BIOL 330
Genomes: Structure, Function, Evolution Spring 2022
Division III
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Genome sequencing technologies have opened the “book of life” to biologists. But making sense of genomes is still a work in progress. This course will examine central features of genomes, their evolution, and their contribution to human diseases such as cancer. Genome biology is a new field, and this presents the opportunity to learn science as it is being done. Biologists working today started out knowing nothing about core features of genomes, such as why most of the DNA is repetitive, or why segments of genes get removed in the RNA, or why silenced genes wake up in cancer cells. They began to find meaning by adopting dual perspectives of function and neutral evolution. Students will learn to walk these same paths and learn to evaluate for themselves what genome complexity means. In lab, students will develop hands-on and computational skills for investigating genome structural variation, then apply them in the second half of the semester in independent lab investigations.
The Class: Format: lecture/laboratory; lectures, three hours a week; laboratory, three hours a week.
Limit: 12
Expected: 12
Class#: 3063
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: Written responses to readings in primary literature; three take-home written exams; two laboratory reports; oral presentation of an independent laboratory project.
Prerequisites: BIOL 202
Enrollment Preferences: Biology majors
Unit Notes: does not satisfy the distribution requirement for the biology major.
Distributions: Division III
Attributes: BIMO Interdepartmental Electives

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