This textbook was written for two second-year introductory cell biology courses (one at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia, in Canada, and one at Oregon State University, in the USA). Both of these courses have first-year biology and first-year chemistry as their prerequisites. Thus, this textbook is written in a way that assumes preexisting university-level knowledge of many fundamental concepts that are commonly covered in first-year biology and chemistry.

Depending on how you are using the information in this textbook, you may have a different background than what we have assumed in our content. Alternatively, even if you do have the correct background, it could have been a while since you learned this material, and so it might not all be fresh in your mind.

In this section of the book, we have collected a number of videos that discuss specific topics in ways that we feel will help prepare you for what’s to come in the rest of the book. This section is in no way comprehensive or exhaustive but serves instead as a starting place for you from which you can go and explore more if you feel you need more information.

We have chosen to link to videos, for the most part, as discussions with our students tell us that videos are often the first place they look over written formats.

Chemistry Review Videos

• The chemistry of water: https://youtu.be/5EZw-I65Q0A
• Chemical bonding: https://h5p.org/h5p/embed/267321
• Polar and nonpolar molecules: https://youtu.be/PVL24HAesnc
• Intermolecular forces video: https://h5p.org/h5p/embed/268232
• Basic principles of thermodynamics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N1BxHgsoOw
  •  Entropy and life: https://youtu.be/a_BKQ_ZPImw
  • Thermodynamics and energy diagrams: https://youtu.be/Ykhn2psFmEM
• Basic of acids/base chemistry: https://youtu.be/mnbS56HQbaU
  • More advanced concepts: Acids and pKas in the context of organic chemistry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLKqbC_QIZA

Biology Review Videos

• The basic structures of cells: https://youtu.be/8IlzKri08kk
• Macromolecules
  • Amino acids and proteins: https://youtu.be/wvTv8TqWC48
  • Lipids: https://youtu.be/5BBYBRWzsLA
  • Nucleic acids overview: https://youtu.be/MA-ouz1LtpM
    • Chemistry of DNA: https://youtu.be/o_-6JXLYS-k
    • DNA versus RNA: https://youtu.be/Wdt39RLmE_s
  • Carbohydrates: https://youtu.be/LeOUIXbFyqk
• Transcription, translation, and protein folding overview: https://youtu.be/itsb2SqR-R0
  • Transcription: https://youtu.be/SMtWvDbfHLo
  • Translation: https://youtu.be/TfYf_rPWUdY
• Replication: https://youtu.be/I9ArIJWYZHI
• The cell cycle and mitosis (basics only): https://youtu.be/8uzHTKdv_Sw

We are always looking for new, high-quality material to include in this list that is appropriately licensed to allow us to include it. If you have created a resource that you’d like us to consider, please feel free to let us know.