Molecular Biology
Summary
The course in Molecular Biology covers gene regulation and protein dynamics with a focus on human diseases and provides valuable knowledge at an advanced level. This course gives you the opportunity to gain skills and knowledge that are relevant for continuing education.
You will also get broader translational skills in communication and processing information.
About
Molecular Biology is a course at the advanced level. The focus is a detailed understanding of gene regulation and protein dynamics with particular emphasis on human diseases.
Specific topics are:
- Eukaryotic cell cycle
- Intracellular regulation
- Cytoskeleton
- Molecular chaperones
- Cancer cell biology
- Meiosis
Examples are from mouse, yeast and mammalian cell models.
Laboratory classes are included in the course. Each student chooses a molecular biology topic for individual project work in the form of writing a scientific review article and giving a presentation at a mini symposium at the end of the course.
At the end of the course the students shall be able to
- read and understand scientific literature
- apply their scientific knowledge to new topics
- present scientific literature to others
- report and summarize scientific data
- analyze experimental results
- discuss current molecular biology research
- critically analyse published results.
At the end of the lectures students should be able to describe/explain
- the dynamic behaviour of the cytoskeleton and explain how this occurs
- the importance of protein quality control for cellular health
- the different families of molecular chaperones and their mechanisms of action
- how cancer cells are motile and explain the involvement of the cytoskeleton
- the cell biology of breast cancer
- the cell cycle and its regulation with focus on chromosome segregation and checkpoints
- the basic mechanisms for the major intracellular signaling pathways
- the cellular regulation at the RNA level
- the roll of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in cancer, the principles of cancer therapies and mechanisms of drug resistance
- the molecular process of meiotic cell division in mammals
- the hierarchical molecular process and function of meiotic homologous recombination
- how telomere length is maintained
- how the telomere is molecularly reconstituted during meiosis.
This course is taught in English.
Prerequisites and selection
Requirements
Students must have successfully completed basic courses in biology comprising 60 credits in the subject areas of cell biology, molecular genetics, evolution, botanical and zoological physiology, ecology and biodiversity and systematics, or equivalent. English proficiency is required to the level of English 6/English Course B from Swedish Upper Secondary School, or be certified by an internationally recognized test, for example TOEFL, IELTS. In addition a completed depth course of 15 credits in a relevant area is also required.
Selection
Selection is based upon the number of credits from previous university studies, maximum 165 credits.
After graduation
The course in Molecular Biology can be included in the following programmes:
- Bachelor's programme in Molecular Biology
- Bachelor's programme in Biology
- Master's programme in Molecular Biology
- Master's programme in Biology
- Master's programme in Genomics and Systems Biology.
The course can also be applied for as a stand-alone course.
This course will give you the opportunity to gain skills and knowledge that are relevant for continuing education and finding a job in for example, the pharmaceutical industry, a higher education institute and numerous laboratory settings. You will also gain broader translational skills in communication and processing information.
Facilities
The course is given on Campus Medicinareberget.
