Spring Courses

SPRING 2011 class schedules are currently unavailable through ConnectCAROLINA (please check back later).

*Courses with astericks are appropriate for first year BBSP students.

*632 ADVANCED MOLECULAR BIOLOGY II (BIOL 632, GNET 632, MCRO 632, PHCO 632) (3). Prerequisites for undergraduates, at least one undergraduate course in both biochemistry and genetics. The purpose of this course is to provide historical, basic and current information about the flow and regulation of genetic information from DNA to RNA in a variety of biological stems. Spring. Baldwin (course director), Marzluff, Strahl.

*644 CELL STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND GROWTH CONTROL II (CBIO 644, MCRO 644, PHCO 644) (3). Prerequisite, undergraduate cell biology/biochemistry or permission of instructor. Comprehensive introduction to cell structure, function and transformation. Spring. Staff.

653 MACROMOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY (1). Prerequisites, CHEM 430 and two semesters of physical chemistry or permission of the instructor. Principles of UV, IR, Raman, fluorescence and spin resonance spectroscopies; applications to the study of macromolecules and membranes. Course intended primarily for graduate students. Spring.

*655 CASE STUDIES IN STRUCTURAL MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (3). Prerequisite, CHEM 430 or equivalent. Principles of macromolecular structure and function with emphasis on proteins, molecular assemblies, enzyme mechanisms and ATP enzymology. Spring. Carter.

*662 MACROMOLECULAR INTERACTIONS (1). Prerequisites, BIOC 650–653 or permission of the instructor. Theory and practice of biophysical methods used for macromolecular characterization, and for exploring interactions between macromolecules and their ligands. Techniques include surface plasmon resonance, analytical ultracentrifugation, calorimetry, and light scattering. Spring. Tripathy (course director).

*663A MACROMOLECULAR NMR (1). Prerequisites, BIOC 650–653 or permission of the instructor. Principles and practice of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as applied to small and biological molecules in solution.  Concepts for understanding two-dimensional NMR are introduced for applications in biological macromolecular structure and dynamics.  Course intended primarily for graduate students. Spring. Campbell (course director), Lee

663B  MACROMOLECULAR NMR PRACTICE (1). Prerequisite, BIOC 653 or permission of the course director. Lab section for BIOC 663A. Course intended primarily for graduate students. Spring. Campbell (course director), TerHorst, Lee

*665 ADVANCED NMR (2). Prerequisite, BIOC 663A/CHEM 734 and associated NMR lab (BIOC 663B/ CHEM 734 or permission of the course director. Consists of both lecture and lab format.  The objectives of this course are to introduce students to advanced topics in macromolecular NMR spectroscopy.  Topics include understanding fundamental concepts associated with two dimensional double resonance spectroscopy as well as triple resonance 3D NMR spectroscopy (understanding pulse sequences, setting up experiments on the spectrometer, processing data and assigning resonances on a small rotein).  Spring, (odd numbered years). Spring. Campbell (course director), Lee, and Young

*666 X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY OF MACROMOLECULES (1). Prerequisites, BIOC 650–653 or permission of the instructor. Principles of protein  crystallography, characterization of crystals, theory of  diffraction,  phasing of macromolecular crystals,  THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODEL OF PROTEINS and structure refinement.  Course intended primarily for graduate students. Spring. Ke.

*667 MACROMOLECULAR CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC METHODS (2). Prerequisite, BIOC 666 or permission of course director. A combined lecture/laboratory workshop for serious students of protein crystallography. Course intended primarily for graduate students. Spring (odd-numbered years). Collins (course director), Redinbo.

*670 Structural Bioinformatics(1). Prerequisites, none.  A lecture course introducing computational methods for protein structure prediction, docking and design.  Basic principles of protein structure, stability and folding are also reviewed.  Spring. Kuhlman

*673 PROTEOMICS, PROTEIN IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION BY MASS SPECTROMETRY (1) Prerequisites, BIOC 650-653 or one semester of physical chemistry or permission of the instructor.  A lecture module that introduces students to the basics of mass spectrometry as applied to protein science on the context of systems investigation of biological processes/pathways.  Course intended primarily for graduate students.  Spring. Chen.

*674 ION CHANNELS (1) Membrane transport. Prerequisite for undergraduates, at least one undergraduate course in biochemistry.  A 6 week lecture model that will provide a comprehensive introduction to the structure and function of membrane transport systems and their cellular function. Spring every other year. Meissner

700 CURRENT TOPICS IN RNA STRUCTURE, FUNCTION, AND TECHNOLOGY (2). Critical reading and discussion of current literature related to the study of RNA structure, RNA-protein interactions, novel RNA functions, RNA as a therapeutic target/agent and RNA methods. Spring. Fried

*703 TEACHING IN BIOCHEMISTRY (1) Permission required of course director. For first year BBSP students or 2^nd year Biochemistry students who want to gain instruction and experience learning how to teach biochemistry. Students will gain experience leading small group session and may present a lecture to undergraduates. Spring. Toews

*704 SEMINARS IN BIOPHYSICS (2). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor. Students present seminars coordinated with the visiting lecturer series of the Program in Molecular and Cellular Biophysics. Spring. Lentz (course director), staff.

*707 CELLULAR METABOLISM AND HUMAN DISEASE (2) Prerequisites, 1^st year BBSP or advanced graduate students with background in basic cellular biochemistry and permission of course director.This advanced graduate level course addresses the role of cellular metabolism in human disease, including the roles and regulation of biochemical pathways. Recent advances in this area of research will be emphasized. Diseases addressed will include cancer and diabetes. Spring. Toews. NEW COURSE

711 RESEARCH CONCEPTS IN BIOCHEMISTRY (2). Prerequisite, master’s candidate in biochemistry and biophysics. A series of lectures and exercises on formulating a research plan to attack a specific scientific problem, and on presenting the research plan in the form of a grant proposal.  Spring. G. Sancar (course director), Staff.

712 SCIENTIFIC WRITING (3). Prerequisite, doctoral candidate in biochemistry and biophysics. A course of lectures and workshops on the principles of clear scientific exposition with emphasis on the design and preparation of research grants. Spring. G. Sancar (course director), Staff.

723A CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR NEUROBIOLOGY: POSTSYNAPTIC MECHANISMS-INTRACELLULAR SIGNALING (NBIO 723A, PHCO 723A, PHYI 723A) (2). Prerequisite, permission of course director. Explores biochemical signal transduction events following activation of neurotransmitter receptors including G-protein coupling, desensitization, signaling specificity, downstream effectors, calcium signaling and tryosine kinases. Course meets for five weeks with six lecture hours per week. Spring. Neurobiology faculty.

723B CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR NEUROBIOLOGY: PRESYNAPTIC MECHANISMS AND SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY (NBIO 723B, PHCO 723B, PHYI 723B) (2). Prerequisite, permission of course director. Explores the mechanisms regulating the release of neurotransmitters from nerve terminals, including quantal release, vesicle and terminal membrane proteins, neurotransmitter transporters and plasticity of synaptic transmission. Course meets for five weeks with six lecture hours per week. Spring. Manis (course director), Staff.

738 NANOMEDICINE (PHCO 738) (3) Prerequisite, permission of course director. Course offers an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of nanomedicine for students with physical, chemical or biological sciences background.  This course will emphasize emerging nanotechnologies and biomedical applications including nanomaterials, nanoengineering, nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems, nano-based imaging and diagnostic systems, nanotoxicology, and translating nanomedicines into clinical investigation. Spring. Juliano (course director), DeSimone.

993 MASTER'S THESIS

994 DOCTORAL DISSERTATION