INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Chris Glembotski LS326 594-2959 (office)
cglembotski@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (email)

TIMES: Spring 2000 W 6-8:40 p.m. in LS 134

This course is designed for:

1) graduate students in MS or Ph.D. programs in any molecular life science

2) advanced life sciences undergraduates planning to continue studies in graduate or medical school

3) students who love to read, and want to learn scientific technical writing

Course Goals/Approach:

1) to provide the students with the background required to read, understand and present emerging research literature in the field of signal transduction

2) to provide students with the opportunity to use the recent literature to synthesize a cogent hypothesis and to plan, write-up and present a virtual study to test the hypothesis

3) to give students experience working in the context of small groups to solve complex research problems in the area of signal transduction

Course Format:

This course is comprised primarily of discussion of literature readings, not lectures by the instructors.

In most cases, the first 2h of class will be devoted to discussion of primary literature that was assigned at the previous class meeting. The last 30-60 min of class will be devoted to providing students with the background they need to understand the literature that will be read during the next week. Articles listed in blue on the syllabus, or course schedule, are intended to serve as background material and they are required reading. Articles listed in red are the primary research papers that will be discussed in class and they are required reading. Selection of discussants will be on a random basis. Every student must be prepared to be able to discuss the readings (blue and red) every week.

Course Theme: Scaffolds, signaling complexes and heart failure- The assigned readings will have relevance to this theme. Sometimes direct relevance, sometimes indirect. The virtual studies will all be focused on this theme.

Grading:  

Activity	% of Final Grade
Participation during weekly discussions	50%
Virtual Study (presentation & write-up)	50%

Final Grading Paradigm:

Assigned text:

None

Student Groups:

Students will be assigned to groups comprised of 3-5 students at the begining of the semester; these group assignments will be retained throughout the semester. Students will be asked to work in/with their groups during class and outside of class in order to brain storm and solve problems as assigned in class or on the bulletin board. Preliminary group assignments for the Spring of 2000 are as follows: