Fall Semester
Section I – Experimental Biology
Imaging:
- Imaging at different scales
- Physics of converting a 3D object into a 2D image
- Electron microscopy
- Light microscopy
- Whole body imaging
Genetics:
- Nature and types of mutations
- CRISPR techniques and application
- Forward and reverse genetics
- Drosophila model systems
- Mouse genetics
Biochemistry:
- Molecular techniques for the analysis of DNA, RNA, and protein
- Protein production and purification
- Post-translational modifications
- Protein-nucleic acid interactions
Genomics:
- Basic overview of genomes
- Technology platforms for genomics
- Sequencing techniques and approaches
- Library construction
- Single-cell analyses
Quantitative and Computational Biology:
- Overview of Unix and R
- Review and plotting of TCGA data
- RNA-seq
- Single-cell RNA-seq
- ChIP-seq
Section II – Mechanistic Biology I
Genome Biology, Gene Expression, and Proteins:
- Chromosome structure
- Chromosome replication
- Topoisomerases and the effects of DNA topology
- Biochemical mechanisms of homologous recombination
- Meiotic recombination
- Transcription
- Epigenetics
- RNA modification
- Translation
- RNAi and miRNAs
- Measurement of gene expression
- Protein structure, folding, and modification
- Protein-protein interactions
- Errors in protein folding and disease
Cell Biology and Developmental Biology I:
- The cell cycle
- The mitotic checkpoint
- Programmed cell death
- Cellular membrane structure and function
- Cytoskeletal architecture
- Chemotaxis and cell migration
- Secretory pathway
- Endocytic trafficking
- Mitochondria
- Ion channels
- Cell adhesion
- Mechanobiology
- Pre-implantation mouse development
- Gastrulation in mammals and other organisms
- Epigenetic regulation of development
- Lineage specification and cell polarity in development
Spring Semester
Section III – Mechanistic Biology II
Developmental Biology II:
- Hedgehog signaling
- Notch signaling
- Ras and MAPK signaling in development
- Organogenesis
- Stem cells and human biology
- Stem cells and therapy
Immunology:
- Overview: molecules, cells, and tissues
- Innate immunity
- Cytokines and chemokines
- NK cells and receptors
- MHC and antigen presentation
- Rearrangements of antigen receptor genes
- B cell differentiation
- Lymphocyte activation
- T cell differentiation
- Tolerance and autoimmunity
- Lymphoid architecture and recirculation
Section IV – Cancer Biology
- Cancer as a disease
- Genetic mechanisms
- Cancer signaling
- Computational biology and oncology
- Cancer metabolism
- Tumor heterogeneity
- Cancer modeling
- Tumor microenvironments
- Metastasis
- Targeted therapies
- Immunotherapy