Where Do I Start?

So, you want to learn more about science?

Awesome! 

Where the hell do you start?

That is also….an excellent question because it is a really difficult one. If you were to ask each person involved in this project where to start they’d all give you a different answer - we all think our chosen science is, of course, the most important science. 

There are over 40 different branches of biology alone - including our own specialities, and they frequently overlap each other – extensively. There was in fact a class me and my friends took in our final year, Molecular and Cellular Biology of Neurodegenerative Proteinopathies, - a study of degenerative brain disease that was caused by malformed protein, think Alzheimers, Huntingtons, etc. - which ended up being what would happen if you rolled our degrees into one thing. Useful at the time because we covered all bases between the three of us, and also how I’d like to approach explaining the details you need to start getting up to date on the latest scientific research. 

So, ultimately, it starts with genetics. (With a dash of biochemistry, because proteins always get in there somewhere)

Your genes are the fundamental determinator. Genetics is the scientific study of genes, heredity, and genetic variation in all living organisms, and this applies to far more than just your hair and eye colour. Your genes are currently producing, as you read this, every protein your body needs (because everything is made of proteins) by producing every amino acid your body needs, which will cleverly fold itself into a nice little protein shape that will go off and function the way it’s been programmed to function by, you guessed it, your genes. DNA is literally the instruction manual for life, and if you want to understand disease, medicine, evolution, or even why your dog looks like your dog, you need genetics.

Genetics is everywhere in your life - there’s the obvious ones, your hair colour, if cilantro tastes like soap to you, if you can roll your tongue, and then there’s the not so obvious ones - the research into which genes may have a mutation that may have triggered cancer growth, or how genetically modified crops (GM crops) are designed to resist pests, survive drought, or even pack in more nutrients. 

But here’s the fun twist: genetics isn’t as simple as “this gene equals this trait.” That’s a myth we need to bust right away. Sure, some traits are controlled by a single gene (like blood type), but most things are influenced by dozens, even hundreds, of genes interacting together — plus environmental factors. It’s not “you have the brown eyes gene,” it’s “you have a cocktail of genes that together affect the amount of pigment in your iris.”

I won’t be just doing the basics by the way - we’ll get as deep and as complex as you want, but these concepts help give everyone a good starting block.

This brings us to our next stage - biochemistry. Anyone who may have brushed on biochem in other aspects of their life may be shuddering right now. That’s generally the reaction I get when I tell people that’s what I studied. Biochemistry is the branch of science concerned with the chemical and physico-chemical processes and substances that occur within living organisms. 

Yeah you’re starting to see why people shudder, right?

It’s also because this monstrosity comes to mind when you bring up biochem to anyone in the sciences.

…..yup. I’d hate me too. Thanks Roche for scaring undergrads since forever.

While the metabolic pathways (that thing) make up a huge section of biochemistry, it’s not all of it. There’s also proteins. 

When I say protein you’re probably thinking of your chunk of chicken you had for dinner, right? Not exactly. 

When I’m talking about proteins, I’m talking about these guys

Much cooler looking, right?

Proteins are made up of amino acids –

These guys. (Yeah we’re going chemistry side now)

These little guys are basically the building blocks of life. Think of them as beads on a string. On their own, they’re simple enough. But once you start linking them together, the string doesn’t stay flat. It twists, folds, and tangles itself up into these incredibly precise three-dimensional shapes. That’s what makes a protein.

And the shape matters. In fact, the shape is everything. A protein’s structure decides what job it can do: break down your food, send a signal to your brain, hold your skin together, or fight off an infection. Get the shape wrong (say, because of a genetic mutation) and suddenly you’ve got a protein that can’t do its job properly. That’s how you end up with diseases like cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anaemia, or those neurodegenerative disorders I mentioned earlier.

So when I say “everything is proteins,” I really mean it. Enzymes? Proteins. Hormones like insulin? Proteins. Antibodies that keep you from getting sick? Proteins. You get the idea.

And here’s where it all ties back together: your genes are basically the recipe cards, written in DNA, that tell your cells which proteins to make and how to fold them. Genetics hands out the instructions, biochemistry carries them out. Simple, right? (Well… simple-ish. But we’ll get there.)

Where do we go after that, you may ask? 

Well, from there we go anywhere.