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.

An introduction to cell structure and the mechanisms underlying cell division and protein trafficking. The course will focus on the cell biology of the nucleus, regulation of the cytoskeleton, secretory pathways, endocytosis, protein targeting, and ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. Lectures and discussions of the current literature will comprise the course.

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.

This course will provide the student with an overview of classical genetics as well as an in-depth consideration of several fundamental processes involving DNA, including its recombination, repair, transposition and transcription in the context of chromatin. The course will also explore the emerging areas of genomics and proteomics, gene transfer, siRNA and model systems of eukaryotic gene expression. Lectures and discussions of the current literature.

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 include measures of central tendency and dispersion; probability; common probability distributions, including the binomial, normal, Chi square and F; sampling distributions, hypothesis testing; confidence interval estimation, comparison of means and proportions, sample size calculation; overview of simple and multiple regression diagnostics, one and two way analysis of variance; Chi square tests: common nonparametric procedures.

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

A series of lectures 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.