This course will expose students to the process of maximizing the impact and innovation of their research, including translating fundamental research findings into real-world applications that benefit health and society. We'll discuss how innovation works, examine the mechanics of building and organizing new teams (labs, companies, organizations etc.), and collaborating with existing companies and organizations. We'll discuss how to build and sustain a strong culture, and how to lead and inspire your team. Students will participate in a team-based project to develop a startup company based on intellectual property.

This course exposes students to the process of maximizing the impact and innovation of their research, including translating fundamental research findings into real-world applications that benefit health and society. Students discuss how innovation works, examine the mechanics of building and organizing new teams (labs, companies, organizations etc.), and collaborating with existing companies and organizations. The class discusses how to build and sustain a strong culture, and how to lead and inspire your team. Students participate in a team-based project to develop a startup company based on intellectual property.

This course covers major diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, infectious diseases), the physical changes that inflict morbidity and mortality, the design constraints for treatment, and emerging technologies that take into account these physical hurdles. Taking the perspective of the design constraints on the system (that is, the mass transport and biophysical limitations of the human body), we will survey recent innovations from the fields of drug delivery, gene therapy, tissue engineering, and nanotechnology.

This course is taught from the scientific literature. We begin the semester with several classic papers on protein folding. As the semester progresses, we read about protein structure, stability, and folding pathways. The latter part of the semester focuses on recent papers describing new research aimed toward the construction of novel proteins from "scratch." These papers cover topics ranging from evolution in vitro to computational and rational design. The course ends by discussing the possibility of creating artificial proteomes in the laboratory, and further steps toward synthetic biology.

The four-course sequence ISC 231-234 integrates introductory topics in calculus-based physics, chemistry, molecular biology, and scientific computing with Python, with an emphasis on laboratory experimentation, quantitative reasoning, and data-oriented thinking. It best suits students interested in complex problems in living organisms and prepares them for interdisciplinary research in the life sciences. The spring courses ISC 233 and 234 must be taken together.

This lecture and lab course will acquaint non-biology majors with modern molecular biology focusing on topics of current interest to society. The course covers fundamental topics such as information storage and readout by DNA, RNA and proteins. The course addresses how recent scientific advances influence issues relevant to humanity including stem cells and CRISPR; the human microbiome and bacterial pathogens; vaccines and global pandemics; how a single cell contains all the necessary instructions to build a complex multicellular organism; and how the human genome can be used to understand the evolution of modern humans.

Important concepts and elements of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, and cell biology, are examined in an experimental context. This course fulfills the basic biology requirement for students majoring in the biological sciences and satisfies the basic biology requirement for entrance into medical school and most other health professions schools.

The Molecular Biology Research Experience is a two-course sequence that provides sophomore students with an in lab research experience mentored by faculty in the department. MOL 280: Molecular Biology Research Experience I, offered in the fall semester, is a non-credit bearing P/D/F course and is a prerequisite to MOL 281: Molecular Biology Research Experience II. MOL 281, offered in the spring semester, is a credit bearing course. Students must earn a "P" in MOL 280 to enroll in MOL 281. Students are expected to spend a minimum of 6 hours per week engaged in research and attend weekly meeting as determined by the mentoring faculty.

MOL 320 is a research-based course designed to prepare you to be contributing member of a research lab through fostering collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, as well as effective communication skills. During the semester you will complete original research to further our knowledge of how stem cells are maintained by using the fruit fly ovary as our model system. Throughout the course you will complete independent research, analyze scientific literature, and communicate your results in a final paper modeled after scientific publications.

A broad survey of the field of immunology and the mammalian immune system. The cellular and molecular basis of innate and acquired immunity will be discussed in detail. The course will provide frequent examples drawn from human biology in health and disease.

Basic principles of genetics illustrated with examples from prokaryote and eukaryote organisms. Classical genetic techniques as well as molecular and genomic approaches will be discussed. The evolving concept of the gene, of genetic interactions and gene networks, as well as chromosome mechanics will be the focus of the course. Selected topics will include gene regulation, cancer genetics, the human biome, imprinting, and stem cells.

This course focuses on the fundamental biochemical principles that underlie cellular function. An emphasis will be placed on protein structure, function, and regulation. Additional topics covered will include metabolism and catalysis, and cutting-edge methodologies for studying macromolecules in health and disease systems.

The course will investigate the roles that gene regulation, cell-cell communication, cell adhesion, cell motility, signal transduction and intracellular trafficking play in the commitment, differentiation and assembly of cells into specialized tissues. The mechanisms that underlie development of multicellular organisms, from C. elegans to humans, will be examined using biochemical, genetic and cell biological approaches. In-class problem solving, group work, and active learning approaches will be used to emphasize key concepts and analyze experimental data.

We will explore the molecular events leading to the onset and progression of human cancer. We will review the central genetic and biochemical elements that make up the cell cycle, followed by a survey of the signal transduction pathways and checkpoints that regulate it. We will discuss oncogenes, tumor suppressor and mutator genes that act in these pathways and review the role of viral oncogenes and their action on cells. We will investigate the role of cancer stem cells and the interaction between tumor and the host environment. We will explore specific clinical case studies in light of the molecular events underlying different cancers.

This course will consider the principles, development, outcomes and future directions of therapeutic applications of biotechnology, with particular emphasis on the interplay between basic research and clinical experience. Topics to be discussed include production of hormones and other protein drugs, nucleic acid drugs and vaccines, gene therapy and gene editing, and molecular diagnostics. Reading will largely be from the primary literature.

Many organisms are agents of disease in humans, but few can cause a pandemic. This course will survey where pandemic pathogens come from, how they replicate and cause disease, and what technologies have been invented to combat them or predict where they may emerge next.

The cell biology of tissues is discussed covering the molecules and fundamental concepts in cell communication, adhesion, shape, division, and differentiation. How cells become different from one another in a developing organism is explored, focusing on important concepts and developmental strategies using model systems. Both lectures and primary literature discussions are used to introduce seminal work, classic and modern experimental approaches, and outstanding questions in cell and developmental biology. Students are expected to learn to read critically, think beyond the reading, and participate in presenting and discussing the materials.

Mandatory first-year graduate course consisting of participation in weekly MOL Butler seminar series and meetings with seminar speaker. Meetings may include a range of activities such as student-driven presentations and discussions relevant to the seminar talk, speaker's research publications, and career development.

Students perform research in the laboratories of potential faculty advisors.

Satisfies the NIH mandate for training in the ethical practice of science. The course is discussion-based, and uses readings, videos, case studies and guest participants to examine basic ethical and regulatory requirements for the responsible conduct of research. Topics include: the nature of - and response to - research misconduct; collaborative research; protection of human and animal subjects; conflicts of interest and commitment; authorship, publication and peer review; mentorship; societal impacts of scientific research; diversity and inclusion in scientific research; and contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research.

Introduction to a mathematical description of how networks of neurons can represent information and compute with it. Course will survey computational modeling and data analysis methods for neuroscience. Example topics are short-term memory and decision-making, population coding, modeling behavioral and neural data, and reinforcement learning. Classes will be a mix of lectures from the professor, and presentations of research papers by the students. Two 90 minute lectures, one laboratory. Lectures in common between NEU 437/NEU 537.

A survey of experimental & theoretical approaches to understanding how cognition arises in the brain. This complements 501, focusing on the mechanisms responsible for perception, attention, decision making, memory, cognitive & motor control, and planning, with emphasis on the representations involved & their transformations in the service of cognitive function. Source material spans neuroscience, cognitive science, & work on artificial systems. Relevance to neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders is also discussed. This is the 2nd term of a double-credit core lecture course required of all Neuroscience Ph.D. students.

This lab course introduces students to the variety of experimental and computational techniques and concepts used in modern cognitive neuroscience. Topics include functional magnetic resonance imaging, scalp electrophysiological recording, and computational modeling. In-lab lectures provide students with the background necessary to understand the scientific content of the labs, but the emphasis is on the labs themselves, including student-designed experiments using these techniques. This is the second term of a double-credit core lab course required of all Neuroscience Ph.D. students.

Introduction to a mathematical description of how networks of neurons can represent information and compute with it. Course surveys computational modeling and data analysis methods for neuroscience. Example topics are short-term memory and decision-making, population coding, modeling behavioral and neural data, and reinforcement learning. Classes are a mix of lectures from the professor, and presentations of research papers by the students. Two 90 minute lectures. Lectures in common between NEU 437/NEU 537. Graduate students carry out a semester-long project.

Advances in molecular biology and computation have propelled the study of genomics forwards. A hallmark of genomics is the production and analysis of large datasets. This course will pair an overview of genomics with practical instruction in the analytical techniques required to use it in research and medicine. Topics include single-cell genomics, RNA-seq, epigenetics, genome engineering including CRISPR, and clinical genomics. We start with a genetics primer and an intro to programming using Python. Our goal is to provide a foundation for understanding the design and analysis of data-heavy experiments common in biomedical research.

This course explores the biochemical foundations of human physiology and how it is disturbed in disease. We discuss the roles of metabolic, the cardiovascular, and immune systems in various diseases, particularly cancer. Specific topics include: the functions of the major organ systems, and how we measure and model their activity; nutrition and the maintenance of metabolic homeostasis; the anti-tumor immune response; the origins, consequences, and major treatment paradigms of cancer; and the process of translating basic science into novel therapies. The class will consist of lectures and student-led discussions of scientific papers.

This course explores the biochemical foundations of human physiology and how it is disturbed in disease. We discuss the roles of metabolic, the cardiovascular, and immune systems in various diseases, particularly cancer. Specific topics include: the functions of the major organ systems, and how we measure and model their activity; nutrition and the maintenance of metabolic homeostasis; the anti-tumor immune response; the origins, consequences, and major treatment paradigms of cancer; and the process of translating basic science into novel therapies. The class consists of lectures and student-led discussions of scientific papers.