This course covers current topics in genetics and and the social, ethical and legal issues surrounding genetic technology. Topics include genome structure and evolution, genetics of disease, personal genomics, human microbiomes and epidemiology. Students will have the opportunity to submit their DNA for genome-wide SNP and gut microbiome determination. Practical skills for analyzing genetic and genomic data are taught through weekly bioinformatic sessions in the R statistical programming language.

This course introduces life in the sea from ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Topics will include primary and secondary production, interrelations of marine organisms and their environment (e.g. rocky intertidal, estuaries, interstitial communities, coral reefs, deep-sea communities), adaptations of marine organisms, human impacts on marine life, biodiversity, conservation, and aquaculture.

This course covers current topics in genetics and and the social, ethical and legal issues surrounding genetic technology. Topics include genome structure and evolution, genetics of disease, personal genomics, human microbiomes and epidemiology. Students will have the opportunity to submit their DNA for genome-wide SNP and gut microbiome determination. Practical skills for analyzing genetic and genomic data are taught through weekly bioinformatic sessions in the R statistical programming language.

This course is divided into 3 parts. Each part will include content-based learning in which we examine several aspects of cell biology using lectures, discussion of experimental results and materials from the textbook. Topics will include exocytosis, actin & microtubule cytoskeleton, motors, and mitosis. Each part will also include inquiry-based learning where you will work in groups on a short research project to understand the cellular and molecular basis of a human genetic disease.

Most courses present the prevailing wisdom of the field as artistically rendered figures that summarize a large body of information and present it as dogma. However, that's not how the field actually advances. Breakthroughs occur when researchers publish original research papers in peer-reviewed journals. Sometime the importance of the work is obvious at the time of publication and sometimes it takes many years for the true significance of the work to be appreciated.

Various classical and molecular genetic techniques using various prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems such as bacteria, yeast, plants, and humans. The lab exercises will be largely inquiry based with a focus on experimental design. Laboratory projects include genetic crosses, analysis of the genotype/phenotype relationship, complementation, linkage mapping, and detection of DNA polymorphisms. Also, bioinformatics tools will be used to perform SNP analysis and analyze sequence similarity.

Various classical and molecular genetic techniques using various prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems such as bacteria, yeast, plants, and humans. The lab exercises will be largely inquiry based with a focus on experimental design. Laboratory projects include genetic crosses, analysis of the genotype/phenotype relationship, complementation, linkage mapping, and detection of DNA polymorphisms. Also, bioinformatics tools will be used to perform SNP analysis and analyze sequence similarity.

Satisfies Junior Year Writing requirement for Biology majors. Students write and revise short papers on subjects likely to be encountered by biologists. Class discussion of papers. Prerequisites: 3 biological science courses, for declared Biology majors only.

Quantitative Systems Biology, applies the theme of modeling and hands-on experimentation to core concepts in evolution, physiology, and ecology. Cutting-edge research in each of these fields relies heavily on quantitative approaches to understand how organisms function, interact with their environments, and change over evolutionary time. This course uses a combination of lectures that integrate applied math and the study of organism-level systems and labs in which students use in silico, in vitro and in vivo models to investigate those systems in detail..

Quantitative Systems Biology, applies the theme of modeling and hands-on experimentation to core concepts in evolution, physiology, and ecology. Cutting-edge research in each of these fields relies heavily on quantitative approaches to understand how organisms function, interact with their environments, and change over evolutionary time. This course uses a combination of lectures that integrate applied math and the study of organism-level systems and labs in which students use in silico, in vitro and in vivo models to investigate those systems in detail..