Lecture, chapter 1 - A human perspective on genetics

Today we continued with the outline of what the quarter will be.

We discussed how Mendel gave birth to the field of genetics, even before the word 'gene' was coined, what the different approaches to studying genetics are, and how genetics has impacted our lives in the past and in the present.

Note: There will be no lecture on chapter 2, but students are strongly encouraged to read it. On Friday we will start covering chapter 3 in the text book, on Mendelian genetics

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Lab 1 - Basic Human Genetics

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

After choosing teams and topics for the bioethics projects we did the first lab of the quarter, on very basic human genetics.

We covered the basics of pedigree analysis, and each student built their own family pedigrees mapping on them four traits that are inherited in a Mendelian fashion: Hitchhiker's thumb, tongue rolling, free/attached earlobe, and hand folding. Genotypes were assigned to each individual in the pedigree to the extent that the available information allowed it.

Then, using the students' genotypes for the four mentioned traits, students used pieces of paper representing chromosomes with their alleles to perform simulations of gametogenesis to illustrate Mendel's principle of segregation, and of crosses generating several offspring, to illustrate Mendel's principle of independent assortment.

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Bioethics projects

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Today we had the first lab session of the quarter. During the first hour or so, we talked about the bioethics projects, which will be presented on the lab session of week 9.

The bioethics projects will be developed by teams of four students, and will focus on genetic-related topics that pose ethical problems and are surrounded by controversy. Each team selected a topic that members considered to be controversial and interesting enough to spark discussion with classmates.

As part of the project students will write a paper explaining the scientific basis of the issue of choice, the reasons for which it is controversial, showing the opposing views on the issue, and explaining what position they take, properly backed by a rational process.

A second component of the project will be a presentation and panel discussion during the lab session on week 9. Each team will prepare a 20-minute presentation, on a format of their choice (oral presentation, a play, a mock trial, a fake documentary, etc. You can be as creative as you want), which will be followed by a 10-minute panel discussion with the rest of the class. Each group, acting as the panel of experts in the topic, will engage their classmates and have a discussion debating different points of view.

The grade will depend on how well the scientific basis of the issue is presented, how well explained the controversial aspects are, the solidity of the reasons for taking a position in the issue, and how effectively the rest of the class is drawn into the discussion.

A first draft of the paper is due on Friday of week 6, at midnight, and the final version due on Tuesday of week 9, at noon. If a power point file is used in the presentation it will be due on the night of Monday before the day of the presentations.

TOPICS AND TEAMS

• Designer babies - Niki, Andrea, Jessica, and Katie K.
• Human-animal chimeras - Beth, Sarah, Stacy, Aimee, and Emily
• Cloning of human beings - Jamal, Jerel, Shawn, and Scott
• Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) - Aubrey, Liz, Nathan, and Dexter
• Stem cell research - Sonia, Katie D., Dustin, and Geoff
• Privacy of genetic information - Rachel, Amy, Anessa, and Jake

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Introduction and lecture, chapter 1 - A human perspective on genetics

Monday, March 1, 2010

Welcome to the spring quarter Introductory Genetics class...!

Today we had the introduction to the class, an overview of the syllabus and a talk about the class policies.

Then we started covering chapter 1 in the textbook, an introduction to this intro class. In this chapter we outline what the course is going to be, touching in topics like what genetics is and what the properties of genes. Other general topics will be covered on the next lecture.

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