“It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material”

Watson and Crick, Nature 1953

Course policies, assignments, and grading can be found here.

Molecular Biology 312 Spring 2009 Syllabus

1. •Visit the Helicase Wiki
   

2. •Paper copy of Syllabus (pdf)
   

Section 1: DNA Structure, Chemistry, and Replication

All readings and animations for this section can be found at the Exam 1 Materials page.

Problem Set 1 (pdf) is due on February 5th before class begins

January 13th      Course Introduction

January 15th      The Central Dogma (pdf)

January 20th      DNA Structure and Chemistry (pdf)

January 22nd     Protein-DNA Interactions (pdf)

Janurary 27th     DNA Topology and the Nucleosome (pdf)

Janurary 29th     No Class

February 3rd      DNA Replication: The Replication Fork (pdf)

February 5th       DNA Replication: Origins and Telomeres (pdf)

February 10th     Introduction to Wiki Project/Review

February 12th   Section 1 Exam: Genetics and Molecules through DNA Replication

Section 2: DNA Repair and Recombination

All readings and animations for this section can be found at the Exam 2 Materials page.

Problem Set 2 (pdf) is due on February 26th before class begins

February 17th     DNA Repair (pdf)

February 19th     DNA Recombination: General (pdf)

February 24th     DNA Recombination: Site-specific (pdf)

February 26th     Prokaryotic Transcriptional Machinery (pdf)

March 3rd-5th     Spring Break

March 12th      Section 2 Exam: DNA Repair through Prokaryotic Transcription

Section 3: Transcriptional Control

All readings and animations for this section can be found at the Exam 3 Materials page.

Problem Set 3 (pdf) is due on March 26th before class begins

March 17th         Phage Transcriptional Control  I: The Switch (pdf)                             

Reading: A Genetic Switch, Chapters 1 and 2        

March 19th         Phage Transcriptional Control  II: Setting the Switch (pdf)                            Reading: A Genetic Switch, Chapter 3 and 4

March 24th         Bacterial Transcriptional Control: The Lac Operon (pdf)

March 26th         Eukaryotic Transcriptional Machinery (pdf)

April 2nd          Section 3 Exam: Phage and Eukaryotic Transcription

Section 4: Eukaryotic Transcription, Splicing, and Translation

All readings and animations for this section can be found at the Exam 4 Materials page.

Problem Set 4 (pdf) is due on April 16th before class begins

March 31st         Eukaryotic Transcriptional Control: Transcription Factors (pdf)

April 7th             Eukaryotic Transcriptional Control: Nucleosomes and Imprinting (pdf)

April 9th             RNA Structure, Ribozymes, and Regulatory RNA (pdf)

April 14th           RNA Splicing (pdf)

April 16th           Translation

April 21st           Translational Control/ Exam Review

April 23rd          Section 4 Exam: Eukaryotic Transcription to the end

  

May 5th    Final Exam, 12-3 p.m. in Room 239

                  

Instructor: Chris Korey

Course Location: Science Center, Rm239

Time: 12:15 - 1:30 p.m.

Office Hours:  I can usually be found in my office/lab (SCIC 217C) most of the day.  When you have a question or concern, just stop by.  My door is always open.  I will be guaranteed to be in my office between 11am-12pm on Wednesdays.  Feel free to make an appointment if you want to meet at a specific time outside of office hours.  I can’t help you unless you come and discuss questions you may have with me.

Course Goals

1. To give you a solid understanding of the principles underlying the field of Molecular Biology.

2. To explore experimental design, methods, and interpretation of experimental results as it pertains to Molecular Biology

The Helicase Wiki: Our course has a dynamic, community based wiki that will be the hub of our  reading material, animations, movies, material review, and semester long group projects.

A Genetic Switch by Mark Ptashne is the small text that we will be using for the third quarter of the class.

Keep Up With Current Research

The Sounds of Molecular Biology from Molecular Code

Protein Synthesis:

An Epic on the Cellular Level

The PCR Song

The epMotion Pipetman Song

The PCR Song Reprised