward march to an industrialized society to overcome poverty, hunger and disease through self-reliance. In the Department of Biochemistry, there are students whose objective are to tackle the problem of hunger, who engage in our general programme that include Biochemistry courses in metabolism but by their final year, specialize in Nutritional or Agricultural Biochemistry. Other Biochemistry students pursue the objectives of improving human health and to eradicate both infectious and common diseases in Nigeria. While a large number of our students in this category are interested in the practical application of Biochemistry to medicine, more students are also choosing those courses and programmes that enable them to engage in research on infectious and other diseases.

The scope of our programme also enable our students to pursue the objectives of contributing to national health through research on drugsobtained from plant extracts to encourage our new pharmacological industries. Also of recent are the growing member of students who are choosing Environmental Biochemistry as an objective to improve the collapsing synergy between humans and the environment with pollutants from industrial wastes greenhouse gases and their consequences to climate hazards.

The scope of our programme is reflected in the diverse courses offered to students to enable them achieve their chosen objectives to contribute to the industrialization of our nation. They include General Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Medical Biochemistry, Enzymology and Protein Biochemistry, Plant Food and Nutritional Biochemistry, Lipid and Lipoprotein Biochemistry, Pharmacological Biochemistry and Toxicology, Immunology and Immunochemistry membrane Bioenergetics, Environmental Biochemistry and Biochemical Methods.

Finally, the students in their final year engage in a compulsory research project on a local biochemical research topic of their choice.

Henry AmaechiOnwubiko,

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Professor and Head,

Department of Biochemistry

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