Biological Sciences 220 - Cell Biology

The aim of this course is to understand the fundamental unit of life--the cell--at the molecular level. We will consider the assembly and structure of cellular membranes, proteins, organelles, and the cytoskeleton, as well as their roles in cellular processes including the capture and transformation of energy, catalysis, protein sorting, motility, signal transduction, and cell-cell communication. Emphasis will be placed upon the diversity of cellular form and function and the cell biological basis for disease. The laboratory portion of this course will illustrate and analyze these phenomena through selected biochemical, genetic, and microscopy-based approaches.

Prereq: BIOL-200 or BIOL-210, and CHEM-201. Contact the instructor for permission if you've taken BIOL-200 or BIOL-210 and want to take CHEM-201 in the same semester as BIOL-220.; Coreq: BIOL-220L.