CLASSES TAUGHT
Perspectives in Human Biology (Bio 130) Lectures and laboratory for students who need to fulfill the science general education requirement. This course includes structural and functional characteristics of living things, emphasizing human biology and genetics.
Molecular Biology (Bio 302) Gene expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes and applications to biotechnology.
Genetics (Bio 319) This course, required for all Biological Science majors, covers advanced classical genetic analysis and molecular genetics. This course requires a thorough knowledge of cell biology (Bio 201) and biochemistry (Bio 205, Bch 403, Che 312)
Genetics lab (Bio 329) This course mimics a research lab experience. Students will produce a mutant, make a wild-type genomic library, and use that library to complement their mutant. Students subject the sequence of the complementing plasmid to bioinformatic analysis. Techniques used include DNA (plasmid and genomic) isolation, gene cloning, PCR, replica plating and sterile technique. Due to safety considerations, space in this laboratory is limited. Only Biological Sciences majors are allowed to enroll.
Advanced Molecular Genetics (Bio 404/504) This course covers advanced topics in gene expression. Subject matter includes replication, transcription, translation and regulation of gene expression in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. This course is taught solely from the primary literature. One of its goals is to help the students become comfortable in critical analysis of peer-reviewed articles. Genetics (Bio 319) is a pre-requisite for undergraduates taking the course.
Contemporary Biology (Bio 425) The purpose of this course is to allow students to use the facts that they’ve learned in classes that are required for a Biological Sciences major to critically evaluate biological issues that are presented by non-technical sources.
Graduate Seminar for M.A. Students (Bio 610 HOL) Each student will present a lecture (~40min) on a science-based subject of their choosing. The purpose of this course is to give students practical experience in explaining scientific concepts to a science- literate audience that does not have in-depth knowledge of the presentation subject.