Advanced Molecular Genetics: Gene Regulation

26 MG 710
4 graduate credits

Course Director: Dr. Iain Cartwright

This is a graduate level course taught exclusively from the primary literature - there are no textbooks recommended, and much of the material is hardly even covered in textbooks at any level sufficient for advanced graduate study. We will emphasize scientific study and processes, beginning with the fundamental hypothesis which drives the research, all the way through the methodology applied, why the specific investigative approach or model was used and its potential limitations, the data acquired, and the conclusions reached. This approach is in contrast to simply memorizing facts and theories. The material encompasses the broad area of gene regulation with a major focus on RNA transcription and its control. The emphasis in this course is on biochemical and genetic approaches to understanding the process of gene regulation in eukaryotes - covering a range of topics from the polymerase itself (in this case we concentrate almost exclusively on RNA polymerase II), to the processes of initiation, processing and regulation of mRNA synthesis in differentiated cells and tissues. On this journey we will find that the topic of chromatin structure and its modulation is a major component that distinguishes the process of gene control in eukaryotes from that in prokaryotes.

The material will be presented by a combination of lecture and discussion by several faculty instructors with research interests in the gene regulation field. Questions are always encouraged at any time. In general, a specific topic will be covered in lecture/discussion format in a series of two or three lectures. Each faculty lecturer will assign several articles, generally a combination of primary research papers and review articles, which are required reading. Each group of lectures will be followed by discussion sections, where assigned journal articles are discussed by students, randomly selected during class. The dates of the class lectures and discussions, topics to be covered, research articles and reviews, scheduled exams and list of faculty lecturers, as well as other information related to the course are all posted online on Blackboard - the University's electronic educational platform.

The exams are closed-book and will be scheduled as indicated in the course outline/syllabus. Since we will primarily emphasize experimental design and scientific approach toward proof of theory rather than regurgitation of facts, the exams will require a thorough understanding of basic methodologies, the ability to interpret experimental results, and the design of experiments to test hypotheses or extend a given dataset.