BIOL327 Molecular Biology Course Information
Instructor:Marie Pizzorno Department of Biology Bucknell University Office:BB205 Phone: (570) 577-3084 pizzorno@bucknell.edu	Required Textbook: Molecular Biology R.F. Weaver, 1999

Course Description:

Even though the exact structure of DNA has only been known for 45 years, biologists have long understood that each organism contains a "blueprint" for its own construction and is able to pass that blueprint on to succeeding generations. Once the structure of this molecular blueprint was discovered, the details of how a long double helix containing repeating units of 4 variations can contain enough information to construct and maintain a complex biological form could be unraveled. In this course we will begin to study this process by concentrating on how the sequence of bases in DNA is deciphered and preserved from generation to generation. In addition, we will consider some of the technological advances in this field, which have had a major impact on all aspects of biology, from ecology to biochemistry and cell biology.

Lectures and Readings:

Most of the class material will be presented through class lecture and discussion. For this reason, attendance in class is very important and repeated absences will adversely effect your grade. You will find it helpful to skim the text readings prior to lecture and then read them in more depth later. Remember that I may not present all of the information in the text or I may supplement it with additional information. Learn to use the textbook as a reference, to clarify things you don't understand from lecture and to give you a different perspective on the material.

Course Requirements

Homework assignments may be given occasionally and they will be corrected and counted. There will be 3 one-hour exams given during normal class sessions. These exams will primarily be problem based and will require more than just memorization of the class material. The final will be comprehensive and administered on the scheduled date. In recognition that this style of testing may be different than you have experienced before, I will count the first exam less towards the final grade.

Class Discussions:

Several times during the course I will assign a research article on a topic relevant to class lectures. You will be expected to have read this article thoroughly and be prepared to participate in a class discussion. To facilitate this, I will either ask you to complete a short written assignment, which may involve answering questions about the paper or asking questions of your own. These assignments will be turned in on the day of the discussion. I will use these assignments to direct the discussion so you should realize that you may be called upon to answer a question or explain your comment about the paper in more depth. Your participation in both the assignments and the class discussion will be counted towards your participation grade.

Writing Assignments:

There will be 2 required writing assignments during the course of the semester. These will be short summaries of one of the journal articles discussed in class. You may choose which articles you want to summarize, though you must turn one of the papers in by October 30th. These papers should be around 3 pages in length and contain a description of the main focus of the paper, the methods used, and the overall conclusions presented. At least one paragraph of your paper should be spent critiquing the scientific content of the paper (not the writing style or the presentation). Some questions you may want to consider for this section include:

• Did the researchers attack this problem in the best way and why or why not?
• Were there good controls in each experiment?
• If not, what controls would you like to have seen?
• Do you agree with the conclusions that the authors arrived at and why?
• What are the ambiguities or questions still present that need to be studied in the future?
• How would you study those questions?

These papers are due one week after the in-class discussion. Five points will be deducted for every day late. I will allow you to write on a self-chosen primary article, but you must consult with me before you do this and I must approve the article ahead of time.

Grading:

I do not grade on a curve. You will earn points for each assignment and a final grade will be given based on your total points at the end of the semester.