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 will present talks on research goals, data collection and data analysis. This course is required for graduate students and it must be repeated both years.

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.

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

Advanced molecular biology of eukaryotes and their viruses. Topics will include genomics, bioinformatics, eukaryotic gene organization, regulation of gene expression, RNA processing, retroviruses, transposable elements, gene rearrangement, methods for studying human genes and genetic diseases, molecular biology of infectious diseases, genome projects and whole genome analysis. Reading assignments will be from a textbook and the primary literature. Each student will present an in-class presentation and write a paper on a topic selected in consultation with the instructor.

This laboratory initially uses tissue culture techniques to study the development of primary neurons in culture (e.g. extension of neurites and growth cones). This is followed by an introduction to DNA microarray technology for studying gene expression in the brain. The rest of the laboratory uses the Xenopus oocyte expression system to study molecular structure-function by injecting DNA encoding for a variety of ion channels. The second half of the semester involves a lab project using the expression system to investigate channel characteristics or pharmacology.