Courses

Explores molecular and cellular mechanisms of nutrient action. Six major foci of modern nutritional science. These include the actions of nutrients in transcriptional regulation, in signaling pathways, on intra- and extracellular trafficking, in assuring normal development, in the maintenance of antioxidant defense and nutrient/gene interactions. Course Director: Lori Zeltser.

This course provides an in-depth analysis of several organ systems and diseases associated with each organ system. The course has four modules; each module describes the basic physiology, nutritional status and anatomy of the organ system, the genetics, cell and biochemical mechanisms and pathologies associated with the disease, as well as basic pharmacology and therapeutics to treat the disease. Course Directors: Ronald Liem and Steven Spitalnik.

Gross and microscopic study of lesions of the nervous system, with attention to functional derangement associated with them. Lectures, laboratory, conferences, and assigned readings. Course Director: Ronald Liem.

This fall semester required for all first year students course covers basic biochemical and experimental principles, such as protein and nucleic acid structure and chemistry, thermodynamics and enzyme kinetics, and bioinformatics. Also included are biochemical processes common to all cells such as genome replication and repair, regulation of gene expression, cell cycle control, and cell membrane and receptor biochemistry. Course Director: Stavros Lomvardas.

Required for all first year students in spring semester, this course is an Introduction to eukaryotic cell biology and covers such topics as membrane trafficking, the mitochondria, the nucleus, viral biology, apoptosis as well as the cytoskeleton and its role in various cellular processes, including mitosis, cell migration, cell polarity and cell adhesion. Course Directors: Gregg Gundersen and Ai Yamamoto.

This spring semester course explores a variety of ethical and policy issues that arise during the conduct of basic and clinical scientific research. Course sessions include lectures, discussion periods, and analyses of case studies. Columbia requires that all graduate students share in the discussions of this course. You will hear from your faculty speaking honestly about problems that you may face. You will find the discussions interesting. Course Directors: Arthur Palmer and Jaime Rubin.

Biostatistics is essential to ensuring that findings and practices in public health and biomedicine are supported by reliable evidence. This course covers the basic tools for the collection, analysis, and presentation of data in all areas of public health. Central to these skills is assessing the impact of chance and variability on the interpretation of research findings and subsequent recommendations for public health practice and policy. Topics covered include: general principles of study design; probability, hypothesis testing; review of methods for comparison of discrete and continuous data including ANOVA, t-test, correlation, and regression.

This course covers the basic tools for the collection, analysis, and presentation of data. Central to these skills is assessing the impact of chance and variability on the interpretation of research findings and subsequent recommendations for public health practice and policy. Topics covered include: general principles of study design; estimation; hypothesis testing; several methods for comparison of discrete and continuous data including chi-square test of independence, t-test, ANOVA, correlation, regression and logistic regression.

Course Director

Methods and principles involved in studying the structure and function of proteins, nucleic acids, membranes, and their macro-molecular assemblies. Noncovalent forces and conformational analysis; ultracentrifugation, viscometry, circular dichroism, fluorescence, magnetic resonance; conformational changes in proteins and nucleic acids, topological properties of macromolecules. Course Director: Arthur Palmer.

An integrated and critical review of cancer biology, emphasizing recent research. Topics discussed include: natural history and epidemiology of cancer; morphology and behavior of cancer cells; DNA and RNA tumor viruses; oncogenes; tumor suppressor genes; signal transduction; the genetics of cancer; cancer and cellular differentiation; cancer causation: physical and chemical agents; multistage carcinogenesis; hormones, nutrients, and growth factors in cancer. Readings are largely original research papers and review articles. One 2-hour seminar per week. Course director: Richard Baer.

The Course will comprise general lectures, analyses and discussions of primary literature on stem cell and cell lineage specification biology as well as student presentations. The themes to be presented include basic cell and molecular biological characterization of stem cells, regulation of self-replication versus lineage restriction and differentiation of cells, model systems used in studies of stem cells, and the relevance of tissue formation, regeneration and disease states. Course Directors: Stephen Tsang and Dietrich Egli.

Basic Unix, web-site usage, sequence comparison, database searching, multiple sequence alignment, profile methods, secondary structure prediction, mapping, primer design, genomic analysis, and functional genomics including microarray analysis. Course Director: Richard Friedman.

The course emphasizes the molecular control of vertebrate embryogenesis. Divided into three main areas: early embryogenesis, developmental neurobiology, and the development and differentiation of specialized organs or lineages. Course Director: Andrew Tomlinson.

This course focuses on fundamental principles in systems pharmacology and their application. Topics include: the effect of body biochemical processes on the disposition of drugs, including quantitative expression of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME); specific aspects of systems pharmacology, including autonomic and cardiovascular pharmacology, neuropharmacology and toxicology. These lectures deal with both basic principles and current topics within these disciplines. Course Director: David Goldberg.

Course Director