This textbook, Essentials of Biochemistry is aimed at chemistry and biochemistry undergraduate students and first year biochemistry graduate students. It incorporates the lectures of the authors given to students with a strong chemistry background. An emphasis is placed on metabolism and reaction mechanisms and how they are studied. As the title of the book implies, the text lays the basis for an understanding of the fundamentals of biochemistry.

Herbert J. Fromm (1929-) received the BS degree from Michigan State College (University) in 1950 and the Ph.D. degree in 1954 from Loyola University School of Medicine (Chicago). He was a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Paul D. Boyer's laboratory in 1956 at the University of Minnesota. Professor Fromm was on the faculty of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine (1954-1966) and Iowa State University (1966-2008) where he retired as a Distinguished Professor. Professor Fromm's research interests are in enzyme chemistry, enzyme mechanisms, and enzyme kinetics. He is the author of approximately 200 full-length research publications. Professor Fromm served on the editorial boards of 'The Journal of Biological Chemistry' and 'Biochemica et Biophysica Acta,.' He is an AAAS Fellow and a recipient of a Career Development Award from NIH. He was a member of NIH study sections, NSF panels, and a consultant for the NIH Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Mark S. Hargrove (1970-) is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology at Iowa State University. He has a BS degree in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Nebraska (1991), and a PhD in Biochemistry from Rice University (1995). Following postdoctoral training with Professor John. S. Olson at Rice University, Professor Hargrove started his academic career at Iowa State University as an Assistant Professor in 1998. His research has focused on questions concerning the relationship of protein structure and function, with a particular interest in heme proteins.