About the lecture

In the first mini-lecture, we introduce the concept of enzymes as biological catalysts, as discussed in topic 1.7. We begin by first defining the term ‘catalyst’ as substances that can speed up the rate of a reaction by looking at a reaction profile diagram with and without a catalyst. We begin to understand some of their uses that they can have in the body, and their characteristic specificity for certain reactions. To finish off, we learn about the structure of an enzyme, including its active site, and how a reaction proceeds with an enzyme and substrate to form the desired product.

About the lecturer

Dr Matthew Ivory is a Lecturer at Cardiff University in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (2016-present). His key expertise is in ex vivo human skin organ culture and histology, human skin immune cell extraction and culture, flow cytometry and pharmaceutical formulation, and his research interests are in the delivery of vaccines and therapeutics into the skin. In addition to this, he is also a qualified pharmacist.