Syllabus

Biology 201: Genetics, Fall 2008

Instructor: Dr. Ed Devlin

Website: http://people.hsc.edu/faculty-staff/edwardd/edsweb01/index.htm

Office: Gilmer 107, 6173, edevlin@hsc.edu

Course Description:

This course is designed to be an introduction to genetics, the science of heredity. It involves both classic Mendelian and modern molecular aspects of the study of inheritance. The material in this course is intended to build on the introduction to genetics you were exposed to in Biology 110. This course is important because a basic understanding of genetics is necessary to fully appreciate the workings of cells, organisms and how they change over time.

It is a unique time to for a student to be embarking on the study of genetics. We have accumulated a critical mass of information about the structure of genes and how they function. This information is seeing practical applications in a number of disciplines from law enforcement to biomedical disciplines.

I am maintaining some supporting materials for the course at my website under "Courses" and "Genetics" (http://people.hsc.edu/faculty-staff/edwardd/edsweb01/genetics.htm). At this site you can find copies of syllabi, a sample test, problem sets, links and other information. This material call also be accessed through Blackboard. Genetics is a 200-level course and attendance of both lecture and lab are required. As per College policy, you can have up to three unexcused lecture absences, but no unexcused labs. The laboratory is considered a very important part of the course. You cannot pass the course if you have any unexcused lab absences.

Text:

There are many excellent genetics texts, unfortunately, many of them are designed for an upper division undergraduate course. We will be using a text this semester that is current and seems to be quite readable: Essential Genetics, A Genomics Perspective, Fouth Edition, 2006 by Hartl and Jones. The text is required for the course, in addition a lab manual for the lab will be provided.

Grading/Honor Code:

There will be four lecture exams and a cumulative final exam. The exams will be a combination of multiple-choice, short answer an essay in format. The laboratory portion of the course will be graded on the basis of your weekly lab reports as well as your oral and written presentation. I expect integrity as put forth in the Honor Code from all students on all their work in this course. Below is how the different aspects of the course are weighted to make up your final grade.

Lecture Exams 60 %

Final Exam 20 %

Laboratory 20 %

Total 100 %

For part of your lab grade, you will be required to write a short paper and give an oral, PowerPoint -based presentation of your paper topic. The paper will be on some aspect of genetic technology of interest to you that has been used in some practical way in agriculture, medicine, forensics, drug design or genetic testing. Your paper/presentation should explain the rational behind the technology, the technology itself and how it is used. We will be providing more information on the formatting of the paper/presentation in lab.

Most labs are designed to fit into the scheduled lab period, but because we are using living organisms that take time to grow and reproduce, you will sometimes need to return to lab outside the scheduled lab period. This is unfortunate, but is the nature of the work done in the discipline. Some of the out-of-class work time will be offset by labs that are very short or may just require a few initial observations. The grade in the lab, which makes up 20% of your final grade in the course is made up of:

Lab reports on completed labs are to be turned in at the beginning of the next week's lab, late assignments will be penalized. These lab reports need not be overly elaborate, but must be typed and take the following format: