Seminar covering topics of current interest in biology. Includes reading and analysis of research papers and student presentations. Contact Biology Education Office for topics. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. In 1971, President Nixon declared the "War on Cancer," but after three decades the war is still raging. How much progress have we made toward winning the war and what are we doing to improve the fight? Understanding the molecular and cellular events involved in tumor formation, progression, and metastasis is crucial to the development of innovative therapy for cancer patients. Insights into these processes have been gleaned through basic research using biochemical, molecular, and genetic analyses in yeast, C. elegans, mice, and cell culture models. We will explore the laboratory tools and techniques used to perform cancer research, major discoveries in cancer biology, and the medical implications of these breakthroughs. A focus of the class will be critical analysis of the primary literature to foster understanding of the strengths and limitations of various approaches to cancer research. Special attention will be made to the clinical implications of cancer research performed in model organisms and the prospects for ending the battle with this devastating disease.

This workshop, which is half wet lab and half Internet lab, uses DNA sequences to examine the relatedness of different species. DNA from several insect and/or fish species are compared. This chapter includes instructions for extracting DNA from gels and making PCR products. We prepare PCR products to send to a computerized automated sequencing facility. (No radioisotopes are used in this sequencing!) We recover sequence from the facility over the Web as four-color graphics on a computer screen and as text. We make pair-wise DNA sequence comparisons between species with BLAST2 and multi-species comparisons with MultAlin. We see substitutions, insertions, and deletions. Then we make a distance-based evolutionary tree with GeneBee.

A colorful one page study guide for studying DNA.

Enzymes, nature's catalysts, are remarkable biomolecules capable of extraordinary specificity and selectivity. Directed evolution has been used to produce enzymes with many unique properties, including altered substrate specificity, thermal stability, organic solvent resistance, and enantioselectivity--selectivity of one stereoisomer over another. The technique of directed evolution comprises two essential steps: mutagenesis of the gene encoding the enzyme to produce a library of variants, and selection of a particular variant based on its desirable catalytic properties. In this course we will examine what kinds of enzymes are worth evolving and the strategies used for library generation and enzyme selection. We will focus on those enzymes that are used in the synthesis of drugs and in biotechnological applications. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching.

The principles of genetics with application to the study of biological function at the level of molecules, cells, and multicellular organisms, including humans. Structure and function of genes, chromosomes and genomes. Biological variation resulting from recombination, mutation, and selection. Population genetics. Use of genetic methods to analyze protein function, gene regulation and inherited disease.

This exercise has been designed to help first-year biology students understand Mendelian inheritance. The pterin (red) eye pigments of wild type and mutant strains are separated using a simple paper chromatography system, and the patterns are analyzed to determine where the metabolic pathway is blocked in each mutant. Crosses of these strains are followed for two generations to provide data that students analyze to determine the mode of inheritance of each mutation, as well as the relationship between each mutant phenotype and the enzyme in the pathway which is affected by the mutation.

The evolution of populations is examined by simulations over 5 to 10 generations. Students use playing cards to simulate random mating, and then modify the mating to illustrate more natural conditions. With the addition of computer simulations, the same evolutionary principles may be applied to many generations. Discussion topics include the importance of genetic drift and mutation as the sources of raw material for evolution, the maintenance of recessive alleles in populations, and the role natural selection may play in changing allele frequencies.

This film explores the health effects of ionizing radiation (radioactivity). The film also examines methods for reducing exposures to radiation in workplaces. Educational concepts include ionizing radiation, radiation sickness, radiation burns, other health effects, ion pairs, free radicals, penetration versus interaction, and time/distance/shielding. This instructional film is from Kansas State University's web-based course, GENAG 711, Occupational and Agricultural Health. Copyright 2011, Mitch Ricketts

This course focuses on introducing the language, libraries, tools and concepts of Java®. The course is specifically targeted at students who intend to take 6.170 in the following term and feel they would struggle because they lack the necessary background. Topics include: Object-oriented programming, primitives, arrays, objects, inheritance, interfaces, polymorphism, hashing, data structures, collections, nested classes, floating point precision, defensive programming, and depth first search algorithm.

Since Alfred Sturtevant constructed the first genetic map of a Drosophilachromosome in 1913, new mutations have been mapped using his method of linkage analysis. Determining the map position of a new mutation -- and its corresponding gene -- consists of testing for linkage with a number of previously mapped genes or DNA markers. Linkage is the principle that the closer two genes or markers are located to one another on a chromosome, the greater the chance that they will be inherited together as a unit (linked).  Conversely, locations farther apart on the chromosome are more likely to be separated by chromosome recombination during meiosis. Thus, the frequency of recombination with previously mapped genes or markers allows one to determine the map position of a gene of interest. The increasing availability of whole genome sequences and sophisticated computer software has made it possible to map genes using bioinformatic approaches.  However, traditional mapping techniques are still used to map genes for which no sequence information is available -- for example, mutant phenotypes produced by chemical mutagenesis.  Although early gene maps relied on genes and mutations with observable phenotypes, modern gene maps are populated with DNA polymorphisms that are detected by molecular methods. In Arabidopsis, molecular markers exploit the natural differences between distinct ecotypes, such as the widely used Landsberg (Ler) and Columbia (Col), which differ about 1% at the DNA level.

This course presents a unique and challenging perspective on the causes of human disease and mortality. The course focuses on analyses of major causes of mortality in the US since 1900: cancer cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases. Students create analytical models to derive estimates for historically variant population risk factors and physiological rate parameters, and conduct analyses of familial data to separately estimate inherited and environmental risks. The course evaluates the basic population genetics of dominant, recessive and non-deleterious inherited risk factors.

This course presents a unique and challenging perspective on the causes of human disease and mortality. The course focuses on analyses of major causes of mortality in the US since 1900: cancer cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases. Students create analytical models to derive estimates for historically variant population risk factors and physiological rate parameters, and conduct analyses of familial data to separately estimate inherited and environmental risks. The course evaluates the basic population genetics of dominant, recessive and non-deleterious inherited risk factors.

The advantages of using Caenorhabditis elegans in introductory genetics courses will be demonstrated in this exercise in which an "unknown" visible mutation will be assigned to a linkage group and mapped relative to known markers. The nematode can be cultured easily, has a short generation time, reproduces either as self-fertilizing hermaphrodites or in outcrosses yields large numbers of progeny, and has a simple genome.

After a historical introduction to molecular biology, this course describes the basic types of DNA and RNA structure and the molecular interactions that shape them. It describes how DNA is packaged within the cellular nucleus as chromosomes. It also describes the core processes of molecular biology: replication of DNA, transcription of DNA into messenger RNA, and translation of messenger RNA into a protein. These are followed by modifications of these basic processes: regulation of gene expression, DNA mutation and repair, and DNA recombination and transposition. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: discuss the experimental findings that lead to the discovery of inheritance laws; discuss the experimental findings that lead to the identification of DNA as the hereditary material; compare and contrast the structure and function of mRNA, rRNA, tRNA, and DNA; identify the characteristics of catalyzed reactions; compare and contrast enzyme and ribozyme catalyzed reactions; discuss the structure of the chromosome and the consequence of histone modifications in eukaryotes; discuss the stages of transcription, differential splicing, and RNA turnover; predict the translation product of an mRNA using the genetic code; compare and contrast transcription and translation in prokaryotes and eukaryotes; identify codon bias and variations of the standard genetic code; compare and contrast the regulation of prokaryotic and eukaryotic gene expression; predict the activation of an operon and tissue specific gene expression based on the availability of regulators; compare and contrast mutations based on their effect on the gene product; discuss DNA repair mechanisms; discuss DNA recombination, transposition, and the consequence of exon shuffling; design custom-made recombinant DNA using PCR, restriction enzymes, and site-directed mutagenesis; compare and contrast the uses of model organisms; discuss the uses of model organisms in specific molecular biology applications. (Biology 311)

This video segment describes the role of the sickle cell gene in natural selection. Footage courtesy of the PBS series Secret of Life: "Accidents of Creation."

Explore natural selection by controlling the environment and causing mutations in bunnies.

This figure from Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications by Ricki Lewis identifies techniques used to collect cells from fetuses for genetic testing.