Biological Sciences

This course deals with the diversity of plant life in the marine environment. It provides an overview, including Ghanaian examples, of the main groups of marine microalgae and cyanobacteria; macroalgae (seaweeds); seagrass, the submergent aquatic flowering plant; and mangroves, emergent marine flowering plants; with a focus on their identification, biology, physiology, and ecology. A practical component of the course includes visiting estuaries, saline lagoons, and beaches to observe algae, seagrasses, and mangroves; observe the ecological relationships of these plants; and collect material for study in the laboratory. 

This course offers a study of the physical, chemical and biological properties of soils. It also examines soil formation, classification, use, and conservation.

Medicine is trending towards advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP), which include biomolecules and cells, focusing on disease modification and on personal differences: personalized medicine. But a better understanding of a person’s characteristics or disease characteristics can also be exploited by repurposing of old medicines. This course studies personalized medicine at several levels: Molecular, cellular, organ, organism, and population. The course starts with an individual assignment of a recent first in class medicine and ends with group assignments on future medicines. Course topics include the latest medicines and how they were developed; Drug repurposing; Cell and gene therapy and regenerative medicine; the self; our compatibility gene; and Glycomics and related diseases. Class attendance is monitored during the six weeks of teamwork. Students who do not participate in the presentation and Q&A of their team (which is essentially an exam) or do not meet the attendance requirement do not get a grade. Previous knowledge in (bio)chemistry, cell biology, pharmacology, and immunology are required.

This course reviews the interrelationships among hormones, the brain, and behavior. Basic endocrine (hormone) system physiology is introduced and the different approaches that researchers take to address questions of hormone-behavior relationships are discussed. The focus is on three large classes of hormones: stress (cortisol), social (oxytocin, vasopressin), and sex hormones (testosterone, estradiol, progesterone). Those hormones are linked to normal behavioral processes such as memory and social behavior as well as to psychiatric conditions such as depression/anxiety and autism spectrum disorder. At the end of this course, students have developed an understanding of a selection of topics related to behavioral neuroendocrinology.

The course focuses on the microorganisms involved in the processing of fermented foods and beverages. It include the taxonomy of important microorganisms especially lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, including both phenotypic characteristics and molecular typing techniques for their identification. Fermentation is introduced as a sustainable green technology and innovative technologies to improve fermented foods and beverages are considered.

This course presents modern genetics in a specifically non-molecular context in the hope that students see that molecular biology has the potential to answer larger and more important questions rather than being simply an end in itself. Students are introduced to the genetics of a variety of creatures from peas to humans. Topics include basic Mendelism, genetic linkage and linkage maps, chromosomes, cytoplasmic inheritance, mutation and mutagenesis, quantitative genetics, family structure, population genetics, and evolutionary genetics.