The field of biochemistry allows for one to challenge themselves in understanding the increasing complexity of how living organisms are able to carry out their biological processes at the molecular level. Studying biochemistry means one truly wants to understand a biological process with the highest precision, to the atoms and bonds that drive this process, so that one can then learn how to manipulate this process for the benefit of society. To study biochemistry requires curiosity and adaptability. The field of biochemistry is constantly evolving as individuals push the field further asking questions about how these biological processes truly occur, why they occur, and how these processes impact one another. This need for adaptability and a desire to push knowledge further is evident not only in high-impact journals but in undergraduate coursework as well. In general chemistry, you learn about the Bohr model that was discovered over one hundred years ago and its aspects still show up on exams. In biology, you learn that DNA was discovered over seventy years ago and the base pairing rules are something still followed today. Biochemistry is different. In biochemistry, we are learning about things only discovered a year ago and yet they have completely changed the way we think about structure-function relationships. This is something that is absolutely fascinating. As a high school student, I decided to major in biochemistry because I could learn about both chemistry and biology so I figured this would be the best of both worlds. It was not until I began my biochemistry coursework that my passion truly flourished. Throughout my introductory coursework, I was constantly asking the question of why. Studying biochemistry allows one to answer questions with the specificity of why due to investigation and experimentation at the molecular level. Studying biochemistry allows one to approach scientific questions with a top-up approach. By understanding the molecular interactions that occur, one can understand the physiological outcomes that impact the well-being and function of an organism. In order to study biochemistry one must be excited by a challenge. Biochemical questions have complex answers that allow for one to be completely immersed in a biological process. For example, when looking at transcription, there are many regulatory mechanisms in place to ensure that the right proteins are made in the right tissues at the right times of development and in the correct response to external stressors. Biochemistry seeks to understand how the macromolecules of lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids that make up every living thing work together to accomplish this with high specificity. The way in which these macromolecules interact with one another to perform a cellular function or produce needed metabolic molecules to provide a living organism energy are questions asked by biochemists across the globe. This understanding is vitally important so that when this regulation misgunctions, a solution can be found. This ability spend a career asking questions about how and why these biological processes occur is the main reason to be a researcher. Then ro research biochemistry I can have the ability to ask and investigate questions with the specificity at the molecular level for how regulation occurs in the body. Being a researcher allows me to have a career continuously learning about the complexities of biochemistry. As a biochemist I will have the ability to investigate on the molecular level how epigenetic factors can work to regulate transcription of DNA and understand the threshold to which they can work with other molecular components in the nucleus to do so. The increasing complexity to the field of biochemistry is quite fascinating in showing how scientists have only scratched the surface into how biological processes occur provides a career of life long learning about the molecular interactions that influence life as we know it.
