Focuses on the structure and function of cells as we have come to know them through the interpretation of direct observations and experimental results. Emphasis is on the scientific (thought) processes that have allowed us to understand what we know today, emphasizing the use of genetic, biochemical, and optical analysis to understand fundamental biological processes. Covers details of the organization and expression of genetic information, and the biosynthesis, sorting, and function of cellular components within the cell. Concludes with examples of how cells perceive signals from other cells within cell populations, tissues, organisms, and the environment. Three hours of lab each week. Not open to students who have credit for Biology 2423. This course originates in Biology and is crosslisted with: Biochemistry. (Same as: BIOL 2124)

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2022 Fall Semester; 2023 Fall Semester; 2024 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Focuses on the chemistry of living organisms. Topics include structure, conformation, and properties of the major classes of biomolecules (proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids); enzyme mechanisms, kinetics, and regulation; metabolic transformations; energetics and metabolic control. Lectures and four hours of laboratory work per week. This course satisfies a requirement for the biochemistry major. This course originates in Chemistry and is crosslisted with: Biochemistry. (Same as: CHEM 2320)

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2023 Spring Semester; 2024 Spring Semester; 2025 Spring Semester

Biological membranes serve much more than a passive interface with which to establish a physical barrier between the interior and exterior of a cell or to compartmentalize organelles. In concert with the many proteins that interface with them (approximately 20–30 percent of our genome encodes membrane proteins), membranes make up a rich physical system that undergoes dynamic reshaping and transduce and integrate signaling events crucial for cell function and survival. Topics include lipid synthesis and their catabolism for energy production, hydrophobic and electrostatic forces governing lipid self-assembly, membrane organization and dynamics, membrane transport phenomena, structure adoption of integral proteins, and receptor-mediated signaling. Four hours of laboratory work per week will accompany in-class lectures. This course originates in Chemistry and is crosslisted with: Biochemistry. (Same as: CHEM 2330)

Terms offered: 2025 Fall Semester

Explores the biochemical mechanisms that underlie the basis of life. Starts with the chemistry of proteins, DNA, lipids, and carbohydrates to build the main elements of a cell. Moves on to the process of gene organization and expression, emphasizing the biochemical mechanisms that regulate these events. Explores next the organization of the cell with emphasis on genetic and biochemical regulation. Concludes with specific examples of multicellular interactions, including development, cancer, and perception of the environment. This course does NOT satisfy a requirement for the biochemistry major and is not open to students who have credit for Biology 2124. Students who intend to enroll in Biology 2124 should not register for Biology 2423. This course originates in Biology and is crosslisted with: Biochemistry. (Same as: BIOL 2423)

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2023 Spring Semester; 2024 Spring Semester; 2025 Spring Semester

All cells signal through a variety of mechanisms. Cells take advantage of these signaling pathways to communicate intrinsically, through their local environment, and across entire systems throughout the body. This course will focus on broad types of signaling pathways that have been observed and defined across many fields of biology and introduce students to concepts such as lipid signaling, the immune synapse, and signaling pathways in cancer and other pathologies. Topics of exploration include bioactive lipid signaling, autocrine, cell-cell signaling, and paracrine signaling. We will expand into systemic endocrine signaling and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) and discuss more complicated signaling systems such as what happens during oncogenesis and the communication between the gut microbiome and the brain. This course originates in Biology and is crosslisted with: Biochemistry; Neuroscience. (Same as: BIOL 2504, NEUR 2504)

Terms offered: 2025 Spring Semester

This course will take a quantitative approach relying on principles from thermodynamics, kinetics and mechanics to explore how the structure, function and assembly of molecular components like lipids, proteins and DNA govern biological systems and their physical-chemical behavior. Topics will include: (1) lipid membrane organization and lipid-protein interactions, (2) transport mechanisms, (3) compartmentalization through liquid-liquid phase separation, and (4) mechanisms of force generation through molecular motors and cytoskeletal polymers. Emphasis throughout the course will be placed on experimental methodologies employed in these topic areas such as optical microscopy, single-molecule approaches, and force spectroscopies. The format will be a combination of lectures, discussions and journal article presentations. This course originates in Chemistry and is crosslisted with: Biochemistry. (Same as: CHEM 3320)

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester