Courses
Undergraduate Courses
BIO 320 Genetics
Genetics covers all the major principles of this area of biology, beginning with Mendelian Laws and extending to a discussion of modern molecular genetics concepts.Within this framework the topics presented in this course include principles of heredity, chromosome structure and function, biochemical genetics, cytogenetics, multifactorial genetics, population genetics, DNA structure and function, principles of gene expression and gene regulation, gene mapping and human genome analysis.
BIO 451 Tissue Culture
An important objective of this course is to provide students with a strong foundation in the principles and practice of tissue culture in a research setting. As part of this goal, the student will be instructed in the basic procedures of mammalian cell culture, including the routine maintenance of cell lines, quantitatve cell assays and microscopic imagiing techniques. An additional objective of the course is to provide students with an understanding of the properties of cultured cells and the unique features of the cell culture environment. The most critical objective of Tissue Culture is to present students with the opportunity to explore the use of cultured cell lines in biological research studies.
BIO 467 Biotechnology
The major objective of this course is to familiarize students with the methods of biotechnology in a research based format. The students are taught the basic procedures and protocols of biology and their relationship to the fundamentals of molecular biology. Students learn laboratory techniques as part of modules designed to explore the use of specific tools of biotechnology to investigate research problems. Each module will be organized as a formal lab report incorporating the methods studied, data analysis and interpretation. Problem sets stress applications of methodology to research applications.
BIO 495 Honors Thesis in Biology
Undergraduate students interested in pursuing research training in biomedicine may apply for admission to the lab to complete an honor's thesis and receive departmental Honors in Biology at graduation. BIO499 must be taken as a prerequisite. Please contact Dr Crawford for more details.
BIO 497 In-Service Training in Biology
Undergraduate students may conduct research training in biomedicine in collaboration with another research institution.
BIO 499 Independent Study and Research
Undergraduate students interested in learning research methods and participating in research studies in the Cancer Biology Laboratory may do so by enrolling in this course. This course may also serve as an introductory course for Honor's thesis research (see BIO495).
Graduate Courses
BIO 541 Tissue Culture Workshop
This course is taught using a research based approach. This will include a series of instructor led in lab discussions on the principles of mammalian cell culture, the biology of cultured cells and procedures and protocols commonly used in the tissue culture laboratory. The students will be instructed in tissue culture procedures and will maintain their own cell lines during the semester. An important component of the course involves student projects in cell culture research. The students will design their own research proposals and carry out a research project as part of the research based mode of instruction. The student will also share their research findings with the class as part of a series of student presentations at the end of the course.
BIO 547 Virology
An overview of the major areas of virology will be presented in this course. The course will cover the fundamental properties of the major Families of viruses, including replication and infectious disease cycles. In addition, the molecular mechanisms involved in viral gene expression and regulation will be analyzed, particularly as these processes serve as models for understanding the genetic system. The role of viruses in human infectious disease will be evaluated in terms of virus/host interactions and host immune mechanisms at a molecular level. Current research areas will be given attention, including the problems of emerging viruses, viral evolution and implications in diease epidemiology. Finally, the role of viruses inrecombinant DNA technology and the use of this technology in the prevention and treatment of infectious disease will be explored.
BIO 552 Human and Medical Genetics
This course takes a research-based approach to exploring the human genome with respect to its structural and functional organization, the principles and patterns of inheritance, gene expression and regulation, and the consequences of genetic dysfunction at the cytogenetic and molecular levels. To address these topics, the fundamental principles of Mendelian genetics will be discussed as they relate to patterns of single gene expression; in addition, analysis of single gene disorders resulting in heritable genetic defects will be presented. Extensions of Mendelian principles to include more complex modes of inheritance, such as polygenic and multifactorial inheritance will follow. Principles of biochemical genetics and clinical cytogenetics will be discussed with reference to specific examples. The molecular analysis of gene structure and function will include a description of many of the methods of recombinant DNA technology, including gene cloning, PCR (polymerase chain reaction), DNA fingerprinting and gene mapping. The significance of the Human Genome Project will also be discussed. These analyses will stress the importance of molecular genetics technology in the elucidation of gene structure and function and in the design of novel strategies for the treatment of genetic disorders.
BIO 556 Cancer Biology
Cancer biology is an interdisciplinary graduate course that attempts to integrate many areas of biology as they apply to the study of cancer. The study of this complex disease requires a broad knowledge of critical biological processes to govern the basic functions of the living system. A central theme of this course involves the concept that cancer arises when cellular systems lose their capacity to regulate the fundamental processes that determine growth behavior. It is a unifying concept involving the model that there are fundamental characteristics common to all cancers that distinguish them from normal cells, and that an understanding of these fundamental differences provides insight into the basic regulatory mechanisms responsible for normal cells cycle of proliferation, survival and death. The areas of biology that are covered in this course as they relate to the study of cancer include: cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, immunology, virology, epidemiology and molecular biology.
BIO 590 Graduate Thesis
Graduate students in the Biology Department may conduct thesis research (6 graduate credits) in the Cancer Biology Laboratory as an alternative to the comprehensive examination requirement.
Please contact Dr Crawford for more information.
BIO 600 Independent Study Research
Graduate students in the Biology Department may spend one semester in the laboratory in research training.
This is a photograph of a tissue organizing structure (TOS) stained with acridine orange and examined by fluorescence laser confocal microscopy (1000X magnification). The approximate size of the cell-derived structure is 2 microns.
