This course will be a focused study of genomes, genomic techniques, and how these approaches are and will be used in diagnosing and treating human disease. Topics will include genome sequencing, analysis of sequences and microarrays, and new techniques including high-throughput sequencing and reverse genetic analysis with a focus on genome-wide mutant collections.

A fundamental goal of neuroscience is to understand how neural circuits in the brain function to influence behavior. The aim of this course is to highlight the neural basis of behavior and discuss modern approaches and novel methods to study the neuronal control of classically studied aspects of behavior. Through a combination of discussions, student presentations, and interactive lectures, we will explore the neural systems that regulate the interactions an animal has with the external world. We will explore sensory systems (such as vision, taste, and olfaction), motor systems, and survival behaviors (such as feeding, drinking, mating, and aggression). The course evaluation will be based largely on written work, participation, and presentations.

Life depends on the propagation of genetic material from one generation to next through cycles of genome replication and cell division. We will focus on chromosomes as discrete entities, rather than collections of genes, that are inherited between cell cycles and across generations. By reading selected primary literature covering several decades, we will build an understanding based on key experiments and insights, focusing on chromosomes and their associated molecular machinery. Topics may include kinetochores and microtubule dynamics, centromeres, the mitotic checkpoint, chromosomal instability and cancer, genetic conflict, chromosome evolution, and artificial chromosomes.

This course is designed for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students with a particular interest in infectious disease biology. Note that this course is not a comprehensive survey of the field and is not appropriate for students seeking a lecture course on disease. The primary objective of this course is to teach students considering a career in the biomedical sciences how to read, discuss, and question research papers effectively. Intensive classroom discussions focus on the experimental methods used, results obtained, interpretation of these results in the context of pathogen interactions with host cells and organisms, and implications for basic research and therapeutic development.

This course is designed for beginning graduate students and advanced undergraduates with a particular enthusiasm for cell biology. Biology 4010 does not attempt to cover all aspects of cell biology, and is therefore not appropriate for students seeking a lecture course which provides a comprehensive survey of the field. Rather, the primary objective of this course is to teach those students considering a career in the biomedical sciences how to read, discuss, and question original research papers effectively. Intensive classroom discussions focus on the experimental methods used, results obtained, interpretation of these results in the context of cell structure and function, and implications for further studies.

This course will focus on the molecular mechanisms by which fundamental cellular processes are disrupted in the development of cancer.

Early development of microbiology, pathology, and immunobiology; molecular and cellular bases of immune phenomena including: immunity to pathogens, immune diseases, autoimmunity, and hypersensitivity. This course is open to students in the College of Liberal and Professional Studies only.

This course uses a biological foundation to explore general issues at the interface of biology and society. We will use both historical and contemporary reading materials, with an emphasis on the primary scientific literature, to inform discussions on often controversial issues in biology as well as the social responsibility of scientists to respond to these issues. The course will cover how science has shaped social and political opinions on such topics as race, ethnicity, and gender, as well as how society and politics are influenced by and impact science. This course will provide a background and context in which to consider, anticipate, and respond to biology's present and future ethical and social implications.

The importance of microbiology in complex issues, such as the impact of the microbiome in human health or as alternative energy sources, is being appreciated more and more each day. This upper level laboratory course provides students with a robust technical skill set while also giving them an opportunity to participate in an authentic research project that may lead to novel discoveries. Students will generate research questions, formulate hypotheses, design experiments, analyze data, and present their research findings to the class. In each project, students will use the cutting edge approach of metagenomics to evaluate the microbial diversity of their environment via Next Generation Sequencing. Students will also examine the function of microbial species within their communities. Potential projects include the isolation of novel antibiotic producers and the antibiotic they produce, designing and optimizing microbial fuel cells that can be used to generate electricity, or isolating antibiotic resistant bacteria and attempting novel approaches to inhibit or prevent their growth.

This course is a study of homeostatic changes that occur with disease, and the implications of those changes in the progression and treatment of disease at molecular and cellular levels. Generalized mechanisms of disease as well as diseases of individual organ systems will be examined, with a view to understanding homeostatic compensations that occur as a result of altered function.