Medical school bridging
Optimus Primer: A Transformative Introduction to Medical Biochemistry
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A bridging course from the UP College of Medicine for incoming medical students, covering the basic biochemical concepts related to medicine.
Enrollment and lessons are on OpenLearning, UP Manila’s learning platform.
- Enrollment
- Open for enrollment
- Course type
- Short course
- Offered by
- College of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Start date
- Start any time
- Duration
- 4 weeks
- Fee
- See OpenLearning
- Credential
- Certificate of completion
About this course
The faculty of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the UP College of Medicine prepared this bridging course for incoming medical students—both those with no previous biochemistry background, and those who have taken biochemistry but want to review concepts that will help in understanding the OS 201 course.
The course is not meant to duplicate OS 201; it provides basic concepts that are useful supplements to it. Each of the 12 topics has an ungraded pre- and post-test to help students find out what they know. Students who finish all 12 topics receive a certificate of completion of UPCM+ Biochemistry.
What you will learn
The general learning objective is to explain the basic biochemical concepts related to medicine. Students will be able to:
- Describe the elements necessary for life and how they combine into groups that let biomolecules interact.
- Describe chemical bonds, the properties of water as a biological solvent, pH, and how buffers work.
- Explain the laws of thermodynamics and free energy change as applied to biologic systems.
- Enumerate, classify, and explain the functions of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, including isomerism.
- Describe the chemistry and classification of amino acids, and differentiate essential from non-essential, and glucogenic from ketogenic.
- Explain the structure and synthesis of nucleic acids and nucleotides, and how proteins are synthesized.
- Describe the nature and function of enzymes, enzyme kinetics, and regulatory enzymes.
- Describe the significance of biochemistry in the practice of medicine.
Teaching team
Tammy L. Dela Rosa
Leana Rich H. Ong
Rafael Vincent M. Manalo
Enroll
Enrollment for this course is on OpenLearning. Selecting the button opens the course there, where you sign up or log in, then enroll. See all the steps.
Fees, schedules and enrollment status as of 30 September 2026.
