C2908 First Year Seminar in Modern Biology

Columbia University - Department of Biological Sciences
C2908 - First Year Seminar in Modern Biology - Fall 2003

Thursdays 2:40-3:55, 700 Fairchild

Instructor: Dr. Judith R. Gibber

September				October					November				December
4	11	18	25	2	9	16	23	30	6	13	20	27	4

September 4	Undergraduate students present their research
	Kelley Remole, "From new cells to mouse memories--A new area of research in neuroscience" (with Dr. Luca Santarelli) Jonathan Manes, A philosophical view of biology and the new science core course, Frontiers in Science, described in a Spectator article, developed as a pilot course in 2002-2003. SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program) Science in the City. Opportunities to learn about biology outside of class. Columbia Biological Society, (CBS) an undergraduate club Columbia Neuroscience Society, (CNS) another club
September 11	Gareth Russell, Ph.D., Dept of Ecology, Evolution & Environmental Biology, Columbia U
	"Where have all the herons gone? The problems faced by wading birds in Everglades National Park" Herons Everglades National Park
September 18	Lili Yamasaki, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
	"Construction and analysis of mouse models for cancer and early embryonic development" "The Cell Cycle", from Kimball's Biology Pages "Genetics of Cancer: An Overview", from Northwestern University Medical School. Cell cycle, tumor suppressor genes, growth factors
September 25	Steven Feinmark, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology, Columbia University
	"Leak currents and cardiac arrhythmias"
October 2	Deborah Mowshowitz, Ph.D. Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
	"Concepts in genetics" "Genome's riddle: How so few genes add up to complex humans" NY Times, 2/13/01 Gene expression: Transcription, from Kimball's Biology Preliminary findings of the human genome projects DNA forensics
October 9	Robert Pollack, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
	"Role of the scientist in science"
October 16	Russ Romeo, Ph.D., Rockefeller University
	"Puberty, sex, and stress: Animal models of neuroendocrine development" How stress makes little girls grow up too fast Brain briefings, how basic neuroscience discoveries lead to clinical applications
October 23	John Hunt, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
	Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1988: John Diesenhofer, Robert Huber, Harmut Michel, for the first determination of the three-dimensional structure of a membrane protein Physics and biologyHow physics is changing the field of biomedicine. Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, 1964, Nobel Prize in chemistry, for use of xray techniques to determine biological structure
October 30	Julio Fernandez, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
	"The mechanical properties of proteins studied at the single molecule level" What is an atomic force microscope? Observing single biomolecules at work with the atomic force microscope Some images from Engel & Muller, Nature Structural Biology, 7:17 (2000)
November 6	Jian Yang, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
	Ion channels and disease, about the discovery of the K+ channel MJ Welsh & AE Smith, "Cystic Fibrosis", Scientific American, Dec 1995. Describes the defect in a chloride channel in this disease. See the online article at Scientific American Archives if you're at a Columbia computer.
November 13	Alex Tzagoloff, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
	Mitochondria Endosymbiosis
November 20	Audrey Minden, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
	"Signal transduction: From the cell surface to the nucleus"
November 27	Thanksgiving
	Does eating turkey make us sleepy? Health benefits of cranberries Wild yams and the history of the Pill
December 4	Susan Thys-Jacobs, M.D.
	Reproductive Medicine Calcium may be the key to taming premenstrual pain, CNN.com, August 1998 Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder, MerckSource

Course Information

This course gives you a chance to hear about the latest research being conducted by scientists in the Biology Department and in other labs around the city. Attendance at lectures required. After each lecture, you should write a summary of the talk you heard (1/2 to 1 page, maximum) and email it to my assistant, Lauren Schlager, ls2163@columbia.edu within one week after each seminar. You can check the Grade Book at CourseWorks to verify that your assignments have been recorded. Grading is based on attendance and timely submission of summaries.

To homepages

Dr. Judith Gibber

Department of Biological Sciences - Undergraduate Program

Columbia University

Course page originally created by Filip Jagodzinski and Judith Gibber, June 1998 Archived syllabi from2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997.