COURSE DESCRIPTION
Welcome to Molecular Cell Biology MB207! I hope that you find this course interesting and stimulating, and that you will be inspired to forge ahead in your studies of the biological world.
Molecular Cell Biology, as the name implies, is the study of the "Biology" of a "Cell" at the "Molecular" level. Basically, you will learn about what a CELL is, what it's made up of, how it goes about its everyday life and how it interacts with other cells and its environment. Molecular Cell Biology, a.k.a. MCB, is a fundamental subject in the field of Biotechnology, where a good grounding of everything to do with a living cell is important in understanding current biotechnological advances, tackling future problems and appreciating the beginnings of life itself.
The main objective of this course is to explain and illustrate various aspects of biochemistry and biology that are common to most organisms, and to provide a fundamental understanding of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell structure and function. Lectures and discussions will explain and illustrate the following aspects of cellular biology:
- Cell structure and function,
- Cellular biochemistry and energy conservation mechanisms,
- Transcription and translation of the genetic code,
- The cell cycle, meiosis and mitosis, and cell division,
- Genetic aspects of development,
- Interaction of cells with each other and their environment,
- Applied molecular cell biology.
