Course Syllabus

Biological Chemistry 650 - Eukaryotic Gene Transcription Lectures: Mon 10 am – 12 noon in 4560C MSRB II Drs Dan Bochar, Yali Dou, Yifan Liu and Tom Kerppola (course director)

 

            Biological Chemistry 650 focuses on in-depth discussion of high impact topics in selected areas of eukaryotic gene expression.  The course seeks to develop the students’ understanding of recent progress in the investigation of gene expression that is based on advances in biochemical, structural, molecular, cellular and genomic approaches.  The lectures are designed to update and to complement survey courses by focusing on cutting edge discoveries and on their impact on potential future directions of the field.  The instructors make extensive use of examples from original research articles, which are assigned reading in preparation for each class.  To integrate their learning throughout the semester, each student prepares a critique of an original research paper selected from a list of papers recommended by the instructors. 

Sep. 11     Introduction - Genes, genomes and transcriptomes (Kerppola)

Sep. 18     DNA methylation and DNA modifying enzymes (Dou)

Sep. 25     Transcription silencing and small RNAs (Liu)

Oct. 2        General transcription factors, RNA polymerases and transcript initiation (Bochar)

Oct. 9        Transcript elongation, termination and processing (Bochar)

Oct. 16      Study break – prepare outline for critical review

Oct. 23      Nucleosome structure and dynamics (Bochar) - submit outline for critical review

Oct. 30      Higher order chromatin structures and chromatin remodeling (Bochar)

Nov. 6       Chromatin modifications (Dou)

Nov. 13     Chromatin modifying enzymes (Dou) - submit polished draft for critical review

Nov. 20     Chromatin binding proteins (Dou)

Nov. 27     Transcription regulatory proteins (Kerppola)

Dec. 4       Transcription factor interactions and combinatorial regulation (Kerppola)

Dec. 11     Spatial organization of the nucleus/genome (Kerppola)- submit final critical review

 

 

 

 

Instructor contact information:

 

Dr. Dan Bochar

dbochar@gmail.com

(734) 604-1585

Office hours by appointment

 

Dr. Yali Dou

yalid@med.umich.edu

(734) 615-1315

Office hours by appointment

 

Dr. Yifan Liu

yifan@med.umich.edu

(734) 615-4239

Office hours by appointment

 

Dr. Tom Kerppola (course director)

kerppola@med.umich.edu

(734) 764-3553

Office hours before classes taught by me and by appointment