FRS 003 — Sec. 001 — (1 unit) — CRN 26036 — T 10:00-10:50am — 263 Olson
Genes and the Environment

Instructor: Sean Burgess, Section of Molecular & Cellular Biology, College of Biology Sciences

Description: The goal of this seminar is to enhance student awareness of how our environment influences human health, particularly at the level of change in the genome. Concepts in molecular genetics will be emphasized in order to understand the underlying mechanisms that lead to human diseases such as cancer, birth defects, aging and autism.

Format: The course will involve discussion based on reading scholarly review articles from leading journals in the field as well as in-depth reporting in news sources such as the New York Times. Related topics arising during the quarter will also be discussed. Students will spend ~2 hours per week reading outside material and learning to use on-line research tools. A written assignment (~2 pages) due at the end of the course will be required. Grading: Grading will be pass/no pass. One half of grade will be based on class participation and the other half will be based on the written assignment.

About the Instructor: Professor Burgess is a member of the faculty in the College of Biological Science. Her research interests are focused on chromosome biology. Her laboratory uses the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model genetic organism to address questions related to pairing of homologous chromosomes, the mechanism of meiotic recombination and the organization of chromosomes in the nucleus. Dr. Burgess teaches courses in Advanced Eukaryotic Genetics and Molecular Genetics.