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Description
Biology of cells of higher organisms: Structure, function, and biosynthesis of cellular membranes and organelles; cell growth and oncogenic transformation; transport, receptors, and cell signaling; the cytoskeleton, the extracellular matrix, and cell movements; chromatin structure and RNA synthesis.
Prerequisites
A strong familiarity with basic genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology as taught in the prerequisites 7.01x (Introductory Biology), 7.03 (Genetics) and 7.05 (General Biochemistry) is assumed knowledge for this course. Some research experience and/or 7.02 (Introduction to Experimental Biology and Communication) are advantageous for students in the course, as it is heavily focused on experiments. We assume that you are thoroughly familiar with the material in chapters 1-4 and 9 of the textbook Molecular Cell Biology by Lodish, et al. before taking this course. If you are having problems with this introductory material, please see your teaching assistant or one of the course professors.
Textbook
The required textbook for this course is:
Lodish, et al. Molecular Cell Biology. 5th ed. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2003. ISBN: 9780716743668.
Chapters 1 through 4 and the genetic and molecular techniques described in Chapter 9 are essential and required background knowledge for the course. You should also be very familiar with the material in these 5 chapters before you take 7.06. Reviewing these 5 chapters will give you a good sense for whether you have adequate background to take this course.
Recitations
There is one required recitation per week.
Grading
Your overall course grade will be an average of your four exam scores. All exam scores count equally. No exam score will be dropped.
Quizzes
There will be three quizzes worth 100 points each given during the term, and one quiz worth 100 points given during finals week. The fourth exam for the class is not cumulative in terms of material/information covered on the other three exams. However, you will be held responsible for the experimental techniques that we discuss throughout the course, which can be applied when studying a wide range of topics. Quiz Review Sessions will be held prior to each quiz.
If you feel that your answer was graded incorrectly, please submit a written explanation of your regrade request to the course professor. Please note that all quizzes are photocopied before they are returned to the students. Quizzes must be submitted for regrading by the deadlines announced in class.
Problem Sets
This course includes four problem sets. They will not be graded.
Intellectual Honesty
We hope and trust that academic misconduct will not occur during this course. We nevertheless want to emphasize that we will be rigorous in our enforcement of Biology Department and Institute rules. It is the policy of the Department to keep a record of all cases of academic misconduct and to forward cases to the Dean of Undergraduate and Student Affairs. To guard against the possibility that dishonesty will go undetected, we will xerox all exams and regrade exams from these xerox copies.
Calendar
The calendar below provides information on the course's lecture (L) and exam (E) sessions.
Course calendar.SES # | TOPICS |
---|
L1 | Road map of course, what is and what is not cell biology, properties and behaviors of cells |
L2 | Structure of biological membranes, lipids and lipid modification, membrane proteins |
L3 | Pumps, channels, transporters |
L4 | Receptors, basics of signal transduction (Note: Reprise and extension in lecture 14) |
L5 | Protein secretion, biogenesis of membrane proteins |
E1 | Exam I (lectures 1-5) |
L6 | Regulation of the cell division cycle |
L7 | Regulation of DNA replication |
L8 | The microtubule cytoskeleton |
L9 | Regulation of mitosis |
L10 | Meiosis |
L11 | Cell cycle checkpoints |
E2 | Exam II (lectures 6-11) |
L12 | Protein modifications and intracellular transport, glycosylation, vesicular transport, receptor mediated endocytosis, lysosomes, organelle biogenesis |
L13 | Protein modifications and intracellular transport II |
L14 | Signal transduction: Detailed molecular mechanisms |
L15 | Nerve cells, ion channels, synapse, Ca++ regulated events |
L16 | Nerve cells II |
L17 | Immunity and host pathogen interactions I |
L18 | Immunity and host pathogen interactions II |
E3 | Exam III (lectures 12-18) |
L19 | The actin-myosin cytoskeleton |
L20 | The extracellular matrix |
L21 | Cancer I |
L22 | Cancer II |
L23 | Stem cells and cloning |
E4 | Exam IV (lectures 19-23) |