Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 2 hours / session
Prerequisites
7.06 Cell Biology
Course Description
The goal of this course is to teach both the fundamentals of nuclear cell biology as well as the methodological and experimental approaches upon which they are based. Lectures will cover the background and fundamental findings in a particular area of nuclear cell biology. Class discussions will cover one assigned paper in the same area. These seminal papers are used to understand both the important elements of the field as well as to provide concrete examples of the experimental approaches and logic used to establish these findings. Two students will be assigned to present the paper for each discussion class and faculty and students will participate in the discussion. All students will be expected to have read the paper under consideration and be prepared for a lively discussion.
Evaluation
Students will be evaluated by two criteria. Participation in class discussions will constitute 50% of the grade. The remaining 50% of the evaluation will be based on a written proposal due at the end of the semester.
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Class discussions | 50% |
| Written proposal | 50% |
Calendar
Instructors:
Prof. Phillip Sharp
Prof. Richard A. Young
Guest Lecturers:
Professor Iain Cheeseman (IC)
Professor Rudolf Jaenisch (RJ)
| SES # | TOPICS | LECTURERS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: Genome and systems biology | Young |
| 2 | Discussion: Genome and systems biology | Young |
| 3 | Lecture: Cell cycle | Young |
| 4 | Discussion: Cell cycle | Young |
| 5 | Lecture: Transcriptional regulation | Young |
| 6 | Discussion: Transcriptional regulation | Young |
| 7 | Lecture: Transcription and chromatin modification | Young |
| 8 | Discussion: Transcription and chromatin modification | Young/Sharp |
| 9 | Lecture: Chromosomes/replication | Cheeseman |
| 10 | Discussion: Chromosomes/replication | Cheeseman/Young/Sharp |
| 11 | Lecture: Epigenetics | Jaenisch |
| 12 | Discussion: Epigenetics | Young/Sharp |
| 13 | Lecture: Nuclear structure/export | Sharp |
| 14 | Discussion: Nuclear structure/export | Sharp/Young |
| 15 | Lecture: Chromatin and gene expression I | Young |
| 16 | Discussion: Chromatin and gene expression I | Young/Sharp |
| 17 | Lecture: Chromatin and gene expression II | Sharp |
| 18 | Discussion: Chromatin and gene expression II | Sharp |
| 19 | Lecture: Alternative splicing and polyadenylation | Sharp |
| 20 | Discussion: Alternative splicing and polyadenylation | Sharp/Young |
| 21 | Lecture: RNA interference and microRNAs | Sharp |
| 22 | Discussion: RNA interference and microRNAs | Sharp/Young |
| 23 | Lecture: RNA interference and transcription | Sharp |
| 24 | Discussion: RNA interference and transcription | Young/Sharp |
