Biological Sciences

This course provides an understanding of the ecological and evolutionary principles that underly disease symptoms, emergence, and outbreak. Though a series of lectures, supplemented with practical lessons the course explores how natural selection acts on hosts and their pathogens, what factors facilitate disease outbreaks, and how we might prevent pathogens from escaping our control. Using examples in human medicine, animals, and plants the course explores: why people get sick; how diseases emerge; super spreaders, individuals who generate many infections; how global warming can alter the interaction between diseases and their hosts; the evolution of antibiotic resistance and the evolution virulence; evolution proofing drugs; and many other concepts in evolutionary medicine, ecology, and evolution.

This course enables critical analysis and interpretation of ecological data from diverse sources to clearly explain the complex interactions between anthropogenic, climatic, and geologic drivers of change and their impacts on ecosystems and human populations across multiple spatial and temporal scales. In addition, the course fosters ethical and responsible behaviors by emphasizing safety and the minimization of ecological impact during environmental learning activities.

This course provides a systematic study of the structure, function, and regulation of major body systems and organs, including homeostasis, nutrition, and regulation of temperature and fluids. The structure and function of the respiratory, circulatory, and digestive systems, reproduction, hormonal and nervous control, and behavior are discussed with a focus on the human body.

This course provides an overview of and an introduction to ecological modeling. The course emphasizes on computational simulations of two contrasting biological levels: the ecosystem and the microbial community. It models their responses to environmental and climate changes. It also teaches basic concepts in modeling, the structures of two widely used ecological models (i.e., LPJ-GUESS and DEMENT), and how models, together with observational data, can be used to understand ecological systems better. The course applies and tests ecological models to understand process interactions and system responses. Topics include ecosystem biogeochemical cycles; vegetation dynamics; microbial processes: traits and community structure; model-data integration; model sensitivity testing, evaluation and prediction; modeling plant-plant and microbial community competition.

This course provides the key concepts and principles of food microbiology with special emphasis on the interaction between microorganisms and food. Microbial food spoilage and foodborne diseases are also discussed in detail. This course covers detection and enumeration of microbes in foods, factors that influence microbes in foods, spores and their significance, physical methods of food preservation, chemical preservation and natural antimicrobials, and foodborne pathogens. Prerequisites: BIOC2600 or BIOL2220 or MEDE2301.

This is an elective course on entomology. This course exposes students to general concepts of entomology and the biology of insects. It covers insect biology, anatomy, physiology, classification, behavior, ecology, plant-insect interactions, insect and human society, and methods in entomology. This course's teaching and learning activities include lectures, discussions, group projects, and a field visit. The course activities emphasize critical thinking skills, communication, and applying knowledge to real-world situations.

This course introduces basic metabolic knowledge at the cellular level to understand the organic metabolic physiology of the human body and focuses on changes in metabolic pathways in various physiological situations. In addition, the course introduces the latest research trends and related analysis techniques for various pathological metabolic pathway imbalances that are pointed out as the core pathogenesis of modern chronic diseases. 

Topics include Introduction to metabolism, Glycolysis, Mitochondria, NADPH-The forgotten reducing equivalent, Carbohydrates, Lipids, Amino acids, Nucleotides, Signaling and metabolism, Metabolism of proliferating cells, Future pathways of metabolism research, Analyzing metabolism in biological systems.  

This course focuses on topics related to the processes and functions carried out during the lifetime of a cell. Topics including the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons as well as molecular motor proteins and cell motility are covered in detail. We also focus on cell-cell communication, signal transduction and cell signaling in the context of unicellular and multicellular organisms. In addition, we spend time discussing the cell cycle with an emphasis on the regulation of transitions between cell cycle stages.

Each process covered in class plays a role in some important aspect of cell physiology and we touch on examples of defects in these systems that can lead to disease. Each topic includes discussions of experimental strategies and laboratory techniques.

Prerequisites: General Chemistry (at least 1 semester), General Biology (at least 1 semester), Biochemistry I

This survey course covers the plant kingdom, diversity and ecology of plants, plant structure, function and behavior. Demonstrations and practical exercises are included. Prerequisites: ICBI 121 Biology I.

Study the development of cognition through a neuroscientific lens, examine how the nervous system starts out wired for every possible contingency to eventually prune (tune) itself towards an efficient functioning for the environment it resides it, study the neural network structure and functioning of the brain, its common properties that support efficient cognitive functioning, and how disruptions to these networks can impair cognition. The course also covers the theory of neuroplasticity, focusing on the role of the brain’s lifelong ability to rewire itself. In addition, study mirror neurons, atypical developmental processes (including autism, schizophrenia, and trauma), and the intersection between developmental cognitive neuroscience and society. A mandatory field trip to Amsterdam is included, where the Van Gogh museum is visited to study Van Gogh’s art as a clinical case and experience immediate neuroplasticity first-hand by dining in complete darkness during a three-course meal. Motivated and dedicated students have the opportunity to co-author a paper with the course coordinator for potential publication in well-respected journals (topics of interest can be discussed). Students should have completed at least two Psychology courses and should be interested in brain development and neuroscientific methods that can be used to uncover developmental processes.