BIOMG 6870

Tricks of the Trade in Molecular Genetic Research

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Genetic methods including CRISPR-based genome editing provide elegant tools with which to dissect the pathways that mediate cell function, the development of multicellular organisms, and other processes. This course examines these approaches, illustrated with examples showing how they have been used to address important biological problems, including time, place, and nature of gene/pathway action. We focus primarily (but not exclusively) on multicellular organisms, including fruit flies, nematodes, and mice. Lectures, class discussion, and problem sets are based on important papers in the current and classical scientific literature.

Prerequisites Genetics & Genomics (BIOMG 2800 or equivalent) and Molecular Biology (BIOMG 3300, BIOMG 3320, BIOMG 3330, BIOMG 3350, or equivalent).

Enrollment Priority Prior courses in Developmental Biology and/or Cell Biology are helpful but not required.

Distribution Requirements (OPHLS-AG)

Last 4 Terms Offered 2024SP, 2022SP, 2020SP, 2018SP

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate a working knowledge of the logic underlying advanced genetic methods and how these methods can be used to analyze biological pathways.
• Critique and interpret scientific research papers that describe important genetic tools and the results obtained with these methods.
• Improve the ability to communicate scientific concepts both orally and/or in writing.
• Synthesize and identify intellectual connections across the content of this course with information that you learned in other biology courses.

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