CHEM 302: Atmospheric Environmental Chemistry

Posted on August 13, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Want to learn about the different gases in the atmosphere and how they affect the earth? CHEM 302 is a Chemistry course that discusses reactions that describe environmental phenomena such as the ozone layer, pollution, and ozone holes.

format of the course

The format of the course is pretty standard. There were live lectures with quizzes, a midterm, and a final exam. Quizzes were fairly easy with unlimited attempts for each; however, you did not get to know the correct answers till after the submission deadline. Since I took this course virtually, both the midterm and final exam were quizzes on Canvas. The midterm was straightforward and easy, as the concepts of the first half of the course were not complex at all. The final exam was pretty difficult, due to the various reaction mechanisms that you had to memorize. To supplement your studying, there were practice problem sets (not for marks) that contained difficult problems slightly above exam difficulty.

gpa 🙂 or 🙁

This is 100% a GPA booster as a lot of the content is review from 1st year Chemistry. The averages for quizzes were high 90s and for the exams they were low to mid 80s. If you put in the work this is an easy A or A+, as the class average for when I took it was 83. You can also see from the grade distribution that most people achieved an A+.

CHEM 302 Grade Distribution. Credits: ubcgrades.com

verdict: to take or not to take

If you are in Chemistry and want a break in your schedule, I would definitely take this course. I had the advantage of being in Chemical Biology, thus a lot of the Chemistry concepts in this course were basically review from 1st and 2nd year. However, this course is entirely doable for life science majors, as the Chemistry concepts are super easy to follow.

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A Commuter’s Guide to UBC

Posted on August 11, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Most students at UBC commute to and from campus instead of residing on campus, often due to monetary issues or difficulties with finding a space on campus. You’ve probably heard that research shows that longer commutes to school correlate with poorer performance. However, it often just isn’t possible to shorten your commute. So instead, here’s some tips on your commuting options!

Biking

Biking is one of the cheaper options that can also keep you active daily. By biking, you can often get as far east as Cambie Street within 45 minutes.  There is about 50 – 75 metres of elevation gain as you approach the university, and the city can also be quite hilly. Many students also use biking as a “last mile” transportation option: many people bike to a convenient bus stop, use the bus bike racks, and then continue biking once they reach their stop at UBC. You can also ride to an available bike parkade and then take transit to school. However, biking can also be quite miserable in the wintertime, due to the near-constant rain. It also gets dark as early as 4 pm in the wintertime, and some people may not be comfortable with biking in the dark. As well, even with locks, bike theft is a known problem on campus. Despite this, biking is still a very valid option for many students. You can use Google Maps to find your way around, as it also has bike paths built in.

Driving

If you live in the suburbs, such as Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, commute times by transit can reach between one to two hours for a one-way trip. This can be shortened to between thirty minutes to an hour if you have a valid driver’s license or you carpool with a friend. This is one of the more expensive options, as you need to maintain your vehicle, pay for gas, and pay for parking at UBC. Parking passes at UBC range from $370/term ($690/2 terms) for parking at one parkade to $430/term ($800/2 terms) for parking at five parkades, where you need to specify which parkade(s) (out of six) you would like to be able to park in. There is also free parking along Marine Drive, which tends to fill up very quick and is often not a viable option. You could also drive to a Park and Ride (whose rates range from being free to up to $3.75 a day depending on the lot) and take transit to UBC. These Park and Ride lots are in the suburbs, such as at Bridgeport, Coquitlam Central, Park Royal, and Scott Road. Google Maps or a built-in GPS tend to be some of the better options for finding away around while driving.

Transiting

Vancouver’s transit system is often considered one of the best in Canada.  If you are eligible (which most students are), you may use the U-Pass which you must renew every month. This is paid for by your student fees for $43.35/month. If you commute during peak hours, you often won’t be able to sit, so some students arrange their classes so they can commute when it’s less busy. The most popular buses include the 49 (49th Avenue to Metrotown Station), R4 (41st Avenue express to Joyce Station), 25 (King Edward Avenue to Brentwood Station), 99 (Broadway express to Commercial-Broadway), and 84 (4th Avenue express to VCC-Clark Station). These connect to the Expo, Millennium, and Canada Line Skytrain Lines, which further connect into the suburbs. You can use the Translink Trip Planner and apps such as Transit or Radar to plan your trips and see where the next buses are. One of the downsides is that the transit system can be very unreliable when it snows, and there are sometimes hiccups due to accidents and mechanical issues. Transiting can also take up to 2 hours each way, depending on how far away you live. However, you can also use your transit time to settle down, catch up on readings or homework, or sleep.

Conclusion

There are multiple ways of getting around depending on your needs and current resources, and there isn’t one “best” way of commuting, as everyone’s situation is different. Take a look at your options, and learn more about your commute before you start in September!

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ENGL 321: English Grammar and Usage (Review)

Posted on August 4, 2021 by | Leave a comment

This course is a great arts elective, however it is most likely not what you think it is.  It is not a course that teaches strict grammatical rules vehemently challenging everyday speech and writing.  Instead, it is focused on descriptive grammar: grammatically describing English used in everyday situations.  In addition, it is a great choice for someone who does not like to attend lectures, as the whole course can be online and generally consists of readings with a couple videos.

I would recommend this course to those who are interested in understanding the rules behind everyday English use.  For most of us, English use is intuitive; no thought about sentence structure is needed.  However, if you want to understand how to make sense of our inherent intuition or you would like to be able to describe the English structure to someone learning English, this course is a great choice for you.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

This was my first summer course, in 2020S, which took place over both summer semesters, making it more relaxed than most summer courses.  Of course, it can also be taken in the Winter Semester.  When I took it, the course grade was divided into 3 assignments/assessments over the course of 12 lessons:

  1. Journal entries (10%) – These normally consist of engaging or controversial questions such as whether there is a future tense in English.  When I took the course, these were group assignments.  Bringing friends can make it enjoyable, or you can meet interesting arts kids like I did.
  2. Exercises (10%) – These are exercises based on weekly online lessons.  I found them very useful for acquiring a conceptual understanding needed for the tests.  They are for completion.
  3. Tests (80%) – There are 3 tests: Test 1 and 2 (each 20%) are based on lessons 1-3 and 1-7, respectively.  The final exam (30%) is not worth too much more than the tests, easing the pressure of the exam.

The 12 lessons are split into 4 units, which are meant to build up your understanding of grammar.  This is done starting from words in sentences, and building up to clauses and analyzing modern-day uses of English.

GPA 🙂 OR 🙁

As long as you keep up with the lessons, you will do great (A+)!  I found the most challenging part of the course was the journal entries, but with less weight on them, there is less pressure to do well.  The exam question themes are given out beforehand and can help you narrow down your studying.

Here is the grade distribution from Winter 2020:

ENGL 321 Grade Distribution (Credits: ubcgrades.com)

VERDICT?

If you need an arts elective and would like to understand how English is built, then ENGL 321 will boost your GPA!  It is also a great choice as there are no lectures and the weight is distributed on multiple assessments.  For those who are not interested, there are many other arts electives out there, so no need to worry.  Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!  Enjoy the course.

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PHYS 101: Energy and Waves

Posted on August 1, 2021 by | Leave a comment

An interactive and fun course to learn about introductory physics. PHYS 101 is all about how energy and waves work!

format of the course

The lecture portion of this course is quite interactive as it consists of many i-clicker questions, group worksheets, and cool demos. There is also a lab portion of the course where you get to work with a partner apply the things you’ve learnt in class. Besides the interesting lab experiments, there are also no lab reports; however there is a time-crunching lab exam. The labs were held once every two weeks along with alternating tutorials that were also held biweekly. In the tutorials we would work in small groups of 3-4 to solve a series of challenging problems and then “teach” how we solved it to the TAs.

There is only one midterm worth 10-15%  of your grade. Both the midterm and final exam are written as two-stage exams where you first write the exam individually and then write it in a group of your own choosing. The group phase was basically the exact same exam completed as a group. The great part is that if you do worse on the group phase it would not count towards your score.

gpa 🙂 or 🙁

It’s feasible to get a good grade in the course if you enjoy the course content and enjoy math overall (no Calculus needed). Some parts where marks are easily lost are in the labs as they are quite nitpicky with the marking and formatting of the notebooks and assignments. However, there are a lot of areas where marks are basically free (participation, tutorials) to make up for this fact. The exams are super fair in terms of content, however the MC portion can be stressful as getting one wrong could cost you 6% of your mark. The average when I took this course was 72. Attached is the grade distribution form 2017W term 2:

PHYS 101 Grade Distribution. Credits: ubcgrades.com

verdict: to take or not to take?

I would definitely take this course again! Being a student in life sciences doesn’t give me many opportunities to take physics-related courses. If you are in the same boat as me, this is a stress-free course to widen your scientific breadth!

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BIOL 341: Introductory Molecular Biology Laboratory Course Review

Posted on July 22, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Planning to go into Biotechnology or Bioinformatics research? Take this course if you are looking for a lab selection.

This course teaches you the basics of cloning (molecular biology) that are applicable to working in any molecular biology lab. Some of the techniques taught are restriction endonuclease analysis, primer design and PCR, gel electrophoresis, and DNA sequencing basics. As well, you explore introductory bioinformatics.

format of the course

I took this course in 2018W1, and we worked on two major projects: cloning of a GFP containing plasmid, and a bioinformatics research project on a gene with an unknown function. Both are done in groups. This course had many pre-lab activities to help students understand the concepts behind each lab procedure. With careful planning, you can finish all the lab activities in time and plan your bioinformatics project with your team. This course has a heavy course load, so time management and organization is key!

gpa 🙂 or 🙁

This course was marked fairly but it’s good to finish assignments early and ask for guidance from the TA’s and instructors who are marking. This course is definitely NOT a GPA booster and you should be prepared to work hard to get an A. Grade distribution from recent years:

BIOL 341 Grade Distribution (Credits: ubcgrades.com)

verdict? To take or not to take

Whether you are looking to go into industry or research, the fundamental skills taught in this class are important for many fields of Biology. If you take this class, be prepared to work hard .

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ENGL 301: Technical Writing (Review)

Posted on July 19, 2021 by | Leave a comment

If you are planning to go into Co-op, looking for an online course while in Co-op, or simply need a break from science-related courses while still furthering your career, this is the right course for you.  I believe it may be required for people in the bachelor of computer science (second degree) program, and thus would probably be a good fit for CPSC students.  It is also arts credit, yet it is meant for students in science/other faculties, so no need to feel anxious about competing with Arts majors while getting those arts credits.

ENGL 301 is all about technical writing skills, predominantly business correspondence, something that is not prevalent in science courses but is essential in applying to any job.  Thus, if you already have good technical writing skills, this course will be a breeze.  If you don’t, you will learn essential skills like drafting a resume/CV or cover letter.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

ENGL 301 is a fully online course focused on practicing and improving technical writing skills.  The course format and due dates are laid out right away, and there are no exams.

When I took it (2020W), the course was divided into four 3-week sections:

  1. Introduction to business and technical writing, communication with instructors and classmates and building an online site.  The focus of this section is business correspondence.
  2. Report proposal, peer-review, and resume-building.  The resume is essential to creating an online networking strategy with a Linked-In profile being the key feature.
  3. Job application, report designing, and team feedback.  The highlight is the job application skills, where one can apply to a job of choice, graduate school or an international volunteer opportunity and to continue designing the report with the help of team feedback
  4. Finalizing the report, networking strategy and web folio.  At this stage, peer reviews allow for the final version of the blog, report, and all plans for social networking are completed.

Small projects may differ depending on the year/semester.  In summary, the main projects in this course are designing a web folio and a final report on some specific aspect of your life (volunteering, work, etc.) that you think may be improved by collecting data via surveys and/or interviews of stakeholders.  There were small assignments due every Tuesday and Thursday that could be completed quickly.  If you like courses with many small assignments contributing to an overall grade, this course is for you.

GPA 🙂 OR 🙁

Although there is some busy work, many examples of the projects and small assignments are available by students posting early, or web folios provided from previous years.  If you follow the instructions and textbook templates closely, you should be able to achieve A+, however with minimal work it is still an easy A.  It may help to have a group of 4 friends, or simply make new friends (as I did), as you form groups to edit each other’s work.

ENGL 301 Grade Distribution (Credit: ubcgrades.com)

VERDICT? To take or not to take

If you are interested in improving your technical writing skills for that next job, preparing for Co-op, or even know technical writing and want a laid-back course where you can build your technical writing skills, this course is for you.  If you are motivated by competition, the best final report will receive a scholarship.  Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.  I hope you enjoy the course!

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Protein Showcase: Chaperon(ins) to the Rescue

Posted on July 18, 2021 by | Leave a comment

The process of protein synthesis has probably been ingrained in your brain if you have taken any introductory biology or cell biology courses. It is so important that it is often referred to as the central dogma of molecular biology: DNA is transcribed to RNA, which is then translated to proteins.

Proteins essentially carry out the functions needed for the cells to remain alive. Need something made or broken down? Enzymes. Need something transported or moved? Carrier and intramembrane proteins. When it comes to proteins, shape equals function.

With their vast variety in function, the way a protein folds as it is made is closely monitored. Protein folding is faster than translation, thus the moment the N-terminal is exposed to the aqueous environment of the cytosol, the chain begins to fold due to intramolecular forces. As the chain continues to elongate, the protein can become kinetically trapped because the native state of a protein is only partially stable. Partially folded or misfolded states are problematic because they tend to aggregate due to their exposed hydrophobic surfaces (Hartl, F., et al. 2011).

Figure 1: Competing reactions of protein folding and aggregation (Hartl, F., et al. 2011)

So, what to do with a misfolded protein? Chaperones and chaperonins are in charge or re-folding them. Also known as heat-shock proteins (hsp’s). These proteins seek and bind to exposed hydrophobic surfaces in newly translated proteins (Campbell, M., & Farrel, S. 2012).

Chaperones (Hsp70) bind and stabilize misfolded or partially folded proteins and prevent their aggregation as they are translated. ATP binding causes the chaperone to release the completed chain into the cytosol, allowing the protein to fold properly (Albert, B. 2015).

Figure 2: The hsp70 family of molecular chaperones (Albert, B. 2015)

Sometimes, even the chaperones are unsuccessful in helping the protein re-fold into its native state. In this case, additional chaperones or the more complex chaperonins (hsp60 and hsp10) provide additional help.

Chaperonins create a chamber for the proteins to re-fold post-translationally. First, the protein is captured though hydrophobic interactions with the entrance of the chamber (hsp60). The protein is then released into the interior of the chamber, which is lined with hydrophilic amino acids, and then it is sealed with a lid (hsp10). Here, the substrate can fold into its final conformation in isolation, where there are no other proteins that may aggregate. Finally, when ATP is hydrolyzed, the lid pops off, and the substrate protein is released from the chamber (Albert, B. 2015).

The best characterized chaperonin is the GroEL/GroES system in E. coli

Figure 3: Visualization of the GroEL/GroES chaperonins in E. coli (Rachel Davidovitz, 2014)

If the protein is still improperly folded, it is then targeted for degradation (ubiquitination, we’ll talk about it next time!)

References:

Albert, B, et al. (2015). Molecular Biology of the Cell (6th Edition). Garland Science, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Campbell, M., & Farrel, S. (2012). Biochemistry (7th Edition). Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

Hartl, F. U., Bracher, A., & Hayer-Hartl, M. (2011). Molecular chaperones in protein folding and proteostasis. Nature, 475(7356), 324-332.doi:10.1038/nature10317

Rachel Davidovitz (2014, October 6). Active Cage Mechanism of Chaperonin-Assisted Protein Folding Demonstrated at Single-Molecule Level [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–NcNeLc1mo&ab_channel=RachelDavidowitz

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FRST 303: Principles of Forest Science (Review)

Posted on July 17, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Need a light and easy elective to balance out your heavy course load? Consider FRST 303, a 3-credit course that offers a glimpse of a different branch of science: forest science.

This course starts from the basics of the plant cell, so if you’re already familiar with plant biology you’re in good shape! But even if you’re not familiar with it, don’t let that discourage you from taking this course because there also isn’t too much information that you have to take in.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

I took this course in 2020W1, and there was only a midterm and final exam. To prepare us for the closed-book exams, Chris gave us a list of potential midterm/final questions as a study guide.

Chris was a really kind professor, and he was always willing to review and resolve any confusion that students had, which made our online learning experience much better.

GPA 🙂 OR 🙁

Having all the potential exam questions beforehand helped narrow our studying for the exams, and made this course was a booster (A+)!

Check out the grade distribution below from Winter 2020:

FRST 303 Grade Distribution (Credits: ubcgrades.com)

VERDICT?

If you are looking to study a different branch of science, or simply want a GPA-boosting elective, take FRST 303! I hope you enjoy this course, and let me know if you have any questions in the comments below 🙂

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Meet Our New Writers!

Posted on July 12, 2021 by | Leave a comment

We’re happy to announce the many new additions to our team! Please welcome the following new members as they share a bit about their passions and interests.

Chanelle Chow

Chanelle is graduating from UBC with a specialization in Biology. She is currently researching endophytic archaea and is working on the development of a non invasive bubble helmet ventilator system that can be used in healthcare settings. She has interests in photography, painting, and making drinks.  She also has 4 goldfish and a catfish!

Edgar Daniel Fuller Altamirano

Edgar is a graduate from Concordia University with a specialization in Cell and Molecular Biology and is currently studying at UBC as an Integrated Sciences Major. Interests vary from protein-protein interactions and metabolic pathways to environmental health and safety and public health policies. In his free time he plays DnD and volunteers to play tag with kids. Also naps.

ethan Rajkumar

Ethan Rajkumar is a third year Chemistry student at UBC. He doesn’t know what to do yet but is potentially interested in grad school. During his spare time, he likes to make and edit videos, graphics, garden, mountain bike and do weird and interesting things. However, most of the time you’ll either see him looking at cute pictures of puppies or cooking (although we all seriously doubt that his food is good) ????.

Golzar Ejadi

Golzar is a recent graduate from the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia with a Double Major in Biology and Psychology. She is interested in various topics, but one of the main is how early life experiences shape us. In her free time, she volunteers with a global non-profit and practices her vocals!

quentin Michalchuk

Quentin Michalchuk is a fourth-year student in Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia.  He is currently in the Pharmacology Co-op program, where he is working as a Research Assistant in the Lockwood Lab at the BC Cancer Research Institute investigating novel therapeutics for lung cancer.  His undergraduate career-related interests include geriatric and pathology-related research, participation in clubs such as the Pharmacology and Cellular, Anatomical, and Physiological Sciences Student Association, and volunteering, playing chamber music at senior homes and as Treasurer of the Rotaract Club of Vancouver.  Personal interests include classical music, the outdoors, and hot chocolate and bubble tea.

rex chen

Rex graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BSc specializing in Chemistry. His interests are in materials chemistry with applications in renewable energy. He currently works as a Research Associate at NanoOne Materials Corp, working on High Voltage Spinels (HVS) with applications towards Li-ion batteries in electric vehicles and electronic devices. In his free time, Rex loves to ride his bike around Vancouver, watch obscure movies, and read “free” books on his Kindle because he thinks it’s economically feasible.

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CHEM 330: Advanced Organic Chemistry

Posted on July 12, 2021 by | Leave a comment

A chance to further advance your 2nd year organic chemistry knowledge. CHEM 330 is a one of the hardest courses I’ve taken at UBC; however the nuanced content also made this an interesting organic chemistry course.

format of the course

There are lots of assessments in this course relative to your standard university course. When I took it, there were weekly problem sheets along with two huge problem sets that were all worth a substantial portion of your mark (they were quite challenging as well). Lectures were taught in a smaller lecture hall via chalk and blackboard. This means that you definitely couldn’t miss lecture as the notes would otherwise not be available online. There was also a midterm and final exam both composed of fill in the products/reagents, synthesis, and mechanism type questions. You also needed to memorize random trivia like the pKa of different organic compounds and certain bond energies.

The content was basically an extension of CHEM 213, in terms of looking at the reactions in more detail. A concept that I really enjoyed was the stereochemical control of nucleophilic addition to a carbonyl and how the stereochemistry of the alpha carbon could dictate how the nucleophile would attack the carbonyl carbon. In CHEM 213, this fact would have likely been glossed over, but in CHEM 330 we studied in-depth the mechanism behind this phenomenon.

gpa 🙂 or 🙁

This course is a massive GPA dropper and it is unclear whether there was scaling. I spent two courses worth of time studying for this course, as not only do you have to memorize a ton of reactions, you also have to learn how to use them together when faced with a synthesis problem or draw on your understanding of these reactions when confronted with a mechanism problem. I managed to get the 3rd highest midterm mark; however, this was around 91-93 which is appallingly low when the same mark in most courses wouldn’t be noteworthy of a top 3. For some reason, the professor let everyone know what the top 10 marks were, and these marks ranged all the way down to high 70s. The average for this course in 2019W was 72. The distribution is quite variable as this was a small class of 60.

CHEM 330 grade distribution. Credits: ubcgrades.com

verdict: to take or not to take

While I don’t regret taking this course it’s definitely not something I would want to take again. In a way, this course helped me discover that organic chemistry wasn’t for me. If you’re super interested in organic chemistry, this course will truly test the extent of your interest.

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