CAMB 534 Human Disease Modeling
Human Disease Modeling in Experimental Organisms
Instructors: Klaus Kaestner, Tom Jongens, Todd Lamitina, and Doug Epstein
In the last decade it has become clear that many of the genes responsible for human diseases have orthologues in the genomes of a wide range of species. In this same period it has also become clear that the functions of genes are highly conserved across evolution. These facts have lead scientists to take advantage of the experimental prowess of organisms, such as the mouse, Drosophila , C. elegans and yeast, to study human disease genes. In this course we will focus on examples of human disease gene models and examine how these animal models can be used to learn more about how and why a disease occurs and how it might be better diagnosed or treated. The course will meet once a week for 1.5-2.0 hours. An organizational meeting will take place Wednesday January 10th at 2pm in room 301 BRB2/3. The course will meet on Wednesdays from 2-4 pm in room 301 BRB2/3. The Pdfs for all the articles to be discussed will be located on Blackboard.
During each class the “presenting” student will give an introduction on the particular disease being discussed that week. This introduction usually contains some basic information about the disease, e.g. symptoms, incidence rate, diagnosis and prognosis as well as the known and unknown aspects of what causes the disease. What additional information will be included in the introduction will be determined in meetings with the assigned preceptor for the week. The presenting student is responsible for arranging the meeting with the assigned faculty.
Once the introduction is complete, the entire class will participate in discussing the assigned papers on the disease topic. This will be done by taking turns presenting individual figures from the assigned papers. The presenting student will guide the discussion during the presentation of the data and will also provide a wrap-up discussion that should include potential future directions.
In addition to the presentation of a disease topic and participation of the course in each class, each student will be asked to write a Nature “News and Views” type article on a human disease model that is not covered during the course. This paper will be due April 12th, 2006 at 5pm.
Instructors email addresses/phone number/offices:
Klaus Kaestner: Kaestner@mail.med.upenn.edu /898-8759/ 560 CRB
Tom Jongens: jongens@mail.med.upenn.edu
Todd Lamitina: lamitina@mail.med.upenn.edu
Doug Epstein: epsteind@mail.med.upenn.edu/573-4810/463 CRB
Class 1: Wed Jan 10 2006 2:00PM-2:30 pm 301 BRB2/3
Class Orientation/Selection of Topics by Students
Class 2: Wed Jan 17 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
No Class
Class 3: Wed Jan 24 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Maturity Onset Diabetes of Young (K. Kaestner)
Class 4: Wed Jan 31 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Polycystic kidney disease (K. Kaestner)
Class 5: Wed Feb 7 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Cancer Stem Cells: the role of hedgehog signaling (D. Epstein)
Class 6: Wed Feb 14 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Alagille Syndrome (K. Kaestner)
Class 7: Wed Feb 21 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Colon Cancer (K. Kaestner)
Class 8: Wed Feb 28 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Rett Syndrome (D. Epstein)
Class 9: Wed Mar 7 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
No class
Class 10: Wed Mar 14 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Deafness syndromes (D. Epstein)
Class 11: Wed Mar 21 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Fragile X Syndrome (Tom Jongens)
Class 12: Wed Mar 28 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Tuberous Sclerosous (Tom Jongens)
Class 13: Wed Apr 4th 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Alzheimer’s Disease (T. Lamitina)
Class 14: Wed Apr 11th 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Huntington’s Disease (T. Lamitina)
Class 15: Wed Apr 18th 2006 2:00PM-4:00PM 301 BRB2/3
Muscular Dystropy (T. Lamitina)