Our focus will be on human physiology and we will cover most of the major organ systems in some depth. We seek to understand physiological phenomena using physical and chemical principles where possible. Basic cell and molecular biology, (bio)chemistry, physics and mathematics are prerequisites for the course, although we will quickly review the required background material when needed. Much of the motivation for the study of physiology is to understand disease, which in turn allows us to better appreciate normal physiology. We will discuss disease throughout the class. In physiology, structure often implies function, and we will thus also cover a fair amount of anatomy and histology.

Our focus will be on human physiology and we will cover most of the major organ systems in some depth. We seek to understand physiological phenomena using physical and chemical principles where possible. Basic cell and molecular biology, (bio)chemistry, physics and mathematics are prerequisites for the course, although we will quickly review the required background material when needed. Much of the motivation for the study of physiology is to understand disease, which in turn allows us to better appreciate normal physiology. We will discuss disease throughout the class. In physiology, structure often implies function, and we will thus also cover a fair amount of anatomy and histology.

Our focus will be on human physiology and we will cover most of the major organ systems in some depth. We seek to understand physiological phenomena using physical and chemical principles where possible. Basic cell and molecular biology, (bio)chemistry, physics and mathematics are prerequisites for the course, although we will quickly review the required background material when needed. Much of the motivation for the study of physiology is to understand disease, which in turn allows us to better appreciate normal physiology. We will discuss disease throughout the class. In physiology, structure often implies function, and we will thus also cover a fair amount of anatomy and histology.

The evolution of behavior in animals will be explored using basic genetic and evolutionary principles. Lectures will highlight behavioral principles using a wide range of animal species, both vertebrate and invertebrate. Examples of behavior include the complex economic decisions related to foraging, migratory birds using geomagnetic fields to find breeding grounds, and the decision individuals make to live in groups. Group living has led to the evolution of social behavior and much of the course will focus on group formation, cooperation among kin, mating systems, territoriality and communication.

The evolution of behavior in animals will be explored using basic genetic and evolutionary principles. Lectures will highlight behavioral principles using a wide range of animal species, both vertebrate and invertebrate. Examples of behavior include the complex economic decisions related to foraging, migratory birds using geomagnetic fields to find breeding grounds, and the decision individuals make to live in groups. Group living has led to the evolution of social behavior and much of the course will focus on group formation, cooperation among kin, mating systems, territoriality and communication.

The evolution of behavior in animals will be explored using basic genetic and evolutionary principles. Lectures will highlight behavioral principles using a wide range of animal species, both vertebrate and invertebrate. Examples of behavior include the complex economic decisions related to foraging, migratory birds using geomagnetic fields to find breeding grounds, and the decision individuals make to live in groups. Group living has led to the evolution of social behavior and much of the course will focus on group formation, cooperation among kin, mating systems, territoriality and communication.

This course will focus on the molecular basis of neurological diseases, exploring in detail key papers that cover topics including defining the disease genes, development of animal models that provide mechanistic insight, and seminal findings that reveal molecular understanding. Diseases covered will include neurological diseases of great focus today such as Alzheimer's, Fragile-X and autism, dementia, motor neuron degeneration, and microsatellite repeat expansion disorders. The course will provide a perspective from initial molecular determination through current status. Students will gain an understanding of how the molecular basis of a disease is discovered (from classical genetics to modern genomics) and how such diseases can be modeled in simple genetic systems for mechanistic insight. The course will be comprised of lectures with detailed analysis of primary literature and in-class activities. Grading will be based on class participation, exams, and written papers. Biology 2210 is a pre-requisite. Seniors are prioritized for the course

This interactive course is intended for a small group of students aspiring to pursue research in microbiology, preferably using prokaryotes. Students will study selected papers and will attend the Prokaryotic Microbiology Seminars on Fridays. Specific problems of importance to a given field at a particular time will be critically analyzed and discussed: How were cutting edge techniques of the time used to address these problems? How would the same problems be approached using current techniques? The emphasis of the course will be on learning to become a thoughtful experimentalist rather than acquiring the hottest emerging knowledge.

The goal of this course is to develop a deeper understanding of techniques and concepts used in Computational Biology. The course will strive to focus on a small set of approaches to gain both theoretical and practical understanding of the methods. We will aim to cover practical issues such as programming and the use of programs, as well as theoretical issues such as algorithm design, statistical data analysis, theory of algorithms and statistics. This course WILL NOT provide a broad survey of the field nor teach specific tools but focus on a deep understanding of a small set of topics. We will discuss string algorithms, hidden markov models, dimension reduction, and machine learning (or phylogeny estimation) for biomedical problems.

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