Overview of MBB Course Offerings
All of our Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Graduate Program students take the core courses in biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology and genetics that are recommended by the Graduate School. Since students enter our program from diverse backgrounds, flexibility in designing the right advanced program for each student is important. Our curriculum is intended to provide a base of essential knowledge as well as provide advanced training in the student’s particular areas of interest. The courses offered by our program are indicated below. Students may also avail themselves of advanced courses offered by other programs to provide necessary background for the development of their thesis.
MEDS 351: Biochemistry II — Cool Techniques in Biochemistry
The goal of this course is to familiarize the students with a variety of powerful and sophisticated modern instrumentations to analyze the properties and interactions of biological macromolecules in vitro and in vivo. The course will cover the principle and practice of various experimental techniques, including titration calorimetry, nuclear magnetic resonance, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and DNA microarray technology. In each week, there will be a demonstration of a particular instrumentation, its operation, data acquisition and analysis. In the second part of the course, each student will choose one technique to do a mini-project under the supervision of a participating faculty member to investigate a specific biological problem.
Dr. Jeffrey Hoch and staff
MEDS 497-41: Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Journal Club
In this course, students participate in the departmental journal club, an open forum where students, postdocs and faculty present and discuss cutting-edge papers. Some highlights of last year’s discussions were; the structure of the potassium channel, the mechanism of microRNAs, the mechanism of heterochromatin silencing, cannibalism by extra cellular bacterial proteases, the mechanism of action of fragile X and the replication of viral RNA.
MBB Journal Club Schedule
MEDS 444: Molecular Microbiology and Pathogenesis
This course will provide students with an in-depth knowledge of classical and modern topics in contemporary molecular microbiology and pathogenesis. The bacterial portion of the course will cover ultrastructure, taxonomy, cell cycle, genomics, bacterial physiology, signaling, development, differentiation and patho genesis. The viral section will cover fundamental nature of viruses, animal virus genetics, life cycles of selected viruses, pathogenesis, prevention and control of viral diseases, and viral transformation and oncogenesis.
Dr. Sandra Weller and staff
MEDS 309: Molecular Basis of Disease
A seminar course that investigates the biological basis of human diseases such as heart disease, cancer, infections, and congenital malformations. Students debate areas of controversies and write a news and views type article on a disease of their choice.
Dr. Kimberly Dodge-Kafka and staff
MEDS 369 Advanced Genetics
An advanced course emphasizing approaches to the molecular and genetic analysis of pro- and eukaryotic cells and their viruses, Drosophila, and yeast. The application of these techniques to problems of genome organization, DNA replication, regulation of gene expression, RNA processing, and differentiation will be discussed. The course combines lectures and discussion of current journal articles.
Dr. Asis Das and staff
MEDS 368: Hot Topics in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
These are one credit courses intended to provide the student with an in-depth knowledge of a specific area of molecular biology or biochemistry through the reading and discussion of primary literature.