GSBS Core Course Curriculum
The core curriculum provides all students with an
integral foundation in the sciences basic to medicine, emphasizing
contemporary topics in biological chemistry, transfer of genetic
information, cellular architecture and regulation, and multicellular
systems and processes, as well as an ethics course on the responsible
conduct of science. Students should complete the core requirements in
one year to 18 months, but no later than two years after admission. More details about the GSBS Core Course Curriculum can be found here.
BMP Advanced Topics Courses
This course focuses on the use of chemical approaches to answer fundamental questions in biology. Topics include post-translational modifications, chemical synthesis and modification of biopolymers, combinatorial chemistry, chemical genetics, rational drug design, ligand-receptor interactions, and the fundamentals of fluorescence (Spring, 3 credits).
BP716 Molecular Biophysics
The goal of this course is to give students a strong foundation in physical principles that underlie the thermodynamic and mechanistic properties of biological macromolecules and macromolecular complexes. In addition to providing theoretical background, lectures and discussion groups will focus on the application of physical chemical principles in contemporary biomedical research. Topics will include spectroscopic and computational approaches to studying protein and nucleic acid structures, thermodynamics and kinetics of protein folding, the solution behavior of macromolecules and principles that govern molecular recognition (Fall, 3 credits).
BP718 RNA Biology
This advanced topics course covers current research in the general area of RNA biology. Topics may include RNA synthesis, modification and processing pathways, RNA structure, RNA transport and subcellular localization, translational regulation, RNAi and microRNAs, RNA decay, RNA aptamers, RNA catalysts, RNA and early evolution, and RNA as a drug and/or drug target. The format of this course will center on group discussion of papers from the primary literature(Fall [odd years], 2 credits).
BP720 Structural Biology
The goal of this course is to provide students with a theoretical
and practical understanding of techniques used to determine the
three-dimensional structures of biological macromolecules. The primary
methods explored will be X-ray crystallography and Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance, but alternative approaches will also be discussed. Emphasis
will be placed on both structural determination and analysis of
dynamics, which can be crucial for macromolecular function (Spring [odd
years], 2 credits).