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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Chemical Biology by University of Geneva

4.6
stars
118 ratings

About the Course

Chemical biology is a burgeoning field that has rapidly risen to prominence. This surge of interest has been fuelled by chemical biology’s applicability to understanding critical processes in live cells or model organisms in real time. This success has arisen because chemical biology straddles a nexus between chemistry, biology, and physics. Thus, chemical biology can harness rapid chemistry to observe or perturb biological processes, that are in turn reported using physical assays, all in an otherwise unperturbed living entity. Although its boundaries are endless, the multidisciplinary nature of chemical biology can make the field seem daunting; we beg to differ! Here, we deconstruct chemical biology into its core components, and repackage the material. In the process we build up for each student a practical and theoretical knowledge bank that will set these students on their way to understanding and designing their own chemical biology experiments. We will discuss fluorescence as a general language used to read out biological phenomena as diverse as protein localization, membrane tension, surface phenomena, and enzyme activity. We will proceed to discuss protein labeling strategies and fusion protein design. Then we will discuss larger and larger scale chemical biology mechanism and screening efforts. Highlights include a large amount of new data, tailored in the lab videos, and a large number of skilled presenters....

Top reviews

MB

Dec 12, 2021

Amazing instuctors! Fabulous course, albeit challenging. I'd recommend it for those with a solid backgroud on related fields: Biophysics, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Biology, Genetics, etc.

MF

Dec 2, 2020

With due respect sir, I would like to say you that I have problem with the quiz system. I can't tell which on of my answer is right or wrong. Please sir, mark the right anwers in green

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1 - 25 of 29 Reviews for Chemical Biology

By Muaz F

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Dec 3, 2020

With due respect sir, I would like to say you that I have problem with the quiz system. I can't tell which on of my answer is right or wrong. Please sir, mark the right anwers in green

By Roger P

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Dec 4, 2020

I'm afraid I abandoned this course after a couple of weeks because I was finding the balance between reading material and video content to be skewed towards the reading, with much of this not being discussed further in the lectures. I've done many online courses and I like them because of the lectures - if I wanted to read lots of stuff then I could choose a textbook.

By Mary F

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Sep 9, 2021

As a former instructor of these topics, I was excited to start this course and catch up on what is new in biology, chemistry, and physics. While I learned quite a bit I found myself growing more and more frustrated as the course progressed. Several times I wanted to just quit but kept hoping things would get better. Comments were made in lectures..."As we saw in a/the previous module..." about topics that had not been covered. Questions were asked on quizzes on concepts that were not covered or only briefly alluded to. This required much research outide of class to pass the quizzes. So, yes, I learned a lot, but I am glad that I didn't pay for a certificate and I wouldn't recommend this class unless one has a strong foundation in organic chemistry, cellular biology, microbiology, and biochemistry. The physics was covered adequately for what was used.

By Aleksandar M

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Jul 22, 2022

I wouldn't call this an intermediary level course. It's really challenging, and a lot of background in molecular biology and chemistry is needed. At times, it seems a bit disorganized, almost as a random collection of experiments and techniques, and my frustration with the course continually grew by the week 5. Weeks 5 and 6 are more dynamic, and this is where some previous course material starts to show up again, making the entire picture somewhat clearer.

Lecturers are good, and the production quality is on high-level. Subtitles can be improved, though. Many words (especially scientific terms) are incorrectly transcribed, almost as if they were automatically-generated. Explanations are great, but very condensed, so i recommend watching lectures several times.

Quizes are difficult, sometimes to the point where they seem unfair. Most of the questions demand problem-solving skills. That's fine, and i do appreciate that, but maybe some easier exercises would be beneficial. I heard about T-REX and G-REX techniques for the first time ever, and immediately i was asked to solve problems related to them. It was unnecessarily frustrating.

Overall, it is clear that a lot of effort was put into this course. It's done in the most professional way, with lots of examples, and awesome lecturers. Just the fact that it exists, and that it's the only course on chemical biology available on Coursera makes it worth it. However, it suffers from the same problem as the other course offered by the University of Geneva that i've taken so far: it needs to be didactically adapted. This is why i decided to give it four stars. I'm all up for a good challenge, but this one was a little too frustrating.

By Karen C

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Mar 8, 2021

I knew from the start this would be over my head, and boy, it sure was. But that’s one of the benefits of moocs: you can take a class that’s a little beyond your grasp, take away as much as you can, and save the rest as aspirational motivation. For my purposes, it was a great success.

I spent 51 hours on site rather than the 21 hours predicted, but some of that is because of an obsession with note-taking. And I passed, though I probably didn't deserve to purely on the basis of knowledge retained (good test-taking skills, that obsessive note-taking, and a lot of persistence paid off).

FMI I posted about the course on my personal website:

https://sloopie72.wordpress.com/2021/03/08/switching-it-up-instead-of-biochem-lets-try-chemical-biology-mooc/

By Olajide A

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Aug 11, 2021

This is by far the most challenging course I have ever enrolled in on coursera, it made me think and be analytical about my thoughts. I am glad I got to finish it because it unlocked a new part of me. I really learnt a lot of new techniques which are/will be beneficial to my research. Kudos!!! to all the instructors.

By Lorenzo T I

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Nov 1, 2020

If you want to be updated on the new biochemical techniques to study metabolic processes in a cell, this course is a great resource. A good background in Organic Chemistry will help you understand well the principles of the techniques presented.

By Shreyasi R C

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May 24, 2021

An amazing course with the right amount of difficulty level, challenging test patterns seeking the accurate grasp of concepts, a very well planned course structure, the mind-blowing delivery of lectures, and presentation of course material! Indeed so immensely privileged and grateful to have found this opportunity to learn the foundations of my dream research domain, online from some of the best Professors and Researchers from Universit�� de Gen��ve, EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), etc., imparting education so magnificently, through practical and theoretical content, so well provided on this platform! I admit putting in a lot of effort behind completing this but with more and more euphoria and interest every time, in contrary to ideas of chilled and laidback vibes of general online courses with very flexible schedules. I am also immensely thankful to Coursera and my Alma Mater Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur for providing us with such platforms to continue learning and never stop aiming high, even through these extremely challenging times. It indeed felt like one-to-one mentoring, thanks to Prof. Robbie Loewith and Prof Marcus J. C. Long. Elated and excited for more learning! Chemical Biology <3

By Joshua M N Q

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Jan 16, 2021

The course gives in-depth lessons about the application of chemical laboratory techniques and analysis to manipulate, study, and design biological systems. In addition to this, the quizzes are practically challenging that they will truly test your understanding of each module. I will definitely consider a career path in this field as it allows to solve problems arising from the interface of chemistry and biology.

By Alvaro F L

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Jul 12, 2021

Very insightful and interesting course, and provides new perspectives on the potential applications of chemistry in biological research. This course also emphasizes the importance of chemical innovation in designing more efficient and versatile biological research tools that may help to unravel new findings in biochemistry and biology in general.

By Roshen R I

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Nov 16, 2020

Very challenging yet interesting topic. This is 21st century science towards revolutionizing Systems Biology and other science fields

By Md A A N

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Jan 9, 2022

Excellent primer on chemical biology. Although the course contents were biased towards the instructors' own research, I found it common in chemical biology teachings. But they presented a rather comprehensive introduction to chemical biology within this 6-week-long course. Many thanks to the instructors for excellent presentation of the background and showing practical applications.

By Felix M

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Mar 9, 2024

Excellent introduction into the world of chemical biology. Approaches the field from a more biological angle than I had at university and while I thought it would just refresh my knowledge, it actually taught me many new things about innovative assays, protein based sensors and PNA libraries! Enjoyed the course, thanks :)

By Matthew B

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Dec 12, 2021

Amazing instuctors! Fabulous course, albeit challenging. I'd recommend it for those with a solid backgroud on related fields: Biophysics, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Biology, Genetics, etc.

By Sebastian B

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Apr 2, 2021

Un curso interesante, que reúne múltiples conceptos física, química y biología para poder darnos un mejor entendimiento del mundo nanométrico y de su gran importancia. Muy recomendable

By Luis A N B

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Jul 23, 2021

Wonderful and fascinating course, an excellent introduction to the field of Chemical Biology. I feel really fortunate to learn from this great team of professors. Thank you very much!

By Ghadeer

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Dec 24, 2020

Amazing course, the best one i enrolled in so far here, very well build and got used to the simple fantastic teaching of Dr. Marcus Long, glad to have spent time studying this topic

By B S

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Mar 21, 2023

This is the most difficult course but also the very best course I ever passed. VERY VERY PROFOUND COURSE MATERIAL with very high standards. I am very proud of myself that I passed.

By Halah

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Aug 16, 2021

A comprehensive and challenging course. An excellent overview of many chem bio concepts and offers a deeper understanding of powerful tools to use in the lab.

By Andrea F J E

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Aug 19, 2022

Thank you for an excellent course!! I learnt a lot and really enjoyed it. I hope a second part comes soon.

By Emir O

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Jun 11, 2021

An excelent course, full of interesting content and complex lessons that will contirbute to my research.

By Luis A M C

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Dec 1, 2021

Very nice for a biotechnologist or pharmacology akine engineers

By Lucie P

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Apr 13, 2021

I loved this course. Full of interesting topics!

By Ananta

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Jan 18, 2023

Lots of new things one can learn.

By Mohamad r h

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Nov 17, 2022

EXCELLENT