Importance of Biochemistry
The molecules of life
The evolution of species itself is a consequence of the constant modification of the chemical processes of organisms in response to both physical and chemical variations to which they may be subjected by the environment, with substances serving in the first instance as reactive and communicative entities, which is why all organisms are vulnerable, in one way or another, to the transformations that occur outside their own body.
This molecular capacity to perceive and react to phenomena has been the key to the development of increasingly complex species with an increasing number of chemical substances generated by their own cells, as cellular specialization and the availability of elemental resources have allowed.
Basis for medicine
Understanding how the chemical substances that make up metabolisms play their various roles provides constant contributions to the research of the factors involved in the processes and circumstances of diseases, the development of drugs to combat them and all other phenomena that govern health in general. From there, biochemistry has allowed medicine and pharmacology to dive into ever deeper waters, aiming to find definitive answers that allow the approach, both preventive and therapeutic, of the diseases of greatest relevance to humanity, achieving at the same time the least possible impact on the body as a consequence of the adverse chemical reactions generated by the treatments.
Research into the mechanisms operating in the immune system is the indispensable basis for discovering how a living being can defend itself against potential attacks from other species. This complex defense system is governed entirely by a wide variety of chemical substances that become key indicators, even when it comes to assessing whether an individual has been exposed to the presence of a particular pathogen. Therefore, the bioanalysis of these substances, as well as of the others present in the body, has become the starting point for the vast majority of diagnostic processes implemented by all health specialists.
Interests and interactions
Other fields in which biochemistry has been very useful are areas such as: 1) evolution, allowing the discovery of the orders of evolutionary systematics existing between species; 2) genetics, in all its subareas of applicability; 3) paleontology, through the discovery of residual substances in fossil remains and the obtainable genetic material; 4) anthropology; as the basis of the evolutionary changes of the human species itself; 5) ecology, with an increasing relevance that starts from the relationships and chemical reactions existing between species and their environment, to the environmental alterations caused by human actions and what can be implemented to reverse them; 6) chemical engineering through the study and development of biopolymers; and 7) neuroscience, through an increasing understanding of the functioning of brain substances that have made possible the complexity of all mental factors.
Even in areas as seemingly simple as sport, biochemistry is taking on increasingly important roles as research into the chemical substances that make life possible advances, making this part of science one of the sources of work with the greatest potential and longevity among the areas of study of the present and the future.