Structural Biology and
Genomics
Seminar
Fall and Spring. Required of Vagelos
Scholars (0.5
c.u./semester)
Fall meeting time: Tuesdays and Thursdays
Instructor: Ponzy Lu, Room 352 Chemistry (office hours by appointment, 215/898-4771 or biochemistry@sas.upenn.edu)
Structural biology and genomics are the scientific methods of describing, predicting, and changing the properties of living organisms, including humans, based on complete genome structures and 3-dimensional structures of cellular components. It is a direct outgrowth of the intellectual and technical revolutions that occurred during the last decades. It has become a most powerful approach to understanding biology and solving problems in medicine.
We will discuss how macroscopic biological properties, such as reproduction, locomotion, and viral infection, are determined by chemical properties of proteins and nucleic acids. Changes in biological function, such as those that accompany hereditary diseases like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia, result from minute changes in individual proteins. Much larger changes in genome and protein structure are often tolerated without apparent consequence. This selectivity and tolerance provides opportunities for the biotechnology industry to alter biological functions in ways thought to guarantee profits.
Topics discussed include various genome sequencing projects, molecular biological approaches to the bioshphere, and the molecular approaches to brain function.
We will also examine how scientific research results, both real and imaginary, are presented to various audiences. The broad range of medical, social, and political problems associated with the advances will be considered.
Required books:
Branden and Tooze, Introduction to Protein Structure, 2nd Ed.
Griffiths et al., Modern Genetic Analysis
Levitt and Dubner, Freakonomics
Watson and
Weiner, Time, Love, Memory
Required weekly reading: New York Times Science Times (Tuesdays), purchase weekly; Science, “News” and “Science’s Compass” sections, distributed in class.
A fee will be charged to your Penn bill for Science ($45.00).
Weekly quiz (10 minutes) on assigned reading. Midterm and Final examinations, Fall semester, will test knowledge of protein and nucleic acid nomenclature; monomer and polymer structures; with correct representation of three dimensions on paper. The exams in the Spring will test general knowledge of the central dogma, and its ramifications.