GENETICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (GNET)

This class is designed to 1) enhance students' ability to present scientific material to their peers in a comprehensive, cohesive manner, 2) familiarize students with scientific concepts and technologies used in multiple disciplines, 3) expose students to cutting edge research, 4) prepare students to gain substantial meaning from seminars and to ask questions, and 5) enhance students' ability to evaluate scientific papers and seminars.

Genetic principles of genetic analysis in prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes.

Principles of genetic analysis in higher eukaryotes; genomics.

Permission of the instructor. Presentations of current research or relevant papers from the literature on development by students will be followed by open forum discussion of relevant points, and critique of presentation skills. Two hours per week.

Permission of the instructor for undergraduates. Genetic and molecular control of plant and animal development. Extensive reading from primary literature.

Permission of the instructor for undergraduates. Current and significant problems in genetics. May be repeated for credit.

This course explores cutting edge research in molecular biology -- the investigation at molecule-scale of the mechanisms behind life. We briefly review core-principles in molecular biology, then investigate more recent research that extends or overturns these core principles.

Required preparation for undergraduates, at least one undergraduate course in both biochemistry and genetics. The purpose of this course is to provide historical, basic, and current information about the flow and regulation of genetic information from DNA to RNA in a variety of biological systems. Three lecture hours a week.

Topics in clinical genetics including pedigree analysis, counseling/ethical issues, genetic testing, screening, and issues in human research. Taught in a small group format. Active student participation is expected.

Students will learn about various topics that form the basis for understanding quantitative genetics of complex traits with biomedical and agricultural relevance. The ultimate goal of quantitative genetics in this postgenomic era is prediction of phenotype from genotype, namely deducing the molecular basis for genetic trait variation.

This course will focus on the laboratory mouse as a model organism to learn fundamental genetic concepts and understand how state-of-the-art experimental approaches are being used to elucidate gene function and the genetic architecture of biological traits.

The course covers principles and modern approaches of human genetics and genomics, including human genetic variation, linkage, genome-wide association analysis, sequencing for variant discovery in monogenic and complex diseases, regulatory variation, the molecular basis of human disease, and functional validation of disease variants.

This course will provide an overview of methods in human genetics during the critical reading of selected literature and work of speakers that will present in the Friday Seminar Series.

A course on systems genetics focused on student participation and the development of targeted multidisciplinary responses to genetic questions.

Permission of the instructor. This course will provide an overview of the use of the mouse as an experimental model for determining factors, both genetic and environmental, that contribute to human diseases. One seminar hour a week.

Diverse but current topics in all aspects of genetics. Relates new techniques and current research of notables in the field of genetics.

Required of all candidates for the degree in genetics. A course to provide public lecture experience to advanced genetics students. Students present personal research seminars based on their individual dissertation projects. Lectures are privately critiqued by fellow students and genetics faculty.

Required of all candidates for the degree in genetics. A course to provide public lecture experience to advanced genetics students. Students present personal research seminars based on their individual dissertation projects. Lectures are privately critiqued by fellow students and genetics faculty.

This short course will cover methods of inferring/estimating natural selection, including the Dn/Ds ratio, the McDonald-Kreitman test, and the Poisson Random Field model. The course will feature discussions of high-profile publications that describe the application of these methods to yield insights into the forces that have shaped organismal evolution.

This course is a practical introduction to quantitative analysis of light microscopy images. During the class students will follow tutorials that will guide them through common tasks in analysis of biological images. They will be introduced to basic concepts of image processing like image registration, filtering, object detection etc.

This module will introduce UNIX and Python programming. It is mainly targeted towards biomedical scientists who would be able to use Python to analyze, transform, and manage large datasets.

This module will introduce the data analysis environment R and use it to illustrate basic concepts in data manipulation, plotting of complex data, and basic statistical modeling. Class examples will be general and will aim to build familiarity and confidence with R and data analysis.

This module provides an introduction to basic protein structure/function analyses combining sequence informatics and macromolecular structure. In the second half the focus will switch to analysis of genome-wide datasets and methods used for the analysis of such "big data."

This class is designed to shed new light on wide variety of tools available for developing new ideas for NGS applications.

This course is designed to familiarize students with everything needed to run an RNA-Seq experiment. There will be minimal emphasis on theory and heavy focus on practical aspects. There are no formal prerequisites required for this course and no prior experience with UNIX or the command line interface is expected.

Human complex diseases are major focus in human genomics. They have important genetic components, but inheritance is probabilistic and not deterministic. This graduate seminar will cover the main approaches (genome-wide association, next-generation sequencing, and structural variation in case-control and pedigree studies) and current knowledge in the main disease areas.

This graduate-level course is designed to teach students about the origins of CRISPR-Cas genome engineering technology, its applications to research and human health, and the ethical/societal considerations surrounding this powerful technology. Emphasis will be made on recent literature, new applications, discoveries and bioethics. Students interested in taking this class must have taken an advanced Genetics or Molecular Biology course.

This journal club-style discussion course will focus on molecular events that regulate normal cell cycle progression, and on how deregulation of the cell cycle leads to cancer. Classes will follow the development of the cell cycle field chronologically, learning how current concepts and paradigms have evolved through scientific inquiry.

Required preparation, two courses in genetics. Permission of the instructor. Principles of genetic pedagogy. Students are responsible for assistance in teaching genetics and work under the supervision of the faculty, with whom they have regular discussion of methods, content, and evaluation of performance. (Throughout the year.) Staff.

Permission of the instructor. Course focuses on nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics with an emphasis on the genetic and dietary interactions predisposing one to increased risk of disease.

Provides practical experience to predoctoral students in writing fellowship proposals, using the NIH F31 as a template. Students will have weekly writing assignments, with feedback given by students and faculty. Open to 2nd and 3rd year students in the Curriculum or by permission of the instructor.

Provides advanced predoctoral students with an understanding of issues relevant to conducting biomedical research as responsible citizens. It fulfills the NIH requirement for continued RCR training. Open to 4th and 5th year students in the Biology, Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry PhD programs or by permission of the instructor.

Advance topics in current research in statistics and operations research.

May be repeated for credit.

Permission of the department. Students are not accepted directly into the M.S. program.