Conjoint Course Descriptions

Term: Fall
Credits: 2
Course Directors: Tamara Philips and Bill Cameron
Required for all incoming graduate students. This course is designed to provide an introduction to basic principles of scientific conduct and practice for graduate students pursuing careers in biomedical research. Specific topics include: laboratory safety, professional standards, use of laboratory animals and human subjects, research funding and career development. Course material will be presented primarily in the form of lectures and panel discussions, with opportunities for student discussion.

Term: Fall
Credits: 3
Course Director: Jeff Karpen
This course is designed to provide students with an in depth understanding of macromolecular structure/function including: 1) protein structure; 2) thermodynamic considerations of protein folding; 3) nucleic acid structure and topology; 4) the functions of proteins as enzymes and in macromolecular assembly, including quantitative analyses of ligand binding phenomena and enzyme kinetics; 5) structural and biochemical properties of lipids, membrane assembly and dynamics, and characteristics of membrane proteins; and 6) the principles of bioenergetics and metabolism. Prerequisites: Undergraduate organic chemistry and biochemistry.

Term: Fall
Credits: 3
Course Directors: Mike Liskay and Sarah Smolik
This course is designed provide students with a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that underlie inheritance. The course will rely primarily on lectures and literature reading and a text will be suggested for any remediation the students might feel that they need. The lectures will cover prokaryotic transmission genetics and gene regulation emphasizing genetic approaches. They will also include discussions of mitosis and meiosis, DNA recombination (homologous, non-homologous and site specific mechanisms), mutagenesis, DNA repair, genetic dissection of biological processes (e.g., design of mutant screens, complementation and epistasis analysis, suppression, and synthetic enhancement in various model systems), developmental and cancer genetics, gene therapy, and population/quantitative genetics. Prerequisites: Undergraduate genetics or equivalent.

Term: Winter
Credits: 3
Course Directors: Matt Thayer and Matt Sachs
This course aims to develop a deeper understanding of gene regulation in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Lectures will be based on textbook material and selected papers from the current literature, and will cover all aspects of gene regulation including: genome organization, chromatin structure, transcriptional regulation, RNA and protein metabolism, DNA synthesis, and cell cycle regulation. An important goal of this course is to provide insight into how research methods have been applied to achieve our current understanding of these processes.

Term: Winter
Credits: 3
Course Directors: Linda Musil, Caroline Enns and William Skach
This course is designed to introduce students to key aspects of cell structure and function as well as the macromolecular components and physiological mechanisms that underlie structure and function of cells. Lectures will focus on recent scientific discoveries involving: i) organelle biogenesis structure and function, ii) intracellular compartmentation and protein/vesicular transport, iii) cytoskeleton architecture, cell motility and adhesion, iv) mechanisms of membrane transport and excitability, v) molecular mechanisms of signal transduction. In addition to addressing current scientific questions in cell biology, efforts will be made to familiarize students with recent technical advances in molecular, biochemical, microscopic, spectroscopic and electrophysiological techniques that have led to the explosive growth of this field.

Term: Spring
Credits: 3
Course Directors: Marcel Wehrli and Molly Kulesz-Martin
Orchestration of development requires precise timing, spatial coordination, and reciprocal signaling between cells to result in proper tissue generation and remodeling. Disruption of these normal cellular homeostatic mechanisms occurs in cancer and in many cases has led to discoveries about the function of normal genes and interacting signaling pathways in development. In this class, mechanisms of growth and development of higher eukaryotes are covered, including important signaling events, pattern formation and cell movements resulting in the fully differentiated tissues and organisms. Consideration will be given to how stem cell population are positioned and maintained, as well as mechanisms that underlie the maintenance and function of individual tissues in the fully developed organism. Moreover, aberrations in these events are covered relative to their underlying contributions to the etiology and progression of specific cancers.

Term: Spring
Credits: 3
Course Directors: Mark Slifka and Chuck Roselli
This course provides an introduction to the interactions between cells, tissues, whole-organism mammalian physiology, and immunology. During this course, the student is expected to gain a better understanding of the interplay and communication that coordinates cells into organ systems and complex organisms. Different biological systems including the hypothalamic-pituitary axis, nervous system, cardiovascular regulation, reproductive system, and the immune system will be discussed emphasizing how these systems interact and how physiological and immunological homeostasis is maintained or challenged under conditions of disease and stress.

Term: Spring
Credits: 3
Course Directors: Ujwal Shinde, Klaus Früh and David Farrens
This course will cover the range of research using problem-based approaches. Topics will include 1) molecular biophysics: Introduction to the analysis of biomolecules in solution. Emphasis will be placed on widely used contemporary techniques, especially spectroscopic methods used for structural and dynamic studies. These lectures will provide a basis for the subsequent lectures in the class. 2) experimental bioinformatics: Theory of key bioinformatics tools and algorithms, their applications towards databases, data analysis and mining, alignments, 3-D structure prediction/visualization and genome analysis. Theory and application of approaches to analyze gene and protein expression using high-throughput methods.