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Class Meetings:

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: 11:30 to 12:20 am (Spring Semester 2008)

in NRC 348B

Instructors:

Ulrich Melcher	Ramamurthy Mahalingam
NRC 354A	NRC 355A
405-744-6210	405-744-6207
ulrich.melcher@okstate.edu	mali@biochem.okstate.edu

Prerequisites:

BIOCH 5753 (Biochemical Principles) or BIOCH 4113 (Biochemistry) at OSU or an introductory biochemistry course at the graduate level at another institution or a two-semester undergraduate biochemistry course at another institution. An acquaintance with DNA and RNA structure, replication, transcription, RNA processing, the genetic code, and translation will be assumed.

Subject and Objectives:

The subject of this course is the biochemistry of nucleic acids, their molecular cloning, their biosynthesis and the biosynthesis of proteins. The principal objective of the course is for students to acquire knowledge and understanding of current concepts in the subject of the course. That knowledge and understanding should be of depth sufficient to allow the student to read with ready comprehension current research articles on the subject matter area and to intelligently criticize them.

The course has secondary objectives. Students are to develop their skill at searching biochemical literature for information on a particular topic. They will develop their skill at presentation of scientific information. They will develop their critical thinking skills in the evaluation of biochemical experimentation.

Brief Outline for 2008:

I. Molecular cloning (15 sessions)

II.  Synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins, and other dynamic processes (20 sessions)

III. Structures in nucleic acid and protein synthesis (8 sessions)

Detailed Outline

Grading and Examinations:

There will be three examinations. The third examination will be half over the third section and half comprehensive. It will be held during finals week at the university assigned time. Three kinds of assignments will also contribute to the overall grade. See separate pages describing these.

PLAGIARISM WARNING! Any material copied from another source (book, paper, website, catalog, fellow student, etc) used in your writings must be identified appropriately as such and the source identified. Failure to do so risks failure for the assignment (zero credit). If caught, reports will be filed (see OSU policy (pdf file) for definitions and procedures) ! Any quoted material will not be regarded as your intellectual contribution to the assignment and will thus be ignored in grading the assignment.

Past examinations are available by ftp as "pdf" or text files.

Letter grades for the course will be assigned according to the following scale:

Mode of Instruction:

The objectives will be attained by a combination of lectures, readings and web page preparation. The principal activity at each class meeting will be an informal lecture. Students are expected and encouraged to interrupt the instructor with relevant questions, comments or discussion. Students will make progress towards the secondary objectives by preparing several reports and web pages, details of which are provided separately (see links in grade table).

There is no required text for the first part of the course (Molecular Cloning). However, students may find the following useful:

Gene Cloning by Julia Lodge, Pete Lund & Steve Minchin (2007) Taylor & Franics

Gene Cloning and Manipulation by Christopher Howe (1995) Cambridge University Press

One non-required textbook that satisfactorily covers the remainder of the material is:

.Fundamental Molecular Biology by Lizabeth Allison (2007) Blackwell Publishing Co.

Classic research articles for some of the lectures will be made available through D2L. The following books, covering various aspects of this part of the course have been put on reserve in the OSU library. Suggested reading assignments may be made from these books.
 

Students are encouraged to read other relevant material independently.

Other Information:

For more information contact U. Melcher or R. Mahalingam
or write us at
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, NRC 246
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater OK 74078-3035
USA
If you need a conversation, call 405-744-6210 or to send a document by wire, 405-744-7799.