Teaching Contributions
1. Introductory Biology (BIO101)
This course offers a broad overview of modern biology, introducing students to key principles in molecular and cellular biology, genetics, systems biology, and human disease. It begins with the study of macromolecules and cell function, followed by an exploration of gene regulation and development. Students also learn how large-scale biological data (omics) is used to understand complex systems, culminating in discussions on the molecular basis of human diseases and approaches to drug discovery.
2. Molecular Biology (BIO216)
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to molecular biology and is designed for students interested in learning molecularmechanisms which control cellular processes in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Topics include structure of nucleic acids and proteins, organizationof genes, genomes, chromatin and chromosomes, DNA replication, repair, recombination, transcription, mRNA processing, protein synthesis andturnover, control of gene expression, signal transduction pathways, non-coding RNAs, evolution of biopolymers and origin of life.
3. Methods in Cell and Molecular Biology (BIO300/500)
This lab course is designed to introduce fundamentals of molecular and biochemical tools using in a molecular biology lab to understand function of a cell. It kicks off with a brief introduction to bioinformatics comprising of exercises and hands on experiments involving homology searches (both DNA and protein searches) and primer design for various applications. Major part of lab comprises of independent modules in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics which introduce students to molecular cloning, agrobacterium mediated transformations, protein expression and purification through chromatography and enzymatic assays. In addition, classical and molecular genetics module involves experiments using Drosophila to understand various concepts of development, chromatin and gene regulation. A thirty minutes pre-lab lecture is followed by hands on lab experiments which will expose students to cutting edge ideas and questions of molecular and cell biology.
4. Critical thinking, Scientific Writing and Ethics (BIO403/503)
Critical Thinking, Scientific Writing and Ethics is a three-credit hour course emphasizing on critical thinking and logics, discussions on Dos and Don’ts; of scientific writing as well as discussing scientific ethics. Students will be given assignments to enhance their understanding. Anyone interested in the course is welcome to join.
5. Fundamentals of Molecular Techniques (BIO511)
This course has been designed to cover the modern experimental aspects of molecular and cellular biology. Students enrolled in this course are expected to have taken an introductory level course in molecular biology and a firm grasp of structure and function of nucleic acids and proteins.
6. Topics in Cancer Biology (522)
Cancer is caused by uncontrolled proliferation of cells and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The loss of control over proliferation is brought about by mutations in genes involved in signaling pathways that regulate cell fate.This course aims to provide comprehensive understanding of cellular and molecular aspects of cancer biology from causes of cancer to oncogenes, tumour suppressors, tumuorogenesis, metastasis, tumour immunology and cancer therapeutics. There will be two lectures every week followed by a session of recitations where students will discuss a paper relevant to the topic studied during the week. Assignment at the end of the course will consist of research paper of choice to be presented to the class.
7. Epidemiology and Methods in Clinical Research (BIO541)
The course is an elective course and will provide fundamental understanding of epidemiology, the basic science of Public Health. An important objective would be to familiarize students of the distribution of health outcomes across population, where ethnicity, cultural norms and values play a critical role in adaptation of a specific health behavior. At population level, focus will be on the use of appropriate epidemiological methods for investigating disease outbreaks in case of infectious diseases, disease prevalence, incidence and risk factors associated with the acquisition and progression of diseases, both infectious and chronic and finally evaluation of interventions for lowering disease burden. Topics included will be measurement of disease frequency and association, study design, bias, confounding and causality. To make this more multi-disciplinary, the topic will be further expanded on use of molecular and cell biology tools for diagnosis, screening, and risk assessment of diseases in the community. Students will apply theoretical knowledge on real-world public health problems through case studies and project presentations. Towards the end of the course, students will be able to critically assess epidemiologic research and apply evidence-based approaches to disease prevention and control.
8. Developmental Biology I (BIO415/515)
Developmental Biology is an extremely vast subject which deals with the processes and mechanisms that lead to development of an adult organism from a fertilized egg. This course will introduce students to basic concepts in development and principles that lead to development of multicellular eukaryotes. Both vertebrate and invertebrate models will be discussed with special emphasis on Drosophila where process of development is understood at mechanistic level in much more detail. In particular, emphasis will be on the genetic and epigenetic basis of development including stem cells, reprogramming of cells and process of regeneration in eukaryotes. Students will be regularly given research literature published in the field of development to understand how they can experimentally approach different topics of development. Every week students will critically discuss research papers related to ongoing lectures and lead a discussion in class. The review and discussion of research material will enable students to formulate an experimental question and hypothesis to address and design experiments to test the hypothesis.
All students should actively participate in all the classes and questions are encouraged in both lecture and paper review sessions. Students must ask questions (novice or intelligent) as no questions will be considered extremely negative attitude. It is also expected that each student should have read and considered all papers before the discussion session. Importantly, students must keep a written record of techniques relevant to specific questions as the course proceeds.
9. Cell Signaling (611)
Cells in multicellular organism communicate with each other and internally by a complex network of signaling pathways that regulate cellular processes such as growth, differentiation, migration, survival and apoptosis. This course aims to provide comprehensive understanding of different signaling components and pathways involved in such processes and how deregulation of key signaling proteins involved in these pathways leads to human diseases such as cancer. There will be two lectures every week followed by a session of recitations where students will discuss a paper relevant to the topic studied during the week. Assignment at the end of the course will consist of research paper of choice to be presented to the class.