Craig Smith

In this investigative laboratory course, students will be given high-quality, experimentally determined, three-dimensional structural coordinates and will use cutting-edge bioinformatics tools and methods to evaluate and analyze these datasets. Some topics include: structural validation, protein-structure prediction, domain and motif recognition, secondary structure prediction, protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions, protein and structure-based sequence alignments, inferring protein function from structure, electrostatic interactions, and threading and homology modeling. Upon completing their analyses, students will be responsible for writing a manuscript that will be submitted to a scientific journal for publication.

Fundamentals of microbiology. Topics include: metabolism and growth, molecular biology and gene expression, metabolic diversity, microbial ecology, microbial pathogenesis, microbial genomics, human and animal transmitted diseases, microbial evolution and diversity, and immunity. Prerequisites: introductory biology and chemistry courses or permission of the instructor.

A study of structure-function relationships as applied to carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids; intermediary metabolism of principal cellular components; and general aspects of regulation.