Molecular Biology of the Cell I

26 GNTD 872
3 graduate credits

Course Director: Dr. Eric Gruenstein

This is a graduate level core curriculum course designed to provide all graduate students in the College of Medicine with fundamental knowledge in the discipline of biochemistry with a focus on proteins, enzymes and metabolism. Students are assumed to have had previous classes in biology, general chemistry and organic chemistry.

The first third of the course describes the structure of proteins, their purification and properties and introduces the student to enzyme kinetics. The second third of the course focuses on the metabolic pathways energy production including glycolysis, the TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation plus hormonal control of metabolism. The final third of the course describes the enzymatic pathways for the metabolism of amino acids, nucleotides, lipids and phospholipids-mediated signal transduction.

In addition to these three sections the course also includes lectures on the practical aspects of using important tools of biochemistry such as gel electrophoresis, ways to purify proteins, the use of radioisotopes and techniques for studying cell membranes. Other class periods are periodically devoted to problem solving exercises and to providing the students with overviews of metabolism.

The teaching faculty are research scientists with laboratory experience in the particular areas they lecturing on. A detailed syllabus is posted online on Blackboard, the University electronic educational platform. There are 3 2-hour exams that include questions requiring students to interpret actual experimental data, design experiments and explain biochemical mechanisms. There are also 3 group projects due at the time of each exam which require independent use of the scientific literature and in depth understanding and application of the material presented in lecture.