Biology 4950 F
Seminars in Genetics
Instructor:
Prof. Shiva M. Singh
Time:
Three seminar hours per week. 0.5 course
Fridays, 10:30 – 11.30; 11.30-12.30; 12.30-13.30;
KB – K208
Place:
Fall 2016
Contact:
Office;
Hours;
Telephone;
Email;
WSC 307
During the week days by appointment
x83135,
[email protected]
Email hours:
10.00 AM – 4.00 PM weekdays only.
Response in 24 hours, not available during weekend/holidays.
Prerequisites:
Enrollment in year 4 of the Honors Specialization in Genetics,
or permission of the Genetics Undergraduate Coordinator.
Course Objective:
1. Coverage of current research in genetics critically reviewed and discussed through a
combination of (faculty) student seminars and written assignments.
2. Mentoring of individual students in assuring that they reach and surpass their learning
expectations towards meeting their future goals.
Course Format:
This course discusses current developments in genetic
concepts, methods and applications including ethics.
Student Evaluation:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Student Seminar, [marked by faculty (50%) and students (50%)]
Critique of a paper used in seminar (published 2014-16)
The next experiment for paper critiqued in 2.
Debate/discussion – presentation and participation
Student Participation
60%
10%
10%
10%
10%
Course content:
Back ground: The field of genetics is undergoing a revolution. The results have offered exceptional
insights in biological complexity. They are applicable to all life forms including their ontogeny and
phylogeny and unified all life sciences. They have also permitted unthinkable understanding of what
may go wrong and potential approaches to fix it. All this has been acquired in just four decades. The
result is that solving of most biological problems including the research in agriculture, environment,
evolution, forensics, medicine, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and reproductive biology will never be
the same. The scope of the genomic industry doubles every five years, driven by the discoveries of new
concepts and development of innovative genetic technologies. Specifically, this course will focus on
most recent developments in modern genetics of interest to students.
Learning Expectations:
Develop familiarity with diversity of research involving concepts in genetics
Develop familiarity with diversity of skills used in genetic research including genomic database
Develop skills in reading, dissecting and summarizing primary research publications in genetics
Develop skills in scientific writing including critical assessment of research publications
Develop skills in organizing and presenting formal seminars
Develop skills to ask insightful questions and provide succinct answers
Assignments:
1. Seminar: Each student will be assigned (lottery! feel free to exchange) a conceptual topic in
genetics for presentation of student seminar. It will be the responsibility of the student to find
up to five most recent research publications of interest on the topic. Through comprehensive
background reading and discussion with faculty, the student will identify question(s) of her/his
interest, identify specific objective(s), methodology, selected results, discussion and conclusion
for inclusion in their seminar presentation (45 min). The major focus should be on developing
and discussing a concept map on the subject. This will follow open questioning. He/she will
distribute a summary sheet on the seminar to all present, just before the start of the
presentation. This exercise will be worth 60% of the final mark and assessed 50% by faculty and
50% by students present.
2.
Scientific critique: Select one important publication used in the presentation of the seminar
and write a critique; the good, the bad and the ugly (1000 words max two pages). It will be due a
week after the seminar and account for the 10% of the final mark.
3. The Next Experiment: Identify an unanswered question in the publication used in critique and
propose the details of “the next experiment” (1000 words, max 2 pages). It should include the
question, it significance, specific hypothesis, objective, methodologies, results and the expected
results when the hypothesis is supported and when it is not supported. It will be due a week after
the seminar and account for 10% of the final mark.
4. Debate/discussion- Genetic Ethics: Each student will be assigned one of the three topics (GMO,
Designer Baby and Environmental control). The three groups will organize themselves in two
sections; Pros vs Cons. Each topic will be discussed and debated for 1 hour on Oct 14, 2016. It
will account for 10% of the final mark, evaluated by faculty (50%) and students (50%).
5. Participation: An active student participation is the key to the success of any seminar course. In
this course it will account for 10% of the final marks.
Course materials:
Advances in genetics have uncovered mysteries of ever increasing number of complex biological systems
applicable to life, from a single individual to populations including evolution. Most of it has become
possible with increasing molecular insights possible from advancing genetic technologies that includes
genome sequences. It is aided by studies on “biological exceptions”. The proverb of cherish your
exceptions helped early days of genetics and included production and characterization of “randomly
generated or naturally observed “mutants” of interest. Today it continues and has been advanced by
generation of “desired mutants” at will. The results have been amazing and have offered exceptional
insights. These insights are applicable to all life forms from prokaryotes to eukaryotes and plants to
animals including humans. They have unified biology which continues to serve the society in all aspect of
biological complexity.
In this course we will cover modern advances on seven selected topics. Each topic will cover three
modern foci (sub topics) using five most recent publications researched and selected by each student.
These topics will be assigned to each student on a lottery basis as students in this program are expected
to have good background preparation in the field of genetics (Option; a student may exchange the sub
topic with a friend.
Student seminars will be organized to cover one topic and three of its subtopics per week. Each
presentation will involve 40 minutes talk and 15 min questions. Students will be responsible for their
audio-video needs. Just before the seminar student will also circulate the seminar outline that will
include an abstract and two references on a single sheet to all present.
Details on the lectures, seminars, assignments and reading materials will be available on OWL
(https://owl.uwo.ca). It will include schedule for student presentations that will be posted on this site
during the second week. This site will be the primary source of all information about the activities
associated with this course. Students are responsible for checking OWL on a regular basis for news and
updates. This is the primary method by which information will be disseminated to all students in the
class.
Accessibility
Please contact the course instructor if you require lecture or printed material in an alternate format or if
any other arrangements can make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact
Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 661-2111 ext. 82147 if you have questions regarding
accommodation.
Missed Course Components
If you are unable to meet a course requirement due to illness or other serious circumstances, you must
provide valid medical or supporting documentation to the Academic Counselling Office of your home
faculty as soon as possible. If you are a Science student, the Academic Counselling Office of the Faculty
of Science is located in WSC 140, and can be contacted at 519-661-3040 or [email protected]. Their
website is http://www.uwo.ca/sci/undergrad/academic_counselling/index.html.
A student requiring academic accommodation due to illness must use the Student Medical Certificate
(https://studentservices.uwo.ca/secure/medical_document.pdf) when visiting an
off-campus medical facility.
For further information, please consult the university’s medical illness policy at
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/accommodation_medical.pdf.
Absence from class (prior knowledge or sudden event):
Presence in each class is essential. Prior to the missed class, the student must inform Prof. Singh by email
of their expected absence. Missed attendance will be reflected in your participation marks.
Absence or late submission of assignment or presentations due to non-medical issue will be dealt with
on individual basis that may include a grade of zero.
Support Services
Learning-skills counsellors at the Student Development Centre (http://www.sdc.uwo.ca) are ready to
help you improve your learning skills. They offer presentations on strategies for improving time
management, multiple-choice exam preparation/writing, textbook reading, and more. Individual
support is offered throughout the Fall/Winter terms in the drop-in Learning Help Centre, and year-round
through individual counselling.
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western
(http://www.health.uwo.ca/mental_health) for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.
Additional student-run support services are offered by the USC, http://westernusc.ca/services.
The website for Registrar Services is http://www.registrar.uwo.ca.
Plagiarism:
Students must write their papers in their own words.
All submissions will be subjected to textual similarity review by the commercial plagiarism detection
software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism. Use of the service is subject to
the licensing agreement, currently between The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com
(http://www.turnitin.com).
Scholastic offences are taken very seriously and students are directed to read the policy at:
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf
and ”http://www.uwo.ca/biology/undergraduate/counsellingrules.h
Proposed Schedule
Sept 9
Introduction, Orientation
Assignment of seminar topics (1 to 21) and Discussion group (A to C)
Theme: Cherish exceptions, they make the rule!
Sept 16
Sept 23
Research talk – Gene expression; modern methods-open the Pandora’s box
Research talk – Genomics; opening of a new horizon
Sept 30
Mutations and polymorphism
Mutational signatures (1)
CNVs (2)
de Novo mutations (3)
Genomics
NGS (4)
Translational genomics (5)
Personal genomics (6)
Debate and Discussion: Genetic Ethics
Group A. GMO
Group B. Designer Baby
Group C. Patent issues in genetics
Epigenetics
DNA methylation (7)
Histone modification (8)
noncoding RNA (9)
Fall Study Break
Gene regulation
Sex determination (10)
X inactivation (11)
Genomic imprinting (12)
Special features
Telomere (13)
Mitochondria (14)
Barcode (15)
Complex Bio System
Neurogenomics (16)
Neurodevelopment (17)
Neurodegeneration (18)
Genetic Manipulations
Single cell genomics (19)
Genome editing (20)
Synthetic genomics (21)
Oct 7
Oct 14
Oct 21
Oct 28
Nov 4
Nov 11
Nov 18
Nov 25
Dec 2
Where do you go from here: Mentoring in genetics