Biology 202- Molecular Biology and Genetics
Fall 2012 (Section 006) Dr. Kelly Hogan and Dr. Lillie Searles
Lectures: 201 Coker Hall (MWF 11:00- 11:50 AM)
Recitations: (you must be registered for one of the 8 sections: 601-608); attendance required.
601 Monday 1-1:50 PM; GSB Room 1377
602 Monday 2-2:50 PM; GSB Room 1377
603 Monday4-4:50 PM; GSB Room 1377
604 Monday 5-5:50 PM; GSB Room 1377
605 Monday 6-6:50 PM; GSB Room 1377
606 Tuesday 12:30-1:20 PM; GSB Room 1377
607 Tuesday 5-5:50 PM; GSB Room 1377
608 Tuesday 6-6:50 PM; GSB Room 1377
Instructors: Dr. Kelly Hogan
Email:
Office location: Wilson Hall 104B
Office Hours: Mondays 1-3 PM and Wednesdays: 3-5
Dr. Lillie Searles
Email:
Office location: 508 Fordham Hall
Office hours: TBA.
Graduate TAs: Stephen Sojka: ; sections 601, 602, 603, 606; Office hours: Wed 1:30-2:30, Fordham 212
Felix Peng: ; sections 604, 605, 607, 608; Office hours: Thur 12:30-1:30 Fordham 212
Undergraduate S.I. instructors: Christine Ha (), Caroline Porter (), Peter Fan (), Sean Rankin (), Paige Tummons ()
(Check Sakai for times/rooms for S.I.)
Undergraduate Tutors: Tutors who were top students last Fall in Hogan/Searles Bol 202 class are available to help you go over homework problems once you have turned it in. They can give you tips about how to best study too. See: http://bio.unc.edu/undergraduate/course-info/tutoring/ for this semester’s information. More info will be posted on Sakai too.
COURSE WEBSITE: www.SAKAI.unc.edu
This site will have postings from our lectures such as outlines, power point slides, supplemental material that we mention in lecture. We will also post announcements on this site. It is your responsibility to check it regularly.
TEXTBOOK: 1) Genetic Analysis. Sanders and Bowman, Pearson, 1st edition. 2) Mastering Genetics Access is required too.
The ebook with Mastering is likely the cheapest way to go, but if you prefer a physical text that is fine too.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS: Basic knowledge of biology and chemistry as demonstrated by a C or
above in BIOL 101 and CHEM 101 or 102 or equivalent.; a laptop or phone to answer in-class questions.
COURSE GOALS:
1. To provide you with the core principles of genetics and molecular biology and a set of useful skills. You will use the book and class time to gain the content knowledge you will need to work with. We will take a historical approach at times to see how famous experiments were performed. We will also examine the basic “rules” of genetics that may then be altered to account for more complex situations. Skills you will practice relate to building hypotheses to answer a specific scientific question, designing an experiment using an appropriate technique/assay to answer the question, and predicting results of their experiment; identifying and explaining the purpose of positive and negative controls in well-designed experiments; interpreting experimental data and inferring conclusions from the experimental results; calculating probabilities and using statistics to compare data sets; and giving examples of how advances in genetics and molecular biology, have changed the world. After this class, you will be prepared to do research in a lab on campus and to build upon this content with Biol 205 and upper level genetics courses.
2. To gain higher level thinking skills that are necessary for scientists.
To the right you can see the “Amended Bloom’s Taxonomy” pyramid. It was developed as a method of classifying educational goals for student performance evaluation. You should be well –equipped at remembering facts and content with good study habits. We are looking for you to apply and analyze. You are UNC students, we KNOW you can memorize! Move beyond this level of thinking. How can we achieve this? We will have in-class questions to practice this immediately and you will have homework problems to practice on your own. We will also explore classic experiments as a way of thinking through the logic of experiments and to see where the foundations of this content come from. While these may be new ways of thinking for you, practice is the most important way to gain these skills. FYI: UNC’s medical school sees this is an excellent pre-req course for medical school because it teaches students to think.
3. This course should excite you about basic science and its applications.
A foundation in genetic crosses with model organisms (basic science tool) allows you to understand human genetic diseases. A foundation in making recombinant DNA constructs (basic science tool) allows you to understand how plants are modified to be herbicide resistant or how recombinant proteins can be turned into medicines. Genetics and molecular biology provide the “tools” that other disciplines call upon in biological research. Plant biologists, evolutionary biologists, clinical researchers etc. all use these tools.
COURSE POLICIES
1. Exams:
Three semester exams and one final exam will be given. The final examination is not cumulative. 72% of your grade will be determined by the 4 exams (18% for each exam). All students are expected to take all exams when they are scheduled. Students who are unable to take an exam must request permission to take a make‐up exam (possibly an oral exam). Students are expected to notify the instructor prior to missing an exam and to assume responsibility for scheduling a make‐up exam in a timely manner. If, for some reason, you feel an error has been made in determining an exam score, you may submit the exam for a re‐grade within 3 school days after the exam has been returned to the class. You must submit in writing your reasons for requesting a re‐grade. Staple the request to your exam, and give it to the appropriate instructor or TA. Legitimate reasons for a re‐grade request include, for example, incorrect summation of scores and bona fide errors in grading a particular problem; this does not include student judgments about the amount of partial credit deserved for incorrect answers. Written responses to student requests will be returned in class.
2. Recitation:
Attendance and participation in one of the recitations sections is required. These recitations are an extension of the class and allow time to go beyond material in class. They are not “help sessions”, but they will help you learn class material better. Material covered in recitation may be covered on exams too. For recitation, you will also be given pre-class assignments or in‐class assignments, each worth 5 points, that are designed to reinforce and deepen your understanding of the material related to the course. Your pre-class recitation assignments must be printed and handed in at the beginning of recitation. In-class assignments are typically group problems. You must work out this problem in groups and turn in one answer on behalf of the group during the recitation period. There will be no make-up opportunities for in-class assignments if you do not attend a recitation in a given week. You may earn up to 5 additional points, during each half of the semester for class participation during the recitation sessions. If you are unable to attend the recitation for which you are registered one week, you may attend another section with prior permission of the TAs if there is room in another section. There is a maximum capacity for each section so please do not assume that you can attend another section if you miss a recitation.
3. Grading:
54% (Three semester exams worth 18% each)
18% (Final examination)
6% (Poll Everywhere)
10% (recitation—includes homework, 4-minute podcast assignment, required attendance/participation and in-class problems)
12% (Mastering Genetics homework)
CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION (POLL EVERYWHERE):
To ensure that you have done the reading assignments BEFORE class and to interact during class, you will have poll questions based on readings, as well as problems to solve during class. Each student must have either a laptop, smart device, or cell phone for SMS texting. See our Sakai site for registration details. Registration is free but required so that each answer can be linked to each student. It is the student’s responsibility to bring the device to each class, there will NOT be an opportunity to regain points if the laptop/phone was forgotten one day. Make-up points for absences are not possible, but to account for life and its unexpectedness, the average of one day’s worth of points will be excused for all students.
HOMEWORK: Mastering Genetics is where all homework assignments/due dates can be found. Late homeworks will receive a zero. See the detailed syllabus for all Mastering Genetics assignments that are due. Assignments are due by 2AM on the day they due; they are due BEFORE class, as a way to prepare for class. (Thus, if they are due at 2AM on a Monday—this is several hours BEFORE class starts.) Many assignments will have a review component of previous material too. Occasionally, there will not be a homework due before class. See detailed syllabus.
How to register for Mastering Genetics? See Sakai for detailed instructions. Our course ID is: MGENHOGAN60086
SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION (S.I.): A few open-ended problems will be posted for each week that you can bring to S.I. You are not required to have done these problems to attend S.I., but these will be discussed during the sessions this week. S.I. is a help session. It is for you! Please plan to attend if you are struggling with how to approach problems assigned in Mastering or that you practice from the back of the book. During S.I., instructors will help you learn how to approach and analyze problems—not simply give you the answers.
HONOR CODE: All work done in this class must be carried out within the letter and spirit of the UNC Honor Code. You must sign a pledge on all graded work certifying that no unauthorized assistance has been given or received. You are expected to maintain the confidentiality of examinations by divulging no information about any examination to a student who has not yet taken that exam. You are also responsible for consulting with your professors if you are unclear about the meaning of plagiarism or about whether any particular act on your part constitutes plagiarism. Please talk with the professor if you have any questions about how the Honor Code pertains to this course.
EXPECTATIONS:
· It is expected that you will spend up to 10 hours reading/working problems associated with each class each week. If you stay on top of your reading and homework, there will be no need to cram for an exam. This is not a class based on memorization of facts—you must think critically and solve logic-based problems. There is no cramming for that! Practice, practice, practice. Do problems that are assigned and then do others that are not assigned! Use the internet or other textbooks in the library to find more problems if you run out from your textbook.
· You are expected to VISIT TUTORS, TAs and S.I. for content questions and weekly review/help with problems. Successful students use these resources routinely. Successful students don’t cram. They use classmates. Form your own study groups too.
Copyright Information: All materials used in this course including notes, tests and assignments are covered by copyrights which forbid you from sharing class materials with any group. The University’s Copyright Policy, which can be found at http://www.unc.edu/campus/policies/copyright%20policy%2000008319.pdf indicates
"STUDENT WORKS THAT CONSTITUTE NOTES OF CLASSROOM AND LABORATORY LECTURES AND EXERCISES SHALL NOT BE USED FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES BY THE STUDENT GENERATING SUCH NOTES." What this means is that you are in violation of the law (and the honor code) if you post/text/share any course materials for use by others.
Lecture Schedule: Part I (Hogan)
08/21 W / 1 / Guided Reading Questions (GRQs) for 2.1 and 2.2
Mastering Genetics (MG): (complete before first class)
· Introduction to Mastering Genetics
· MG Assignment 1 / - Introduce ourselves
-List the basic components of the course
- Define the terms genes and alleles
-Set up and complete single gene autosomal crosses to determine dominance and genotype.
08/23 F / 2 / GRQs for 2.3 and p. 79-80 and “The Growing Menace from Superweeds” article on Sakai
MG Assignment 2 (complete before class) / - Demonstrate Mendel’s first and second laws using chromosome models of meiosis.
- Set up two and three gene crosses (independent assortment) and determine the phenotypes and genotypes of the offspring.
-Predict the genotypes of the parents based on the phenotypes of the offspring of two-gene crosses.
-Explain what genetically modified plants are and how these relate to Mendel’s work.
Upcoming week Recitation: Introduction and group problems
Upcoming week S.I.: Solving problems related to independent assortment with Punnett squares and forked-line method
08/26 M / 3 / Guided Reading Qs 2.6 and “Couples Cull Embryos to Halt Heritage of Cancer” article on Sakai
MG Assignment 3 (complete before class; includes review Qs for all of Ch 2) / - Analyze phenotypic data and deduce possible modes of inheritance (e.g. dominant, recessive,
autosomal, X-linked, Y-linked) from family histories.
-Determine the mode of inheritance if given a pedigree and defend your reasoning.
- Draw a pedigree based on information in a story problem.
-Calculate probability that an individual in a pedigree has a particular genotype.
-Argue for the use or non-use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).
08/28 W / 4 / Guided Reading Qs for “SNPs, Haplotypes and Personalized Medicine”
MG Assignment SNP1 / -Discuss how primary care medicine is being affected by personal genetic testing.
-Define “direct to consumer” (DTC) genetic testing and how it differs from prescribed testing.
-Define a SNP, locate SNPs in DNA sequences when given numerous samples to compare, and make a link between SNPs and disease associations.
-Explain how haplotypes are inherited and identify individual haplotypes when given parent and offspring alleles.
08/30 F / 5 / Guided Reading Qs for Chi Square
No Mastering assignment due before class. (A graded assignment will be completed in class.) / -Determine if specific SNPs are associated with disease, as an application of Chi Square analysis.