Provisional Syllabus for Cell 6030, Molecular Biology Spring2014
ProfessorDavid A. Mullin
Office4016 Stern Hall
Office hours By appointment.
Class meets: Tue and Thur: 11:00 am- 12:15 pm in Boggs 243 and Tue.: 5pm to 6:15pm in Boggs 104
Text book: “Molecular Biology”, by Robert F. Weaver. Students are expected
to study the assigned reading material and PowerPoint presentations prior to attending the lectures.
Blackboard (BB) website: PowerPoint presentations and homework assignments will be posted on this site. You should check the syllabus posted on the BB site on a regular basis because page assignments and other readings associated with lectures may change.
Exam dates shown below are approximate:
Lect#TopicMB
1What is Molecular Biology?1
2Monomers: amino acids and nucleotides
3Molecular forces
4-7Structure, function and analysis of proteins3
8, 9Structure and analysis of nucleic acids2
First Exam (Tue. Feb. 18)—lectures 1 to 9.
10, 11Gene cloning, gene libraries, genomics4, 24
12, 13Molecular biology methods5
14RNA structure, function and analysis
15,16Bacterial RNA polymerase6
17,18Bacterial Operons and regulons7, 8 (217 - 230)
19DNA-protein interactions in bacteria9
20,21Bacterial chromosomes and DNA replication20, 21
Second Exam (Tue. March 18)lectures 10 to 19
22,23Eukaryotic RNA polymerases and promoters10
24General transcription factors of eukaryotes11 (299 - 323)
(336 - 337)
25Eukaryotic transcription activators and repressors12 (341 - 354)
26, 27Capping and polyadenylation of RNA15
28, 29RNA splicing, RNA editing14 (413 - 438
(443 - 451)
16 (508 - 511)
30Eukaryotic chromosomes13
Final Exam: check final exam schedule
Grading: This semester there will be 2 midterm exams, a final exam, and a term paper. Each will count as 25 % of the final grade. The term paper is due one week before the last day of class. This is a hard deadline. Choose a topic that deals with a specific question in molecular biology but discuss the topic of the paper with me before you start writing. Homework will be used to decide borderline grades. Two or more unexcused absences in the lecture will cause your final letter grade to drop by one full letter. If you miss an exam you will be allowed to take a makeup exam only if you contact me prior to the time of the exam and get my approval. Unexcused missed exams will probably be recorded as a 0 % score. As a reminder: The Honor Code stipulates that "all academic work must be the result of the student's own efforts." I will ruthlessly pursue those who break the honor code in my class.
Goals of this molecular biology course: As it relates to molecular biology, and beyond the basic definitions of elements and topics, students should learn to identify interesting phenomenology, ask scientific questions, design controlled experiments, analyze and interpret data, construct explanations. Students should learn to understand causes and effects, and stability and change as it relates to molecular biology.