Course Descriptions

Cellular movement and mobility; cell adhesion; extracellular matrix; electrical and chemical signal transduction; DNA, chromosomes, nucleus; cell cycle, DNA replication, mitosis; sexual reproduction, meiosis, recombination; Mendelian genetics; gene expression; recombinant DNA technology and its applications.

Historical development of molecular biology; introduction to current topics in the field such as biotechnology, cloning, and gene therapy.

Origin and characteristics of life; biological macromolecules; eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell structure; membrane structure and function; cytokinesis; mitosis and meiosis; genes, chromosomes and heredity; homeostatic control mechanisms; nervous system; conscious brain and behavior; sensory system; endocrine system.

Measurements; Data analysis and organization; Biological and Statistical variables; Samples and populations; Descriptive statistics: central tendency, dispersion, standard error, confidence limits; Graphical display of data; Concepts of probability; Probability distributions; Hypothesis testing and inference: exact binomial tests, Chi-square tests, goodness of fit tests, Fisher’s test, Student’s t-test, ANOVA, MANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test, Rank tests; Regression; Correlation; Contingency tables; Power analysis

Use of restriction enzyme digestion in genetic linkage analysis; Drosophila as a model organism; monohybrid and dihybrid cross; polytene chromosome and karyotype analysis; polygenic inheritance and complex traits; fluorescence in situ hybridization, (FISH); bacterial conjugation and transduction; complementation; candidate gene approach.

Catabolism and generation of phosphate bond energy; glycolysis; TCA cycle; oxidative phosphorylation; oxidation of fatty acids and oxidative degradation of amino acids; photosynthesis; biosynthesis of carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids and nucleotides.

Endomembrane system; vesicular transport and sorting; signal transduction (receptors, messengers); cytoskeletal systems and motility; development; stem cells and differentiation; immunology; cancer.

Light and electron microscopy; spectrophotometric techniques (UV and visible absorption spectroscopy); chromatographic techniques; centrifugation; electrophoresis; enzyme assays; use of radioisotopes in biological research.

Homeostatic control mechanisms; nerve cell physiology; central nervous system; peripheral nervous system; muscle physiology; cardiovascular physiology; blood and hematopoiesis; respiration and gas exchange; the kidneys; fluid and electrolyte balance; digestion and absorption of food; metabolism and energy balance; endocrine system; endocrine control of metabolism

How to use databases; primer design; construction of bacterial growth curves; competant bacterial cell preparation; plasmid DNA isolation; agarose gel electrophoresis; Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR); purification of plasmid vector and PCR products, digestion with restriction enzymes, ligation, and transformation; screening with colony PCR; transfection of eukaryotic cells with the vector; microscopic visualization of fluorescently tagged proteins; quantitative Real Time PCR and DNA sequencing.

Student presentation and discussions of research articles covering various areas of molecular biology and genetics such as development, cancer, genomics.

Basic concepts in immunology; principles of innate and adaptive immunity; the generation of lymphocyte antigen receptors; development of B and T lymphocytes; antigen presentation; survival and maturation of B and T lymphocytes in peripheral tissues; T cell-mediated immunity; the humoral immune response.

Cellular and structural components of the nervous system; electrical signaling in nerve cells; action potential propagation; synaptic transmission; structure and function of ion channels; sensory systems; development of the nervous system; neuronal plasticity; learning and memory; consciousness and behavior; emotions; nervous system disorders.

Hidden Markov models; optimization algorithms; classification clustering algorithms and their application in identification of motives, expression, methylation, microRNA and TF regulation mechanisms

Genetic basis of inherited disorders; identification and characterization of novel genes; multifactorial disorders; molecular diagnosis; gene therapy.

Diversity of microorganisms and their activities; interaction of microorganisms with their microbial environment; use of microorganisms in biotechnology.