Biochemistry: determination of the molecular bases of genetic diseases.

TEACHING:

Molecular Biology (050-320, 4 credit hours, lecture and laboratory). This course is an introduction to molecular biology. Specifically, this course describes how the sequence of the genomic DNA specifies all temporal and spacial information required for the construction and function of living organisms (in both prokayotes and eukaryotes). Students are taught how the chemical nature of the monomers of biological polymers (DNA, RNA, and proteins) interact to yield the ultimate structure and function of these molecules. The mechanisms of DNA replication and repair, transcription, and translation are studied in detail. Applications of these basic biological mechanism to study biological systems are covered. These applications include DNA sequencing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), methods of visualizing experimental results by radioactive and non-radiative methods, hybridization based and immunoselection based techniques (Southern and Northern hybridization, and Western blotting), and recombinant DNA techniques. Finally, a variety of strategies of the regulation of gene expression are taught.

Molecular Biology of the Cell (280-532, 4 credit hours, lecture and laboratory). The same material as taught in the undergraduate course Molecular Biology (050-320) is taught in this graduate course with additional in depth coverage of the regulation of gene expression (cell-cell communication, i.e. cell signalling, and the molecular basis of the control of the cell cycle).

Graduate Topics in Molecular Biology (280-530-01, 2 credit hours). This is a seminar course in which students must explore the current literature for articles related to the designate topic of the course and lead class discussions of these articles with visual aids including transparencies, slides, and the blackboard. Students are encouraged to use bibliographic databases to find current articles. The articles selected by the students must be approved by the instructor and distributed to all students in the course prior to the class day on which the discussion occurs.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

Bremner, T.A., D'Costa, N., Dickson, L.A., & Asseffa, A. (1996). A Decrease in Glucose 6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Activity and mRNA Is an Early Event in Phorbol Ester-Induced Differentiation of THP-1 Promonocytic Leukemia Cells. Life Sciences 58:1015-1022.

Asseffa, A. Dickson, L.A., Mohla, S., & Bremner, T.A. (1993). Phorbol Myristate Acetate-Differentiated THP-1 Cells Display Increased Levels of MHC Class I and Class II mRNA and Interferon-g Inducible Tumoricidal Activity. Oncology Research 5:11-18.

Mohla, S., White, S., Grzegorzewski, K., Nielsen, D., Dunston, G., Dickson, L., Asseffa, A., & Olden, K. (1990). Inhibition of growth of subcutaneous xenografts and metastasis of human breast carcinoma by swainsonine: Modulation of tumor cell HLA class I antigens and host immune effector mechanisms. Anticancer Research 10:1515-1522.

Pihlajaniemi, T., Dickson, L.A., Pope, F.M., Korhonen, V.R., Nicholls, A., Prockop, D.J., & Myers, J.M. (1984). Osteogenesis Imperfecta: Cloning of a pro-a2(I) collagen gene with a frameshift mutation. J. Biol. Chem. 259:12941-12944.

Dickson, L.A., Pihlajaniemi, T., Deak, S., Pope, F.M., Nicholls, A., Prockop, D.J., & Myers, J.M. (1984). Nuclease S-1 mapping of a homozygous mutation in the carboxyl-propeptide coding region of the pro-a2(I) collagen gene in a patient with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 81: 4524-4528.