Gene Expression Interest Group: Courses
The Biological Chemistry and Molecular Biology Programs offer a variety of course work that provides a grounding in the wide range of scientific disciplines that are critical components on modern research.
Here is a partial listing of graduate-level courses that are of special interest of gene expression.
Genetics and Genome
This course covers the basic principles of genetics in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and the basic mechanisms of genome structure and replication. Mechanisms governing the transmission of genetic information are covered in bacteria, fungi, flies, worms, and vertebrates, including mutagenesis, transposons, suppression, epistasis, recombidnation, mosaics, gene knockouts, and two hybrid analysis. The genomes section of the course covers the organization of genes on chromosomes, chromatin structure, DNA replication and repair, gene silencing, chromosome inactivation, imprinting, and genome evolution. (3 credit hours; 1 semester)
Gene Expression
This course covers both transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms of gene regulation. The transcriptional regulation section of the course covers, basic mechanisms of gene activation and repression, chromatin remodeling machines, regulation of transcription activation by signal transduction cascades. The post-transcriptional section covers mechanisms regulating RNA processing (splicing, editing, and transport), translation and mRNA stability. Required core course for the Molecular Biology Program and an elective for the students in the Biological Chemistry Program. (1.5 credit hour; 1/2 semester)
Elective Courses
Each year, members of the Genetics Interest Group offer at least one, and usually several advanced half semester elective courses for students in the Graduate Programs. Recent examples include Signal Transduction, Site Specific Drug Delivery, Nucleic Acid Chemistry, and Genome Informatics.