The Courses I Teach

This is a one semester course taught to Biomedical Science Majors who are not pursuing a pre-professional course of study. It is an introduction to organic chemistry stressing the nomenclature of organic molecules, their physical properties, and the representative reactions of the common organic functional groups.
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This is a one semester course taught to first year students in the School of Nursing, second year students in the Physical Therapy Program, and to Biomedical Science Majors. The course is roughly divided into thirds. The first third of the course examines the structure and biochemistry of carbohydrates, lipids, membranes, amino acids, proteins and vitamins. The middle third of the course deals with the metabolism of these basic biochemical components. Their degradation for energy and their use for the synthesis of complex biomolecules is explored. Emphasis is placed upon how metabolism functions as a unified whole. Lastly, the molecular biology of the cell is investigated. In this section the structure and function of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is discussed . How the cell stores information in DNA, how the information in DNA flows to RNA, and how this information is utilized to direct protein synthesis is described. Throughout the course special emphasis is placed upon how biochemistry relates to normal health and disease. BISC 2070 is less rigorous and not as in depth as BISC 3213 or BISC 7513.
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This is a one semester course taught to Biomedical Science Majors and first year physician assistant students. A cell requires three things to survive and propagate: precursors, energy, and information. The course initially examines the structure and biochemistry of the precursors; the carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, and nucleotides. Using these molecules as a baseline, the structure and function of proteins, enzymes, vitamins, and membranes is explored. The metabolism of these basic biochemical components for energy and their utilization for the synthesis of complex biomolecules is then investigated. Emphasis is placed on the control of metabolism and how metabolism functions as a unified whole. Lastly, the primary information molecule, the molecular biology of the cell is investigated. In this section the structure and function of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is discussed . How the cell stores information in DNA, how the information in DNA flows to RNA, and how this information is utilized to direct protein synthesis is described. Throughout the course special emphasis is placed upon how biochemistry relates to normal health and disease. BISC 3213 comparable in rigor and depth to BISC 7513, but the emphasis is more medical in nature.
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This is a one semester course taught to BISC majors and anyone interested in the topic. Major themes to be examined include, an overview of evolutionary biology, the origin and diversification of life, evolutionary processes, and human evolution. Within these major themes, topics such as:

will be discussed. The discussions will be based on current evolutionary theory which requires the student to have a foundation in current molecular biological techniques. Biochemistry, Anatomy, Microbiology, and Physiology will be employed and woven into the discussions on evolution.
(Clicking on the course title will take you the course specific links page.)