Course Learning Objectives

1. Students should be able to define the volumes and composition of the fluid compartments in the body and the mechanisms by which cells generate and use membrane potential.
2. Students should be able to diagram the pathways through which ligands and drugs alter cell behavior and calculate the availability, distribution, clearance and efficacy of drugs in patients.
3. Students should be able to describe the molecular connections and functional organization of macromolecules, cells and tissue.
4. Students should be able to describe the regulation of gene expression at the levels of transcription and translation and the mechanisms of protein folding, localization and degradation.
5. Students should be able to list the pathways and major enzymes that allow cells to generate molecules of energy currency (ATP, NADH, NADPH), generate the building blocks of macromolecules (amino acids, nucleotides and fatty acids), and metabolize macromolecules.
6. Students should be able to describe the basic pathways and mechanisms that regulate cell division and the responses of cells to injury.
7. Students should be able to use the knowledge gained in the course to analyze clinical cases and describe how the molecular, cellular or physiological changes in a patient result in clinical symptoms.
8. Students should begin to identify biases in the way medical knowledge is generated or interpreted and how these biases affect patient care.