This class is hard and sometimes mind-numbing with a LOT of content to work through, much more than a typical undergraduate class (expect 50-100 slides per lecture, all with content you need to understand well). However, it is SO USEFUL, dare I say ESSENTIAL, for anyone who is looking toward a research career involving biology, biochemistry, or bioengineering. This course covers key chemical techniques and methodologies used throughout the research world to study, probe, and engineer biological systems. If you read any modern day papers investigating biological systems you will probably encounter at least one technology discussed in this course (and many of these concepts are not really discussed in other courses available to undergraduates at UCLA). Thus, this course is genuinely excellent for preparing you to perform high level research in a PhD, masters, in industry, whatever.

The course itself involves 3 exams, and has required attendance (iClicker). The exams are difficult but you can make a substantial cheat sheet which is very helpful. Ellen Sletten is a great teacher, and although lectures can be dry, they are very informative and she is very clear in how she presents the material and what you should take away.

I wouldn't say I had fun taking the class, but as a current PhD student I use this material every day and felt compelled to come back and leave this review to let everyone know how useful this class is. If you want to do bio-related research, TAKE IT!

Pointing out to a slide that referenced a publication from 2015, Professor Sletten said "Well, this is rather outdated.."
This class is fantastic. Ellen's style of teaching is great, the class is organized rather well.
The best thing about this class, however, is the content. The recentness of the discoveries made in chemical biology makes this class the most thrilling class I have taken at UCLA. Chemical Biology is a loosely defined field. Therefore, to do justice to teaching an intro course on chemical biology, a broad range of topics must be covered in relatively superficial detail. Prof. Sletten however manages to expose her students to a lot of important topic in chemical biology while not making it seem at all superficial. In this class, you will study off of primary sources. The textbook is relatively unhelpful, since Prof. Sletten starts from the basics and builds her way up.
I was initially intimidated by the fact that this class was mostly grad students, but this did not matter since again, you do not need a depth of prior knowledge to do well in this class.
Chemical Biology is a fantastic field, and I can't stop raving about it. Prof. Sletten, and her past and present in the field makes her the ideal candidate to teach this class. If you're interested in knowing where biology becomes chemistry and where chemistry becomes biology, look no further and take this class.

Overall, this was an interesting class that covered a fairly broad range of material, requiring you to make connections among various topics throughout chemistry and biology while interpreting data from key pieces of literature. It's not an easy class, but not exceedingly difficult either.

This is not an easy class. There is a lot of material, but I think that it is an incredibly useful class. You get a lot of exposure to different fields/aspects of chemical biology and it really emphasizes fundamental methods in the field. You'll leave this class with a very strong chemical toolbox. It's one of the most useful classes that I have taken here at UCLA. And it's a fun class! Very interesting material and strong course structure design. 10/10 would take again.

This class is challenging but incredibly interesting and informative. 10/10 recommend this class for any students who want to go to graduate school since it taught you key experimental techniques and research proposal. It’s not an easy class though, but I think it’s worth taking