(apologies for the metronome sound)
Carol of the Cells

Hark how the cells
Sweet gamete cells
Join up with care
Sperm and egg must pair
(melody)

Zygote is here
Bringing good cheer
Soon cells will grow
Into an embryo
(add cells chant)

First cells one through eight
Totipotent, great!
Then morula forms
16 cells the norm
(add parallel third harmony)

The blastocyst’s
An early embryo
Cavity filled 
With fluid you know

Next, ICM
Source of all cells stem
Then, trophoblast
Placenta at last

Oct4 is on
Proliferation strong
Cdx2 
Is important too

Cells move
In gastrulation
The celebration
Of new growth

Germ layers of them there are three
Origins of tissues you will soon see

Then embryo
Begins to grow
Weeks one through eight
Cells migrate

Weeks nine through birth
Bring heightened mirth
Organs will refine
Stay away from wine!

Nine months of gestation
Bring elation
When they’re through

Happy, happy, happy, happy, birthday
Crazy that we humans get here this way

Hark how the cells
Sweet gamete cells
Are at the heart
Of life’s start

Hark how the cells…

MCAT Music Recordings

Carol of the Cells (2012)

Verse:
Aliphatic, aromatic, acids, bases, hydroxyls too
Sulfurs, amides, side chain groups
Are all important and I’m like
Oh my god, hydrogen bonds
Stabilizing til they’re gone 
Amino acids got it going on, oh yeah

Non-polar, hydrophobic
Only carbon and hydrogen 
In the R groups, glycine smallest 
Just an H and then comes alanine 
With CH3, small enough to fit tightly 
Valine, leucine, Ile 
Isopropyl, sec-butyl, isobutyl, yeah

Chorus:
Met has embedded sulfur, but still hates H2O
And it is the start codon, always ready to go
Phenylalanine is F, tryptophan’s W
Nitrogen and two fused rings
It’s nonpolar too

Proline is a kinky weirdo 
Disrupting helices
Cysteine’s got a sulfur
Makes bridges, keeps the peace
Tyrosine’s a little polar 
OH in para place
But it’s still hydrophobic
And it takes up space

Verse:
Hydrophilic, polar groups
Serine has just one hydroxyl
Threonine is similar
But it’s also got methyl
Asn is asparagine
NH2 is pretty mean
Not a base, an amide, oh no

Don’t confuse glutamine with 
Glutamate or it’s acid form
Only difference ‘tween the two
Is a hydrogen on the O
My god, aspartate
Aspartic acid’s conjugate base
Next the ones with nitrogen 
lone pairs can grab protons out of solution

Chorus:
Lysine is a simple basic, loves water all the time
Arginine has lots of lone pairs
The pi bond is a base full time
Histidine’s heterocyclic
That doesn’t mean it’s straight
It’s aromatic, baby
And it resonates 

Cationic at low pH
Anionic when it’s high
Zwitterions are neutral
When pH is pI
Amine groups attack carbonyl
This is a peptide bond
Read proteins N to C
And keep moving on

Bridge:
Hydrophobic 9, polar uncharged 6
Basic 3, acidic 2, and that is it
Electric charge - acids and bases
Glycine is achiral, fits in small spaces!

Let’s review abbreviations 
A-l-a A, A-r-g R
A-s-n N, Asp D
Cys C will take you far
G-l-n Q Glu E Gly G 
His H I-l-e I
L-e-u L Lys K Met M
Phe F Pro is P

S-e-r is S and
T-h-r is T Trp W
T-y-r is Y and Val is V 
And now we’re through
This is nonsense if you’re normal
Makes sense if you’re premed
Twenty amino acids
Without them you’re dead!

MCAT Music Recordings 

Protein Place (Blank Space Parody)

Memory, encode new information.
Most passively absorbed automatic processing.
Controlled processing works best with semantic then acoustic, visual encoding’s weak.

Self-reference effect helps you recall things the best when they’re somehow related to you.
Also maintenance rehearsal helps again and again
Memory palace, mnemonics too

Sensory memory’s super short
but quite precise and detailed
Short-term memory’s limited to seven
The hippocampus holds it

Working memory is in there too
Integrates your attention
Executive function too
Long-term memory requires consolidation to work
Over time, moves to the cortex

Implicit non declarative and procedural - unconscious skills and responses
Explicit splits to episodic and semantic
Require conscious recall

Retrieval - demonstrate that you’ve learned things
Recognition is easier, Ebbinghaus can relearn
Space your studying, and if you’re drunk stay drunk for the test
Spreading activation helps priming

Memory (Psych/Soc Review)

I'm a former theater kid studying for the MCAT.

Actively Transporting Knowledge