During the Spring 2021 semester, Biochemistry II students in Professor Katherine Hicks’s class at SUNY Cortland (CHE 451) and Professor Kathryn McCulloch’s class at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona; CHM 328) created a series of infographics depicting the functions and structures of a variety of metabolic enzymes.

The goals of this project included having students learn in-depth about their metabolic enzyme and consider how to create a visually appealing and easy-to-understand infographic of their findings.

Students were divided into six pathway groups, including carotenoid, halogenated ring, pyrimidine, purine, caffeine, and pantothenate and Coenzyme A metabolism. Many of these enzymes have important roles in human health and environmental science. Students were encouraged to collaborate with other students preparing infographics on the same metabolic pathway, which in the time of social distancing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was an added benefit.

This project resulted in over 50 infographics on key metabolic enzymes. To our knowledge, this is the first infographic project focused on metabolic enzymes.