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Biosciences 445/545
Advanced Molecular Biology and Genetics
Fall 2003

(not offered in 2004-2005)

Tuesday and Thursday, 10:50AM - 12:05PM
George R. Brown Hall W212

Schedule of Lectures and Assignments

Instructors
Michael Stern
Office: GRB W131
e-mail: stern@rice.edu
tel: 713-348-5351
Bonnie Bartel
Office: GRB W300D
e-mail: bartel@rice.edu
tel: 713-348-5602

Goals

1)  Learn to read the primary literature critically, and write critical evaluations of individual papers or groups of related papers.

2)  Become familiar with the state of our understanding of the molecular genetics of development.

How these goals will be achieved

1)  Lectures will come mostly from the primary literature, rather than from textbooks, although some textbooks information will be used for background and review.  State of the art techniques, concepts, and results will be presented.  The final examination (25% of the total grade) will be based on material presented in the lectures or in the assigned research papers.

2)  You will read research papers, or groups of research papers on specific topics, and write critical analyses on these papers.  The assignments will give you the opportunity to perform such analyses both individually and as part of an interacting group.  Three assignments will be given during the course of the semester and will total the remaining 75% of your grade.  Assignment 1 will be handed out on the first day of class.
 

Lecture topics

The bulk of the lectures will deal with the molecular genetics of development.  Thus, we will focus mostly on the small group of organisms upon which molecular genetic analysis is most usefully applied.  These organisms are yeast, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and the mouse.  We hope that through these lectures you will gain a greater understanding of the similarities and differences in developmental strategies used by these various organisms, as well as of the similarities and differences in the experimental techniques available to the investigator.

We will also cover the related topics of retroviruses, oncogenes and HIV.  HIV will be covered because of the current health hazard associated with the virus.  Oncogenes are also of great medical importance because certain mutations in oncogenes have been implicated in cancer.  Furthermore it is now becoming clear, mostly from work in invertebrates, that the normal forms of oncogenes play central roles in controlling development.  To understand HIV and oncogenes it is first necessary to understand retroviruses;  HIV is a type of retrovirus, sometimes called a lentivirus, or slow retrovirus, and oncogenes were first discovered as components of oncogenic retroviruses.

Assignment topics

1)  Molecular mechanism of transcription antitermination in the bacteriophage lambda.

2)  Molecular genetics of vulva development in the nematode C. elegans.

3)  Analysis of circadian rhythms in various model systems.

Final exam

The final exam will be a three hour self scheduled exam and will be based on material covered during lectures or in any of the assigned papers.   The exam will comprise several questions on a variety of topics, from which you will select a subset of questions to answer.

Accommodations for students with disabilities

Any student with a disability requiring accommodations in this class is encouraged to contact either instructor after class.  Additionally, students should contact the Coordinator for Disabled Student Services in the RMC Cloisters.
 

Useful Links
Biochemistry