This course provides students the opportunity to pursue, in depth and under supervision, subjects of special interest not offered in other formal courses. Subjects must represent immunology, bacteriology, virology, or parasitology. Before registration, the student and instructor develop a study program that may consist of special readings, conferences, reports, and on occasion, laboratory experience. Each rotation requires no more than 10 hours of work per week. First-year students select the laboratories in which they will work after consulting their advisory committee and the program director.
Initial lectures focus on the organization of membranes and the structure of membrane proteins.
Topics include the biosynthesis and degradation of membrane proteins, and the formation of specialized structures, such as gap junctions, in plasma membranes. The last part of the course emphasizes the membranes of excitable cells, with a series of lectures on neurotransmitter receptors, gated channels, second messenger systems, and transport mechanisms. This course presents a comprehensive review of the parasites of humans and the diseases they cause. This course examines the use of recombinant DNA and other techniques of molecular biology in studying infectious diseases. Topics include principles and examples of cloning, plasmid analysis, genetic probes, and other techniques in studying pathogenesis and epidemiology of infectious agents.