To instill in students a firm understanding of the basic principles in molecular, cellular and physiology that will serve as a foundation for your subsequent education and development as physician-scientists.
Qualifier study guide is available
WATCH a video of the self-assessment review.
Quiz for week four is available HERE
This is the final week of Scientific Foundations. We will wrap up Life and Death of a Cell by exploring the molecular mechanisms that regulate cell growth and division and analyzing histological images that illustrate the responses of cells to stressors and damage.
The Cell Communication theme will conclude with discussions of two cases that illustrate how defects in ion channels lead to muscle weakness and hyperthermia.
This week will also feature two sessions that will describe and analyze how cultural and social biases affect decisions made by scientists and the broader research community on which diseases receive attention. These biases can determine which patients are likely to receive therapeutics or cures for their diseases.
The qualifier will open Wednesday, September 18 and close at 11:45 PM on Sunday, September 22.
September 16
September 17
September 20
Reminder that the mandatory self-assessment closes Sunday night at 11:45 PM. Please upload your answers before then.
The Cell Energy theme will wrap up this week with presentations on how the body metabolizes the major macromolecules and how different metabolic pathways integrate to maintain an adequate supply of energy-rich molecules in the body. We will start two new themes: Cell Communication and Life and Death of a Cell. Cell Communication will describe the major signaling pathways and how we use drugs to influence those pathways. The theme will also describe how the body metabolizes drugs. Life and Death of a Cell will explore how cells respond to injury and damage which is foundational for understanding pathologies.
Important: On Tuesday, September 12 you will participate in a medical simulation. To successfully participate in the simulation and diagnose the case, you should be familiar with lecture material covered through Monday, September 11. Please check BlueDogs for your group assignment and the time of your simulation.
Please complete the following assignments prior to the dates listed below.
September 9
September 10
September 11
September 13
Week Three Quiz is available HERE.
Week Two Quiz is available HERE.
The focus of this week will be the Cell Energy theme. We will start by looking at the mechanisms of enzymes and then explore the different pathways that generate ATP from macromolecules and store macromolecules for future use and maintain a readily available supply of glucose.
The Building a Body theme will wrap up this week with an analysis of the structure of muscle and nervous tissue and blood vessels and a presentation on the origin and development of the different tissue types during embryogenesis.
The Cell Communication theme will describe how cells propagate action potentials and explore the mechanisms that allow cells to communicate through small molecules and the pathways through which small molecules change cell behavior.
This week has a Biochemistry Conference on Tuesday and Physiology Case Conference on Friday. Be sure to check the notes for both (on BlueDogs or your iPad) for the readings and other preparatory materials that should be completed before the conferences.
On Wednesday at 8 AM, you will have the opportunity to explore the broad topic of health maintenance. In the interactive session, you will work with your classmates to develop a definition of health and explore how patients and physicians can have different views on health. You will generate a list of ways to measure health and begin to learn how physicians integrate this information to develop recommendations for their patients. Lastly, you will explore areas of health where physicians can increase their impact.
On Friday evening, the self-assessment for the course will open. You will download the self-assessment from ExamSoft (instructions coming later this week). The deadline for uploading your answers is Sunday, September 8 at 11:45 PM.
Please complete the following assignments prior to the dates listed below.
September 3
September 4
September 5
September 8
The quiz for week one is available HERE.
Week two will focus on the Building a Body theme as we will explore how cells assemble into tissues and then examine in greater detail the different tissue types: epithelia, nervous, connective and muscle. The Gene Expression theme will continue with explorations of protein translation, the structure of the genome, and how we use genetic engineering to generate animal models of disease. Two themes will start this week. Cell Energy will present an overview of metabolism and key information on the behavior of enzymes. Cell Communication will describe how cell membranes depolarized to generate action potentials.
This week also has the first Physiology Case Conference (Thursday). Be sure to check the notes for both (on BlueDogs or your iPad) for the readings and other preparatory materials that should be completed before the conference.
Please complete the following assignments prior to the dates listed below.
Before we start the course, check out the Primer which covers some basic principles from chemistry that you may find helpful to review.
Also, take a look at the syllabus.
All materials and links to videos can be found on BlueDogs. PDFs of slides and notes should sync with your iPad if you have set that up. If a session does not have slides and/or notes, please let me know.
This week will start with an introduction to the course and then move into presentations on the basic building blocks of cells: protein, nucleic acids and lipids. Next, we’ll look at the cell membrane and how an electrochemical potential is generated across the cell membrane. We’ll end the week by describing the mechanisms that deliver proteins to the cell membrane and other organelles, and we’ll explore the matrix of proteins that surrounds cells. Finally, we’ll present the first two steps in gene expression: transcription and RNA processing.