Courses

Overview of MMSB Course Offerings                                

 MEDS 350: Biochemistry I

Protein structure and function, structure and replication of nucleic acids, protein synthesis, basic metabolism, membrane structure and transport, microRNAs, proteomics and structural genomics.
Dr. Glenn King and staff

Biochemistry I Course Web Site

 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 one participating faculty member to investigate a specific biological problem.
Dr. Maciejewski and staff

Biochemistry II Course Web Site

 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 biochemical basis of human diseases such as Myasthenia Gravis, Blooms syndrome, Prion disease, Alzheimer’s and Fragile X. Students are encouraged to critically evaluate the current dogma and to formulate novel hypotheses that explain the disease process.
Dr. Henry Furneaux 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. Larry Klobutcher 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.