BIOM 502: Molecular Basis of Disease
INSC 600-012: Neurobiology of Disease: Neurodegenerative Diseases I

Part 1 of the BIOM 502 Course / INSC 600-012
Our understanding of the most common neurodegenerative disorders has advanced considerably over the past 10 years. Not only are the pathophysiological mechanisms increasingly understood, but many candidate genes have been identified and are the subjects of intense investigation. This class will use faculty presentations, readings of review publications and video resources and to discuss the major pathological mechanisms and genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson's Disease and ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We will focus on recurring themes (protein aggregation, production of reactive oxygen species, genetic risk modifiers, glutamate toxicity) as well as differing mechanisms among diseases. This course also will address the significance of tau in multiple neurodegenerative diseases and the role of the recently identified protein TDP-43.

Part 2 of the BIOM 502 Course
During the second half of the BIOM 502 course, several non-neurologic diseases will be studied emphasizing the mechanisms underlying the diseases, the clinical presentation of the diseases and how this information impacts the approaches to treatment as well as current and future research efforts for each disease. This part of the course will study inflammatory and neoplastic diseases of the GI tract (inflammatory bowel disease & colon cancer), diabetes mellitus and chronic myelogenous leukemia.

2009 Schedule and description

BIOM 510 - Case Studies in Translational Research

Course directors: Mitch Weiss, Emma Meagher, & Skip Brass

An introduction to translational research open to MD-PhD, VMD-PhD and Biomedical Graduate Studies (BGS) PhD students. All second year combined degree students are expected to take this course unless excused by Dr. Brass. Enrollment in the course is limited to about 25 students. Interested VMD-PhD and pre-thesis BGS PhD students are welcome as space permits. Please note the early start date (August 27).

The goals are to 1) analyze actual examples of translational research including some that are ongoing at Penn/CHOP and at regional pharmaceutical companies and 2) familiarize graduate students with issues that specifically pertain to translational research and compare these issues to those pertaining to basic research.

CSTR is a seminar-type course that will meet once weekly on Monday OR Wednesday afternoons during the fall semester, starting August 27. As in Topics in Molecular Medicine (TiMM), a course offered for first year MD/PhD students, groups of two or three students will work with selected Penn faculty or other preceptors to prepare a discussion and literature review on a different topic each week. In contrast to TiMM, the emphasis for CSTR will be translational research. Topics will include gene therapy for hemophilia, retinal disease and wound healing, cytokine therapies for immune disorders, genetic sleep disturbances and drug and vaccine development. We will consider issues that differentiate translational from basic research, including the unique challenges of doing meaningful studies in humans, ethical considerations, patent issues, intellectual property and various issues encountered in biotech/pharmaceutical industries. Much of the course will focus on the analysis of successful translational research projects that are taking place here at Penn, although some outside preceptors will also participate. We will try to answer questions like: When is the right time to take a basic science discovery into the clinic? How do you go from “laboratory-scale” to “human-studies-scale”? How do you protect your subjects? How do you define and protect your intellectual property? How do you find funding for your ideas? How do you know when they are viable?

CAMB 532: Human Physiology

This course will present a survey of the physiology of most of the major organ systems. It will integrate knowledge of cellular and molecular mechanisms into an understanding of function at the tissue, organ and organism levels. It will begin with a brief review of membrane physiology, followed by electrophysiology and signaling in nerve. Then, after a brief outline of neural control systems and their role in homeostasis, it will present motility and muscle, the cardiovascular system, respiration, the renal and gastrointestinal systems, and selected topics from the endocrine system. As well as providing a basis of integrative physiology for students in fields such as bioengineering and pharmacology, it should be of interest to students of cellular and molecular biology and genetic engineering who will need to appreciate the roles of specific systems and molecules at higher levels of organization. Offered fall semester.

CAMB 542: Topics in Molecular Medicine

TiMM is planned as a once-weekly seminar course whose goal is to introduce students to the ways in which biomedical research can provide new insights into clinical medicine and, conversely, how knowledge of clinical disease impacts scientific discovery.

CAMB 510 (IMUN 510):  Immunology for CAMB Students

The purpose of this course is to give a thorough grounding in Immunology to Cell and Molecular Biology graduate students with an emphasis on the role of the immune system in combating infectious and neoplastic disease and its role in immunopathological states such as transplantation rejection, autoimmunity and allergy.  This will be a required course for CAMB students in the Microbiology, Virology and Parasitology program and the Vaccine and Gene Therapy program, replacing Immune Mechanisms 506.  It may also be used as an elective by other CAMB students such as Cancer Biology and Cell Biology and Physiology.

The course is divided, by topic, into three parts. The first deals with innate and adaptive immune mechanisms, the structure, function, and molecular biology of antigen receptors and major histocompatibility complex molecules; the development and differentiation of lymphocytes and other hematopoietic cells involved in immunity and mechanisms of lymphocyte circulation and memory. The second part will cover the immune response in infection by bacteria, viruses and parasites and how this impacts on vaccine design and active immunization strategies. The course concludes by focusing on the immune system's role in pathological states such as cancer, allergy, graft rejection and auto-immunity.

The formal part of the course is comprised of two 1.5 hour lectures per week. In addition each week there will be an informal 1.5-hour meeting, on Fridays, which will be used to introduce the students to specialized techniques used to measure immune responses or to discuss topical issues relating to the application of immunological knowledge in fighting disease with emphasis on the primary literature in the field. There will be two exams. The first will be taken after part I and the second after part II and III of the course.The second exam will be distributed to the students two days before they are taken as closed-book essay exams, so they can plan which questions they will answer and how they will answer them.