Bio 353 - Apoptosis: A matter of life and death
Fall, 2001
Haverford College
Jenni Punt

Objectives: This seminar course is designed to 1) give you the tools to interpret and critique the primary literature, 2) allow you to master a single and very hot topic, apoptosis, and 3) develop your oral and computer presentation skills.

Requirements:

Presentation (50%): Each student will, as part of a group of two to three, be in charge of a week's worth of classes. The group will lead mini-lectures that review a fundamental subtopic in apoptosis and lead discussions about a controversy in this field based on one or two current papers in the literature (50%).

Commentaries (10%): Each group will be responsible for writing a critique (less than one page long) summarizing and assessing the controversy of the week. The critiques will be based on the reading of the paper and the group discussion which takes place in class. These will be graded simply with check marks (check, check-minus, and check-plus). Those deemed most cogent will be posted on the web.

Mini-proposal (30%): Each student will write a 5 page mini-proposal that outlines an experimental plan based on an original question or hypothesis that you raise during the course of the class. Students will present their topics orally on the last week of class.