The Cell Cycle: Principles of Control
The course “The Cell Cycle: Principles of Control” consists of 10 lectures. It covers the cell biology and systems analysis of the eukaryotic cell cycle in different model organisms. The general structure of the course is based on the textbook The Cell Cycle by David Morgan. The presentation material is composed of approximately 600 slides with examples from the most recent developments in the field. The study material contains text versions of the lectures with commentaries about each the slides. The course also includes journal clubs, where students will present the overviews of recent research papers on the most interesting subjects of the cell cycle. These presentations are followed by discussions. The course stands out as quite unique among the general courses offered for cell and molecular biologists, and there has been no other such course at the University.
Analysis and the isolation of biological material
The practical course “Analysis and the isolation of biological material” is a hands-on practical course where we teach several techniques of protein purification and analysis. The course is held in our laboratory, and the practical supervision is performed by the graduate students in the lab. The direct feedback for the course was very good. The students emphasized that the course is very useful and unique because it provides the full protocols (from the beginning to the end products), forcing the course attendants to spend long days in the cold room. The well trained teaching staff is always at hand.
Molecular Systems Biology
The course, “Molecular Systems Biology,” consists of 8 lectures and upplementary practical seminars to solve problems and to work on the modeling exercises. The goal of the course is to teach an integrated approach, in which quantitative experimental data from biochemical and cell biology research is used to create predictive models of cellular systems. Examples from the literature will be discussed to demonstrate how cell-level functions arise and why mechanistic knowledge of the biochemical systems allows us to predict behaviors leading to different cell fate decisions, disease states and drug responses.
Synthetic Biology and its Industrial Applications
For the 2016/17 academic year, a course titled “Synthetic Biology and its Industrial Applications” is planned.