Topics course.Instrument specific topics course designed for research students (special studies, honors, SURF, etc.) requiring access to microscope equipment in the Center for Microscopy and Imaging (CMI). Each semester, three six-week courses are offered. All students meet the first two weeks to discuss their projects and the last week to present their work. During the remaining three, students learn how to operate a microscope independently (see topics). Evaluation will be through engagement in assigned activities. 400 level work cannot overlap with this course work.

Topics course.Instrument specific topics course designed for research students (special studies, honors, SURF, etc.) requiring access to microscope equipment in the Center for Microscopy and Imaging (CMI). Each semester, three six-week courses are offered. All students meet the first two weeks to discuss their projects and the last week to present their work. During the remaining three, students learn how to operate a microscope independently (see topics). Evaluation will be through engagement in assigned activities. 400 level work cannot overlap with this course work.

Students explore the creative and artistic side of science through independent research projects that address world-pressing problems in Ecophysiology. Projects will be based on large, long-term, publicly available datasets from world-renowned field stations. Students will use RStudio to become proficient in the art of data visualization, data exploration, and data analysis. We explore how to make scientific presentations come alive and make research more palatable to the general public.

Students explore the interaction between an organism’s physiology and its environment. Topics include changes in climate and resources on physiological processes, with a strong emphasis on plants. Through understanding the physiology of the individual, students are able to understand the physiology of the ecosystem. The lab includes field activities at the MacLeish Field Station, where students gain hands-on experience with sophisticated equipment. There is a strong emphasis on using R studio for data analysis of large data sets.

Topics course.: There is increasing evidence of epigenetic phenomena influencing the development of organisms and the transmission of information between generations. These epigenetic phenomena include the inheritance of acquired morphological traits in some lineages and the apparent transmission of RNA caches between generations in plants, animals and microbes. This seminar explores emerging data on epigenetics and discusses the impact of these phenomena on evolution. Participants write an independent research paper on a topic of their choice.

Research design and methodology for field and laboratory studies of animal behavior. Prerequisite, one of the following: BIO 260, 272, 362, a statistics course, or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15 students.

Students in this seminar discuss articles from the primary literature representing diverse fields of biology and present on their own research projects. Journal articles will be selected to coordinate with departmental colloquia. In alternate weeks, students present talks on research goals, data collection and data analysis. This course is required for graduate students and must be taken both years.

This lab introduces the computational and quantitative tools underlying contemporary bioinformatics. We explore the various approaches to phylogenetic reconstruction using molecular data, methods of data mining in genome databases, comparative genomics, structure-function modeling, and the use of molecular data to reconstruct population and evolutionary history. Students are encouraged to explore datasets of particular interest to them. Prerequisite: BIO 334 (normally taken concurrently), or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 14.

This course focuses on methods and approaches in the emerging fields of bioinformatics and molecular evolution. Topics include the quantitative examination of genetic variation; selective and stochastic forces shaping proteins and catalytic RNA; data mining; comparative analysis of whole genome data sets; comparative genomics and bioinformatics; and hypothesis testing in computational biology. We explore the role of bioinformatics and comparative methods in the fields of molecular medicine, drug design, and in systematic, conservation and population biology.

A laboratory course designed to complement the lecture material in 332. Advanced techniques used to study the molecular biology of eukaryotes are learned in the context of a semester-long project. These methods include techniques for studying genomics and gene expression including: CRISPR, RNA interference, DNA sequence analysis, RT-PCR, genomics, bioinformatics and others. Enrollment limited to 16. Prerequisite: BIO 332 (should be taken concurrently) and BIO 231.