Course Offerings

Course Descriptions

BCHB-501 Biomedical and Cellular Sciences (3 Fall)

An in depth graduate biochemistry course primarily targeting Ph.D. students. Available to students entering the M.S. program with a strong science background and who are interested in pursuing academic/governmental careers. Pre-evaluation by the course director is required.

Professor: Nakai and Faculty

BCHB-502 Biotech Industry Internship (4 Fall, 4 Spring), *CORE

Students will pursue defined objectives in the biotechnology industry or on campus. Internships can be in business functions, industrial sciences, intellectual property, bioethics or the biomedical sciences.

Professors: Chirikjian, Helling, Nontanovan

BCHB-503, 504 Biochemistry Journal Club (1 Fall, 1 Spring)

Student presentation of literature articles, and methods.

Professor: Biochemistry and Mol Biology Faculty

BCHB-507, 508 Laboratory Applications of Biotechnology (4 Fall, 4 Spring) *CORE

A hands-on, laboratory-based course that introduces students to core techniques such as electrophoretic analysis of nucleic acids and proteins, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Southern blotting, ELISA and Western blotting, protein purification, tissue culture, DNA cloning, cell culture and bioinformatics.

Professor: Helling and Nontanovan

BCHB-509 Introduction to the Biotechnology Industry (3 Fall), *CORE

The course will take an in-depth look at various aspects of the biotechnology industry. Topics covered will include venture capital, intellectual property, and career opportunities in biotechnology. Contributions will be made from senior scientists and business personnel from industry.

Professor: Chirikjian and Guests

BCHB-510 Entrepreneurial Biotechnology (3 Spring), *CORE

Introduction to opportunities and issues that are part of starting a biotechnology company. An in-depth look at various aspects of biotechnology industry. Students will develop and report assigned case studies and business plans on various biotechnology start-up companies.

Professor: Chirikjian and Guests.

BCHB-513 Core Concepts of Biochemistry (4 Fall, P/F), *CORE

Survey of core concepts in biochemistry and molecular biology, with emphasis on applications to biotechnology

Professor: Rosenthal and Faculty

BCHB-514, 515 Introduction to Bioinformatics (1 Fall, 1 Spring)

Introduction to bioinformatics with an emphasis on resources that are available and used in biotechnology.

Professor: NIH and guests

BCHB-516 Molecular Medicine (1 Fall)

This course provides students with an overview of cellular therapies. Topics include tissue engineering, xenotransplantation, adult vs embryonic stem cells, infectious disease and molecular diagnostics, vaccines, gene therapy, regulatory issues, ethical issues and intellectual property.

Professor: Wilson, M. Eiden and Helling

BCHB-520 Financial Matrix for Biotechnology (1 Spring)

Focuses on financial aspects of a biotechnology company.

Professor: Chirikjian and Faculty

BCHB-521 Bioinformatics (3 Spring)

Introduction to bioinformatics with resources that are available for use in biotechnology. The course includes lectures, computer labs, and projects.

Professor: Chirikjian and Faculty

BCHB-522 Drug Target and Design (1 Spring)

The course objective is to furnish students with a comprehensive background in the history of pharmacology and therapeutics leading to the current theory and practice of drug design and the basic pharmacology, biochemistry, molecular biology and bioinformatic concepts that drive it.

Professor: Eiden and Helling

BCHB-523 Intellectual Property (1 Spring)

The course provides an opportunity for students to learn about intellectual property rights and their uses in biotechnology. Topics addressed include: rights conferred by different types of intellectual property; the uses of biotechnology patents; determining "patentability," interpreting the rights conferred by a patent; the patent-granting system in the US and elsewhere, patent costs and values; and the post grant processes for enforcing and challenging US patents.

Professors: House and Millstein

BCHB-525 Concepts of Immunology (2 Spring)

An introduction to key concepts and applications of immunology as is applied to the biotechnology industry.

Professor: Kisailus

BCHB-526 Core Methods of Biotechnology (3 Fall), *CORE

Introduction to core concepts of biotechnology. Detailed description of methods used for analysis, purification, quantitation of nucleic acids and proteins. Topics include applications of PCR, blotting techniques, basics of cloning and basics of cell culture. Applications of biotechnology to product development.

Professors: D. Rosenthal and Faculty

BCHB-527 - Food Biotechnology (2 Spring)

Applications of biotechnology as it relates to food production and taste enhancement.

Professor: Labuda

BCHB-529 – Applications of Biotechnology to Human Diagnostics (2 Spring)

This course is designed to introduce biotechnology procedures as they relate to the development of human diagnostics. Areas of emphasis will include diagnostic tests for cancer, genetic diseases and the detection of infectious agents. Laboratory experiments emphasize PCR, immunology and immunohistology.

Professor: Hartman and Nontanovan

BCHB-533 Emerging Biotechnology Concepts (3 Fall), *CORE

Survey of concepts with emphasis on applications to biotechnology.

Professor: Millstein and Faculty

BCHB-535 Programmed Cell Death (2 Fall)

The lecture and laboratory course familiarizes students with different pathways leading to apoptosis and their importance in development as well as in diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration.

Professor: Rosenthal C.

BCHB-536 Applications of Cell Culture in Biotechnology & Medicine (2 Spring )

The lecture and laboratory course examines the uses of Cell Culture techniques for the study of diverse topics in life sciences including Molecular Biology, Toxicology and Pharmacology.

Professor: Rosenthal, C.

BCHB-537 Fermentation in Bioprocessing (2 Spring)

This course stresses the practical aspects of fermentation for research and pilot scale operations. Experimental work will be combined with discussions on microbial kinetics, monitoring and controlling fundamental parameters, produce desirable metabolites, data interpretation and basic strategies.

Professor: Labuda and Nontanovan

CHB-540 Molecular Basis of Carcinogenesis (3 Spring)

In-depth discussions of the fundamental aspects of the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, damage-responsive signal transduction, carcinogen-induced programmed cell death, genetic diseases associated with defective repair, and anti-signaling drug design in the intervention of the onset and progression of the carcinogenic process.

Professor: Kasid and Faculty

BCHB-541 Structural Biology (2 Spring)

The aim of the course is to provide the basic knowledge of the three-dimensional structures of biomolecules (e.g., proteins, nucleic acids, etc.) molecular structure determination techniques as well as biological relevance of “structure-function” relationships.

Professor: Faculty

BCHB-543 cGMP Current Good Manufacturing Practices (1 Spring)

This course is designed to familiarize students with Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), the rules and regulations that guide the manufacture of FDA-approved biopharmaceutical and biotechnology products.

Professor: Mintz

BCHB-562 World Agriculture and Biotechnology (2 Fall)

Biotechnology is having a unique impact on world agriculture, simultaneously raising the promise of food abundance and the spectre of "Frankenfoods". This course will provide an overview of the issues--from grandiose promises to doomsday rhetoric. It will focus on the implications of the new science and on the interest groups that drive international battles over intellectual property rights, the use of genetically modified plants and animals, and equity issues between the biotechnology "have" and "have-not" nations.

BCHB-602 Metabolic Biochemistry (2 Spring )

Prerequisite: BCHB-501 or BCHB-513 or Permission of the instructor.Biochemical pathways focusing on energy metabolism including glycolysis,citric acid cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, amino acid metabolism, urea cycle, and fatty acid metabolism.

Professor: Nakai and Faculty

BCHB-902 Biotechnology Tutorial (1 Fall and Spring)

Tutorials with individual faculty

Professor: Faculty

BCHB-910 Biochemistry Internship (4 Spring, 4 Fall)

Professor: Rosenthal C