Advanced Cell Biology
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Course Philosophy

This is an exciting time to be in biology. Cell biology will become central to closing the gap between the immense amount of data from genomics and proteomics projects and our limited understanding of how cells and organisms grow, develop and adapt.

What is Contemporary Cell Biology? It is not only the study of cells through their structure and development using state-of-the-art microscopy. Since ~20 years ago, cell biology has become increasingly interdisciplinary, incorporating approaches from biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, and recently from genomics, proteomics, high-throughput “omics” and bioinformatics. Genomic studies are revealing many similarities among major domains of life in Eubacteria, Archae and Eukaryotes. Thus it is important for modern biologists to appreciate a global view of life. The aim of this course is to focus on the fundamental similarities in the mechanisms by which all cells operate, and also to marvel at the variety seen in different eukaryotes. The emphasis will be on how advances were made, i.e. what types of experimental approaches led to the concepts. Hopefully, this course will help students identify questions in cell biology and provide them with the knowledge/tools to approach questions in their thesis research or in a future profession.

Course Content and Goals

· a.) Lectures: Lectures will review basic principles, approaches and methods leading to current concepts; and point out questions/areas that are still poorly understood. The hour exams will test basic principles and the ability to apply the concepts and methods to solve problems.
· b) Journal presentations and discussions: Papers (past and current) will be selected to illustrate a novel approach or technical advance, a new hypothesis, a new finding that advances the thinking in the field, or all of the above. Papers will show how established investigators ask questions and approach the problems; how one designs well-controlled experiments, how one interprets the results independently. The class will discuss the significance and the quality of the papers.
· c) Take Home assignments: Homework is provided to guide students in reading primary research papers; to interpret the data independently, to draw conclusions independently, to identify unresolved problems; to consider alternative approaches and interpretations, and identify unresolved questions.
· d) Final paper/proposal: The ability to identify a key question and then to propose experiments and approaches to solve the problem is a hallmark of an independent scientist. Students are asked to research a fundamental question in cell biology in depth by reviewing the literature, and then to identify a major questions, and propose a few specific ways to answer the questions. [Analogous to a postdoc fellowship application]

The course is aimed for first year graduate students with some basic background in general cell biology. A range of topics in basic cell biology are covered, so students get a flavor of what is current and will have the tools to get into more in-depth research.