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2026-2027 Academic Year

Fall 2026

BIOL 132 Intro to Molecules/Genes/Cells
This introductory course approaches core biological themes from the molecular and cellular level, and is complementary to BIOL 131, Introduction to Organisms, Populations, and Ecosystems. Course content will be focused around a specific theme determined by the instructor, and will include biomolecule and cell structure and function; cell signaling and communication; chromosome and gene structure; DNA replication; transcription; and translation. The course will involve lecture, discussion, and readings from scientific literature. Laboratory exercises include both classic and modern approaches to cellular and molecular biology utilizing prokaryotic and/or eukaryotic organisms. The laboratory will stress the discovery approach in applying current techniques to biological experiments. Three hours classroom and three hours laboratory a week. This is one of two courses required of all Biology majors before completing upper level coursework. It is complementary to BIOL 131 – Introduction to Organisms, Populations, and Ecosystems, and the courses may be taken in either order.

BIOL 401 Adv. Topics in Neurobiology
This course satisfies the requirement for a research experience for the biology major. Through hands-on original experimentation and study of the primary literature related to a small group project, students will acquire not only an understanding of the methodology and philosophy of neurobiological research, but also valuable lab skills, knowledge, and experience. Students also will practice the formulation of hypotheses, the design of novel experiments to test these hypotheses, submission of relevant animal protocols, and the interpretation of results. The theme for this advanced laboratory course is neurobiology. We will read about and discuss some of the most exciting new experimental approaches for understanding the neural networks that contribute to specific behaviors. We will read journal articles and discuss them during our meetings, but the focus of the class will be interactive, hands-on lab work. Students will learn how to critique the underlying scientific approaches in the process. The highlight of the course will be a semester-long project for which students will design, carry out, and document a novel experiment in the lab using a mouse model. 3 hours of lab/week.

Spring 2027

BIOL 313 Cell Biology w/Lab
An introduction to the structure and function of cells, with emphasis on the molecular mechanisms of cellular processes. The course will involve discussion-oriented lectures and readings from the current literature. The laboratory will stress the discovery approach in applying state of the art techniques to cell biological experiments. Six hours classroom a week. Prerequisites: One 200-level BIOL course. For Neuroscience majors only, prerequisite is 132 and PSYC 125 and NRSC 200.