Molecular and Cellular Biology Standard Curriculum
Year 1
Fall semester
- Graduate Biochemistry (required)
- Molecular and Cellular Biology I (required)
- MCB Seminar Series (required)
- MCB Work-In-Progress (required)
Spring semester
- Molecular and Cellular Biology II (required)
- Ethics in Research (required)
- Graduate Statistics (optional)
- MCB Seminar Series (required)
- MCB Work-In-Progress (required)
- Rotation I (Jan-March)
- Rotation II (April-June)
Year 2
Fall semester
- Advanced course
(Examples: Proteomics and Genomics, Molecular Genetics, Advanced Immunology, Lipids and Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Diseases, Translational Cancer, Advanced Tutorial in Molecular and Cellular Biology; not all courses available every year) - MCB Seminar Series (required)
- MCB Work-In-Progress (required)
- Scientific Writing (required)
- Thesis Research
Spring semester
- Advanced course (see examples above)
- MCB Seminar Series (required)
- MCB Work-In-Progress (required)
- Thesis Research
Subsequent years
- Fall and Spring semesters
- MCB Seminar Series (required)
- MCB Work-In-Progress (required)
- Thesis Research
Courses
Molecular and Cellular Biology 1
Time: Offered annually in the fall semester. Each week there are two 2-hour lectures and one 2-hour discussion period.
This course provides the molecular foundation for students in the MCB Doctoral Program. Topics include DNA chemistry, replication and repair; transcriptional machinery in prokaryotes and eukaryotes; regulation of transcription; RNA processing; protein synthesis; gene regulation in prokaryotes; chromatin structure, function and remodeling; genetics in the age of genomics; epigenetic regulation of gene expression in higher eukaryotes; molecular immunology; site-specific recombination; lambda; VDJ and class switching; gene conversion; and hypermutation. Discussion sessions constitute an important part of the course and introduce students to the critical reading of research papers. Course instructors will assign 1-2 research articles the week before the corresponding lectures that students should read thoroughly before the session and be prepared to discuss. The level of participation will be noted. Exam questions are taken from material covered in both lectures and discussion sessions. Essay questions are designed to test integrative knowledge rather than knowledge of simple, factual details. Students should be prepared to propose experiments that will test a given hypothesis or idea. Reference text: It is recommended that students purchase the latest edition of either Molecular Biology of the Cell, Alberts, et al. (Garland Publishing Inc.), or Molecular Cell Biology, Lodish, et al, (W. H. Freeman and Co.).
Required course for MCB students. Major elective for NBS students.
6.000 Credit Hours
Molecular and Cellular Biology 2
Time: Offered annually in the spring semester. Each week there are two 1.5-hour lectures and one 1.5-hour journal discussion period.
This graduate-level course is designed to provide students in the MCB Doctoral Program with a broad background in cellular biology. The course is divided into three sections: cell structure/function, cell signaling, and cell development. The lectures cover topics and experimental approaches used in cell biology from the textbooks and more current literature. The purpose of the discussion groups is to reinforce the information and concepts presented during the lectures. Students critically review at least one representative publication. The paper, which is chosen by the instructor, is available one week before the class meeting. Each student is responsible for all aspects of the paper during the discussion session. Students are selected at random to describe the purpose of the experiment, to present the methods and results, and to critically evaluate the paper. There is an exam at the end of each section of the course; questions may have different formats, including but not restricted to short answer, essay, and experimental design. The discussion sections are equally a source of exam material as are the lectures. Students are evaluated on their contributions to the discussions as well as on their performance on exams. Reference text: It is recommended that students purchase the latest edition of either Molecular Biology of the Cell, Alberts, et al. (Garland Publishing Inc.), or Molecular Cell Biology, Lodish, et al, (W. H. Freeman and Co.).
Required course for MCB students. Major elective for NBS students.
6.000 Credit Hours
Graduate Biochemistry
Course director: Itsaso Garcia-Arcos
Time: Offered annually in the fall semester. Course meets three times per week for 2 hours per session.
Topics include proteins, protein purification and analysis, enzymes and kinetics, bioenergetics, carbohydrate chemistry, lipid metabolism, amino-acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, metabolic integration, and hormone signaling. Grades are based on the results of four written examinations and one oral presentation. The topic of the oral presentation is selected at random by the instructor from eight assigned topics, all of which must be prepared. There is no required text; individual lecturers suggest a written source of information to supplement the lecture material.
Required course for MCB and NBS students. MCB students normally take the course in the first year.
Lipid and Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Disease
Course director: Xian-Cheng Jiang, PhD.
This is a team-taught course covering the following topics: 1) lipid metabolism and heart disease, 2) angiogenesis, 3) mechanism of cardiovascular disease, 4) metabolic syndromes, and 5) genetics of cardiovascular disease.
Responsible conduct in Research (Ethics in Research)
Time: Spring semester
The ethics course seeks to acquaint students with ethical and legal issues that guide the manner in which scientific research is conducted and reported.
1.000 Credit Hours
Required course for all students in the School of Graduate Studies.
Graduate Statistics (Introduction to Data Science with R)
Time: Spring semester
Number of credits: 2
Course director: Richard Kollmar
This course aims to prepare students for analyzing data, with an emphasis on practical research applications. Topics include programming tools, experimental design, data wrangling, exploratory data analysis, inferential statistics鈥攗p to and including mixed and general linear models鈥攁nd visualization. Data sets include records from behavioral, physiological, and omics studies as well as literature databases. The lingua franca of the course is R.