Core Courses

This course provides an introduction to the basic biochemical properties of amino acids and proteins, a discussion of protein assembly and folding into the three dimensional structures required for function, and an introduction to basic principles of enzyme kinetics, examples of enzyme active site structure, and mechanism of action. Topics on membrane lipids, membrane transport, carbohydrates, and the important biochemical processes and enzymes that cells utilize to generate metabolic energy are also included in
this section.

Selected features of the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids and nucleotides are presented with discussions of the important mechanisms cells utilize to regulate these processes. The course concludes with a basic introduction to nucleic acids structure and function: replication, transcription, RNA processing, and protein synthesis.

The student will be expected to gain an in-depth knowledge of the use of genetics to understand the basic genomic organization and function of genes/gene products in the cell biology of prokaryotic/eukaryotic organisms.

An introduction to cell structure and the mechanisms underlying cell division and protein trafficking. In this course, emphasis will be placed on apoptotic mechanisms, mechanisms of cell division and cell cycle control, the mechanisms involved in protein and membrane trafficking, and adhesion-mediated biology. Lectures and discussions of the current literature will comprise the course.

A modern comprehensive course concerning the regulation of cellular signaling processes in eukaryotic cells. Emphasis will be placed on the molecular mechanisms involved and approaches used to understand receptor-mediated signaling and signal transduction pathways. Attention is also focused on the current molecular and cellular biological techniques used today in the investigation of these important cellular processes.

A discussion of principles and application of common methods used for detection and analysis of macromolecules and their structure, function, and interaction. This course covers biochemical methods of separation and detection of macromolecules as well as structural analysis. There will be some form of out-of-class work for most lecture topics, including problems, literature reviews and visits to core facilities and major equipment. The goals of the course are: to develop an understanding of basic methods applied to the study of proteins and nucleic acids; to become familiar with the instrumentation used for these methods- (students should be aware of what instrumentation is required to use a particular method and have a basic idea how it is used), and to become aware of the ways that these methods and techniques are applied to biomedical study, i.e., understand what methods could/should be used to study a particular scientific problem. There will be one exam at the end of the course.

Goals are the same as for IDSP 116. This course covers recombinant DNA methods including cloning and gene expression, DNA sequencing, PCR, and mutagenesis. The course also covers analysis of nucleic acids and proteins, including interaction detection methods, genomics and proteomics and also covers direct observation methods of analysis and immunological methods. There will be one exam at the end of the course.

A state-of-the-art course concerning the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotic cells. Emphasis will be placed on basic molecular mechanisms underlying DNA transposition, transcriptional regulation, alterative pre-mRNA splicing and translational control.  In addition, emerging roles for non-coding RNAs in the regulation of transcription, translation and mRNA stability will be discussed. 

This course is intended for graduate students in the Departments of Cellular Biology & Anatomy, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Microbiology & Immunology and Pharmacology, Toxicology & Neuroscience who seek a working knowledge of statistical methods and their applications.  Topics covered will provide introduction to basic descriptive and inferential statistics.  Specific topics include hypothesis testing, linear regression, correlation, confidence intervals, probability and power analysis.  Experimental design, examples of specific topics and ethics applied to statistical analyses will be emphasized.

Discussions of physical and chemical techniques used in biochemistry to study macromolecular architecture and interactions.

A series of lectures and tutorials focused on the use of state-of-the-art approaches to study protein structure, protein folding and protein-ligand interactions.

A course designed to teach fundamentals of writing a scientific paper, writing a grant proposal, and identifying topics and approaches suitable for grant proposals.