Babel - Bringing Teachers Together

You have recently completed your Ph.D. thesis in pharmacology and are enthusiastic to begin your job at a local pharmacy. Your background knowledge and research in biology have allowed you to do significant research in physiology. Acting the role of a pharmacist, you will be creating medicine labels for two patients who need help with enzyme imbalance in their digestive systems. It is your responsibility to print out the labels for each medication, giving specific information to each patient based on what you have researched.

Before you can write the labels for prescriptions, you need to find important information about enzymes that you may have forgotten since graduate exams. Using websites, you will answer the following essential questions:

1. What are enzymes and what do they do?

2. How do enzymes work?

3. When do enzymes work best?

You need to investigate what enzymes are and how they help you in your day-to-day actions. To brush up on what enzymes are, use the following websites to assist you (make sure to take notes as you go through):

1. What are enzymes and what do they do? What kind of organic compounds are enzymes? Are they beneficial or damaging to your body?

http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell2.htm

2. How do enzymes work? Use the animations to help you answer the questions.

http://www.lewport.wnyric.org/jwanamaker/animations/Enzyme%20activity.html

‘Why enzymes”

1. Describe what you did and how it relates to “building blocks”?

“Specificness”

2. What are the functions of the two enzymes? Why?

“Reusing Enzymes”

3. Write a sentence describing how the words ‘polymer’ and ‘enzymes’ are connected.

“Denaturing”

4. What did the heat do? Why is this important for ‘building blocks’?

5. Now draw, label and explain how enzymes work.

6. You need to understand the 3 main factors (variables) that control the effectiveness of enzyme activity. (The activity that you just did mentioned a few!)

http://www.rsc.org/education/teachers/learnnet/cfb/enzymes.htm

What are the variables?

Variable #1 = ?

Variable #2 = ?

Variable #3 = ?

7. Explain the “lock and key” hypothesis:http://www.coolschool.ca/lor/BI12/unit7/U07L02.htm

Two patients come to you for help with some digestive problems. You need to figure out what is causing the problem and prescribe an enzyme supplement for each patient using the form at the end of this page.

Patient #1 (Ralph Wiggs)

Has a difficult time digesting meat products as his stomach is usually in pain. You measure the pH of his stomach acid and it reads 6 on the pH scale.

Patient #2 (Sandra Pollak)

Has low energy levels but eats the proper foods to give her energy. You take the pH of her saliva and it reads 4 on the pH scale.

To figure out which enzymes are at work, go to the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_aqa/enzymes/enzymes4.shtml

Understanding variables for your enzymes:http://www.coolschool.ca/lor/BI12/unit7/U07L03.htm

How to possibly change pH:http://www.ajpip.com/resources/site_map.htm

PRESCRIPTION LABEL FORMAT

Name (patient), Enzyme name

Target pH

Diet (Combine with what food?)

Storage (Where should you keep your medicine)

Warning (How could the prescription enzymes be ineffective?)