From earliest times, people have sought to understand the nature of life. We instinctively want to know how our bodies work, how we are born, how we grow and develop, the nature of illness, what happens when we die. Physiology describes the nature of life. It provides the framework for studying and exploring the bases of life.

Biochemistry is the application of chemistry to the study of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level. It emerged as a distinct discipline around the beginning of the 20th century when scientists combined chemistry, physiology and biology to investigate the chemistry of living systems.

Biochemistry is both a life science and a chemical science - it explores the chemistry of living organisms and the molecular basis for the changes occurring in living cells. It uses the methods of chemistry.