Physiology, Biophysics & Systems Biology (PBSB) Seminar Series
Quarters Qtrs. l-lV, Annually

A required course that exposes program students to recent research developments. Outside seminar speakers are invited to discuss their latest research.

Course Director: Dr. David Christini

Cell Physiology
Quarters I-II Annually

This course will focus on important aspects of cell physiology that are required for normal cell functioning and disease processes. The contributions of specific organelle and molecular pathways in these processes will be discussed in the context of proper cell function. Topics in theories of biophysics and bioelectricity will also be covered.

1. Biomolecules; cell structure
2. Cell and protein structure/function
3. Membrane proteins
4. Cell biophysics
5. Cell signaling

Course Director: Dr. Colleen Clancy

Faculty Research Lunches
Quarters I-II

This course is required for all first year PBSB graduate students, but is open to all WCGSMS students. Come for lunch and listen to your program faculty describe their research. Make informed decisions about your laboratory rotations!

Course Director: Dr. Emre Aksay

Physical Principles of Medical Imaging
Quarter I-II

This is a one-semester course covering the basic concepts of major modern diagnostic imaging technologies. Emphasis is placed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Computerized tomography (CT) and ultrasound (US) are also covered. Students will gain fundamental technical knowledge of medical imaging and an overview of current status of medical imaging technologies.

Course Director: Dr. Yi Wang

Essentials of Human Systems Physiology
Quarters I-III, Annually

Description: The course consists of three parts:

1. Assigned independent readings from a textbook of human physiology (Medical Physiology by R.A. Rhodes and G.A. Tanner, 2nd Edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins) followed by presentations and discussion of the readings led by an instructor.
2. Assignments of special topics, journal articles, and/or physiological problems for student presentation and discussion in class.
3. Physiology laboratories, including laboratories with mannequins simulators of physiological functions

Course Directors:
Dr. Lawrence Palmer, Cell Physiology
Dr. Bernice Grafstein, Nervous System Physiology
Dr. Thomas Maack, Organ and System Physiology

Acquisition of Organ Function
Quarter III

A problem-based learning approach will be used to study the process of organogenesis. The course will be focused on general concepts mediating the formation of all organ systems using in 2006, the developing eye as a paradigm. Topics to be covered include the cell biological mechanisms mediating the assembly of diverse cell types into an organ primordium, signaling between embryonic cells regulating organ architecture, and finally important parameters required for the onset of organ function.

Course Directors:
Dr. Enrique Rodriguez-Boulan
Dr. Doris Herzlinger

Introduction to Bioengineering
Quarters III-IV

The objective of this one semester course is to prepare graduate students at the Weill Cornell Medical College for thesis research in fields that encompass bioengineering. The course will be team taught by Weill and Ithaca faculty using video conferencing facilities. Examples will be chosen from musculoskeletal and cardiovascular fields.

Course Director: Dr. Adele Boskey

Principles of Biomedical Imaging
Quarters IIl-lV

This survey course will cover the basic physical, biochemical, computational, and engineering principles underlying current medical imaging techniques, including magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, radionuclide production and radiochemistry, optical imaging, x-ray computed tomography, and ultrasound. The goal of the course will be to provide students with a broad knowledge of the concepts and implementation strategies of various imaging methods relevant in current research and clinical practice. Practical applications will be used to illustrate the main themes of the course. Tours of the Biomedical Imaging Core Facility and other imaging laboratories will augment the formal course material. At the end of the course students will be able to identify appropriate imaging strategies for clinical research and have a working knowledge of the major techniques available to the investigator.

Course Director: Dr. Douglas Ballon

Scientific Presentation and Critic
Quarters III-IV

This course is required for all first and second year PBSB graduate students, but is open to all WCGSMS students. It is designed to train students in scientific presentation and critique. The structure is a formalized "journal club." Each student will choose a paper, which is subject to approval by the course directors. Each session will consist of a student formally presenting their selected paper to the class, which is expected to serve as a critical audience. The presentation should consist both of an objective presentation of the study and a subjective analysis/critique of the work. Presentations by second year students will be scheduled first, giving the first year students the opportunity to learn from their more senior colleagues. Pass/fail grading will be based on mandatory attendance, presentation quality, and "audience" participation.

Course Directors:
Dr. Emre Aksay
Dr. David Christini

Bioinformatics
Quarters III-IV
[OFFERED EVEN YEARS]

This course begins with a discussion of the history, techniques, and statistical analyses used in bioinformatics today. Students will begin to analyze how these tools can be used to predict RNA, gene and protein structure. The final two weeks of the course will be focused on systems biology including current techniques used to model of protein-protein interactions, protein networks and cell signaling.

Course Director: Dr. Lucy Skrabanek

Physiological Genomics of the Cardiovascular System
Quarter IV

A journal club and discussion seminar approach will be used to study the process of gene regulation of cardiovascular organogenesis and function. The course will focus on fundamental advances in our knowledge in genomics and how genes regulate the structure, organization, and activity of the heart and vasculature. Weekly sessions will address topics that range from molecular to cellular to tissue to organ to organismal events.

Course Director: Dr. Cathy Hatcher

Other Recommended Graduate Program Courses

Fundamental Immunology
Quarters I-IV, Annually

Quarters I and II of the course provide a comprehensive overview of basic immunology beginning with the innate immune responses, followed by a study of the main aspects of acquired immunity. Specific interactions of target cells and T cells that are regulated by the MHC molecule and peptide antigens on the target cell and the antigen specific T cell receptor are studied. The generation and molecular structure of B and T cell antigen receptors, and signaling through immune receptors are covered in detail. Lastly, the development of antigen specific T and B cells, and specific roles for some cytokines/lymphokines are also important topics.

Quarters III and IV of the course cover in more depth T and B cell mediated immunity and topics of clinical relevance, such as microbial immunity, allergy, autoimmunity, tumor immunology, congenital and acquired immunodeficiencies, transplantation immunology, and immunotherapy. All the topics are studied though lectures and in depth review of selected articles.

Course Director: Dr. Ethel Cesarman

Introduction to Pharmacological Principles
Quarters I-IV

Principles of Pharmacology (Four Parts)

Quarter I: Chemical Biology

Students should develop an understanding of the chemical reactions used in biological and laboratory synthesis and manipulation of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and carbohydrates. Students should also develop an understanding for the chemical principles that underlie enzyme function. By the end of the course, students should be comfortable reading journal articles on chemical biology and will be expected to give an oral presentation and written report on a topic in the field.

Course Organizers:
Dr. Samie Jaffrey
Dr. Derek Tan

Quarter II: Signal Transduction

The goal of the course is to provide students with an understanding of the basic recurring themes in cell signaling mechanisms and to familiarize the students with a majority of the key signal transduction pathways. Additionally, an emphasis is placed on (1) the use of pharmacologic and chemical tools to study problems in signal transduction; and (2) structural insights into signaling mechanisms, based on x-ray, NMR, and computational approaches. By the end of the course, the students should feel comfortable with reading and comprehending journal articles that relate to the latest findings in signal transduction.

Course Organizers:
Dr. Steven Gross
Dr. Samie Jaffrey

Quarter III: Principles and Systems Pharmacology

Systems Pharmacology occupies the third quarter of the yearlong Introduction to Pharmacological Principles. It is a 9-week course arranged into three parts or modules: 5 sessions in the first part covering general pharmacological principles, 9 sessions in the second part focusing on nervous and circulatory systems, and 10 sessions in the third and final module covering the remainder of the circulatory system along with host defense and endocrine systems. An understanding of systems pharmacology is necessary and valuable for all Pharmacology Graduate Students. A recent Senate Committee recommended increased support for research and training in whole systems pharmacology&to define the effects of therapy on disease and the overall function of the human body. Over the past two decades, there has been an emphasis on supporting research and training at the cellular and molecular levels, but diminished support for training and research in systems and integrated biology. The erosion of support in the area of integrated systems threatens to slow the rate at which fundamental discoveries made at the cellular and sub cellular levels are translated into useful therapies. These recommendations were recently put into effect at one of our peer institutions with the creation of a new Department of Systems Biology. Recommended textbook: BG Katzungs, Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, 8th edition.

Course Organizers:
Dr. Roberto Levi
Dr. Lonny Levin

Quarter IV: Cancer Pharmacology

Cancer Pharmacology will focus on the principles and applications of modern cancer therapeutic approaches. The topics considered range from traditional cytotoxic and anti-mitotic agents, to natural products and their chemistry, to biologic and immunologic therapies, to rationally designed targeted small molecule inhibitors. Basic principles underlying mechanisms of cancer cell death, angiogenesis, and radiobiology and imaging are also covered.

Course Organizers:
Dr. David Scheinberg
Dr. Yueming Li

Biochemistry and Structural Biology
Quarters I-II, Annually

This is a two-quarter course in structural biology and contemporary biochemistry. The course covers equilibria, bond formation, protein chemistry and structure, nucleic acid chemistry and structure, ligand binding, chemical and enzyme kinetics, enzyme reaction mechanism, principles of macromolecular analysis, principles of protein purification, and principles of macromolecular recognition and specificity.

Course Directors:
Dr. Dimitar Nikolov
Dr. Min Lu
and staff

From Neuron to the Brain: An Intro to Neuroscience
Quarters I-II, Annually

Course Director: TBA

Logic and Experimental Design
Quarters I-II, Annually

This multidisciplinary course combines lectures about the fundamental biochemical, cellular, molecular, immunological, genetic, and bioinformatics approaches that are used in biomedical research with critical discussion of research papers. The course will meet on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and each meeting will have provisions for both a lecture and a discussion period. Generally, the discussion period will be used to discuss an original research paper, but occasionally it will be used for a model building laboratory, or a review session. The development of a research proposal is a major component of the course. The course is open to all students and fellows and it is a core course for both neuroscience and pharmacology.

Course Director: Dr. John Wagner

Molecular Genetics
Quarters I-II, Annually

This course is organized around the principles of genetic analysis, with examples chosen from organisms that best illustrate those principles. The course is based on lectures, problem sets, and discussion sections. Topics covered include: the nature of the gene; linkage and physical maps; recombination mechanisms; nature of mutations; mutations as tools to dissect gene function; transposition; epigenetics; cancer genetics; genetic analysis of development and cell-cell signaling.

Course Director: Dr. Scott Keeney and staff

Cell and Developmental Biology
Quarters III-IV, Annually
[NOTE: THIS COURSE BEGINS IN JANUARY]

This course explores key aspects of cell and developmental biology at a detailed molecular level. The focus is on the integration of structure/function relationships for proteins and signaling pathways within the cell and in the intact organism. Specific topics include: membrane structure; protein biosynthesis and vesicular trafficking; endocytosis; cell architecture and motility; receptor and oncogene mediated signaling; signaling in a developmentally regulated context; and stem cell biology. The course consists of two lectures per week plus one interactive discussion section involving current research papers.

Course Directors:
Dr. Marilyn Resh
Dr. Katherine Hajjar
Dr. Mary Baylies

Gene Structure and Function
Quarters III-IV, Annually
[NOTE: THIS COURSE BEGINS IN JANUARY.]

A two-quarter course that explores the regulatory mechanisms governing the flow of information in cells from DNA to RNA to protein. The first module of the course deals with DNA replication, recombination and repair, and introduces basic principles of DNA topology and protein-DNA interactions as they apply to these and other processes. In the next module, the fundamentals of gene structure and transcription are presented. Topics to be discussed include: structure and function of transcription factors and RNA polymerases; mechanisms of transcriptional activation and repression; the effects of chromatin on transcription; analysis of transcriptional networks by proteomics and functional genomics; and transcriptional control of the cell cycle. The final module covers post-initiation maturation and processing of mRNA, culminating with its translation into protein. Topics include: mRNA capping, splicing and polyadenylation; regulation of mRNA stability; mechanisms and functions of RNA interference (RNAi); and mechanisms and regulation of translation.

Course Directors:
Dr. Robert Fisher
Dr. Beate Schwer
and staff

Ion Channels of Excitable Membranes
Quarters Ill-lV
[NOTE: THIS COURSE BEGINS IN JANUARY.]

Course Directors:
Dr. Geoffrey Abbott
Dr. Neil Harrison

Neuropharmacology
Quarters III-IV

Two Parts:

Genes, Drug & Behavior, Quarter III

Course Organizers:
Dr. Miklos Toth
Dr. Harriet Baker

Neuropeptides and Pain, Quarter IV

Course Organizers:
Dr. Charles Inturrisi
Dr. Hazel Szeto

This course consists of modules three and four of the Genes, Drugs and the Brain (GD&B) course. This course is jointly sponsored by the Neuroscience and Pharmacology Programs. It is designed to present current concepts of the major central nervous system (CNS) neurotransmitters and their functional neuroanatomy. The course will integrate discussions of the mechanisms of neurotransmitter biosynthesis and release, receptor signal transduction and the alterations produced by CNS drugs.