Cell Biology

This section will serve as an intro to cell biology. These sections cover the information that you need to ace the respective sections in the MCAT. It is from our experience that we have only presented the most useful informatoin in the simplest way to allow for maximum retention. After all you are studying for the MCAT and not for a test on cell biology. There are six subsections.

1. Introduction - Serves as an introduction to cell. It covers the difference between the plant and animal cells, the different types of organelles and the functions they perform. It also talks about structure of the cell and important events such as exchange of information between the cell and the outside world. It includes discussions on different types of transport, different types of junction, and the fluidity of the plasma membrane.

2. Protein - Protein are so ubiquitious, it is what makes us perform all the function necessary to survive. This section serves as an intro protein structure and function. It covers primary sequence, secondary, tertiary, and quarternary structure and briefly mentions protein folding.

3. DNA- Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA is the carrier of genetic material in all organisms. This section covers the chemical aspects of DNA. It looks at the structure of the helix, the nucleotides bases found in DNA and RNA and it hopes to convey how important the structure is in the underlying function. It also mentions DNA sequencing which has known to show up on the MCAT.

4. RNA- Ribonucleic Acid or RNA plays numerous roles within the cell. It serves as mRNA, tRNA, rRNA and also has catalytic power. This section hopes to convey the robustness of RNA and importance in the cell.

5. Carbohydrates- Sugars are important, they serve as energy for the cell. They also serve important roles in signaling. This hopes to convey as a primer to carbohydrates by learning about sugars from ground up. You wil learn about monosaccharides, disacccharides, polysaccharides and how they combine together to perform particular tasks.