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Biology 55: The Roots and Flowering of Civilization A First Year Seminar. People have depended on plants for their subsistence and their cultural identity since time immemorial; we continue to depend on them in surprising ways even in today's industrialized society. By tracing the historical, anthropogical and biological threads of this relationship between plants and people, we gain insight into our cultural and natural heritage and reveal the deep connections between the sciences and the humanities. The focus is on four topics: the transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer, the interchange of crops between the Old and New Worlds, the uses and abuses of medicinal and psychoactive plants, and the debate over organic vs. industrial farming methods.
Biology 454: Evolutionary Genetics (3) Prerequisites: Biology 201 and 202. The roles of mutation, migration, genetic drift, and natural selection in the evolution of the genotype and phenotype. Basic principles are applied to special interest topics. 3 credit hours. Fall, Alternate years. More information.
Biology 526H: Computational Genetics (4) Some prior exposure to molecular genetics, statistics and computer programming required. A study of the principles underlying sequence and genome analysis tools. Topics include alignment, gene finding, expression analysis, mapping, phylogenetics, and measuring sequence divergence and polymorphism. 4 credit hours (3 lecture + 1 computer lab), satisfies QBio requirement. Fall, alternate years. More information.
Biology 659: Topics in Evolutionary Biology: Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics (1) A graduate seminar on the principles and methods of molecular evolutionary biology, tailored to the interests of the students. Students gain hands-on experience re-analyzing published datasets. Occasionally.
Genetics 641: Applied Bioinformatics (1) A graduate-level introduction to bioinformatics software, resources and basic statistical and programming skills. A required course for students in the Genetics and Molecular Biology Curriculum. Spring. Team taught.
Genetics 716: Biological Sequence Analysis and Comparison (1) Prerequisites, Biology 202, Biostatatistics 550, Computer Science 110. A graduate-level introduction to sequence alignment, homology searching, gene prediction, phylogenetics, sequence assembly and genome mapping. Part of a seven-hour required modular course for second-year students in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program. Fall or Spring. With Zefeng Wang.