Biophysics brings together elements of biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics to describe and understand biological processes. It is a fusion of scientific cultures; the systems and processes of biochemistry and computational & molecular biology are joined with the principles and quantitative laws of physical chemistry. The goal is to develop a quantitative and predictive understanding of biology at a detailed molecular level.
Structural Biology seeks a mechanistic understanding of macromolecular function through molecular structure and dynamics. X-ray diffraction, cryo-electron microscopy, and NMR are among the tools used by structural biologists, whose insights address important questions throughout biology and medicine at Washington University.
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Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology builds on the skills acquired at Cambridge IGCSE (or equivalent) level. The syllabus includes the main theoretical concepts which are fundamental to the subject, some current applications of biology, and a strong emphasis on advanced practical skills. Practical skills are assessed in a timetabled practical examination.
The emphasis throughout is on the understanding of concepts and the application of biology ideas in novel contexts as well as on the acquisition of knowledge. The course encourages creative thinking and problem-solving skills which are transferable to any future career path. Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology is ideal for learners who want to study biology or a wide variety of related subjects at university or to follow a career in science.
To understand biology at the system level, we must examine the structure and dynamics of cellular and organismal function, rather than the characteristics of isolated parts of a cell or organism. Properties of systems, such as robustness, emerge as central issues, and understanding these properties may have an impact on the future of medicine. However, many breakthroughs in experimental devices, advanced software, and analytical methods are required before the achievements of systems biology can live up to their much-touted potential.
Whether a systems biology lab could tease out answers was far from clear. But despite the risk, NIAID Director Anthony Fauci and Scientific Director Kathy Zoon committed a steady stream of resources. Together with Germain, they hoped for, and threw their energy into, a new approach to understanding the immune system that would better embrace experimental and computational techniques to explore connections in all their intricate glory.
Aleksandra Nita-Lazar is developing new methods to obtain quantitative data that improve our understanding of cell biology and also funnel key information into model building. Her domain is the system-wide analysis of the proteome, which has fallen behind DNA analysis partly for want of the necessary tools.
So how has genetics helped to unravel processes and phenomena central to biology? Knowledge of the basis of heredity was extended beyond Mendel particularly by Bateson (1905) using the sweet pea, Lathyrus odoratus and Morgan (1910) and his colleagues (1915) using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Major understanding of the generation of phenotype from genotype came from Beadle and Tatum with their research into the fungus Neurospora crassa, work that led to the formulation of the one gene one enzyme hypothesis (Beadle and Tatum 1941). Principles of animal and plant development were established by research in many different organisms, but especially important were Drosophila (Morgan 1910; Morgan et al. 1915), the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, developed as a model genetic organism by Brenner (1972), and the cress weed Arabidopsis thaliana (Feenstra 1964). A beautiful example of the power of developmental genetics are the studies in Drosophila of homeotic genes that when mutated can alter developmental fate, such as changing whether a leg or an antenna is formed in a particular location on the fly (Lewis 1978; Struhl 1981). Understanding the logical basis of gene regulation was explored by Jacob and Monod (1961) using the bacterium Escherichia coli, whereas understanding of neural development has drawn heavily on studies in Caenorhabitis (Bargmann 1998) as well as of the mouse, Mus musculus (Ellenbroek and Youn 2016). Mechanisms for a variety of eukaryotic cell biological phenomena have been revealed by research in the yeasts, including regulation of the cell cycle (Hartwell et al. 1970; 1973; Nasmyth and Nurse 1981; Nurse et al. 1976), secretion (Novick and Schekman 1979) and autophagy (Takeshige et al. 1992; Thumm et al. 1994).
Concepts such as these are useful for giving biological meaning to an understanding of how a network brings about a particular process. To test these ideas further needs knowledge of the molecular steps in the network and the context of how they operate in the cell or organism. It requires detailed hypothesis testing, and experimentation that combines genetics, biochemistry and cell biology. As data accumulate, it should be possible to develop systematic, theoretical and in silico approaches. Knowledge of the biochemical activities associated with different steps in the network and how they interact with each other can be combined with knowledge of whether these combinations of activities generate logical modules critical to network operation. For example, GTPases and their associated regulators can act as switches, amplifiers and timers within a network. Extending such knowledge to the various component combinations that make up networks may assist working out how they operate (Karlebach and Shamir 2008).
Inherited bone marrow failure (IBMF) and genetic syndromes predisposing to myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and myeloid malignancies represent a disparate group of rare diseases, linked by common downstream pathophysiology of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell dysfunction.1-3 In these disorders, failed regulation of hematopoiesis, either at the stem cell level or in lineage-specific progenitor cells, increases the likelihood for compensatory development of somatic genetic alterations associated with malignant potential.4,5 These syndromes include inherited causes of trilineage bone marrow aplasia such as Fanconi anemia (FA) and telomere biology disorders, as well as diseases associated with single lineage failure such as Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA), congenital neutropenias, and inherited thrombocytopenias.6-12 They also include recently described disorders such as GATA2 haploinsufficiency and SAMD9/SAMD9L syndromes, which have variable impacts on hematopoietic function but carry a high risk of MDS transformation.13-15
In conclusion, our data combine population-based genomic analyses and clinical biology to provide a comprehensive framework for analyzing pLoF variants in IBMF-associated genes. Our results offer a conservative estimate of pLoF variant frequencies in IBMF genes in the general population and highlight the utility of evolutionary constraint for understanding molecular mechanisms, clinical severity, and penetrance of IBMF syndromes. These data provide a frame of reference for IBMF researchers and clinicians, and they carry important implications for interpreting variant pathogenicity and for counseling patients and families on expressivity and penetrance of IBMF syndromes across the age continuum.
One of our challenges is to develop a clearer understanding of the basic biology underlying changes that accompany aging, as distinct from the basic biology underlying disease. For example, in response to bacterial infections or wounds, inflammation is an essential part of the recovery and healing process. However, low-level chronic inflammation that appears in the absence of clinically diagnosed infection may increase the susceptibility to and rate of progression of age-related pathologies. Chronic inflammation may also contribute to frailty in ways that are independent of obvious disease.
Biology is the study of life, past and present. Our curriculum offers courses in many fields, from theoretical to experimental biology, and from molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying life to the complex interactions of organisms in ecosystems. As a major research institution, the University of Chicago focuses all courses in the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division on scientific reasoning, research, and discovery. The goals of the Biological Sciences curriculum are to give students (1) an understanding of currently accepted concepts in biology and the experimental support for these concepts, and (2) an appreciation of the gaps in our current understanding and the opportunities and tools available for new discoveries. A major in Biological Sciences can prepare students for careers in a wide range of areas, including health professions, basic or applied research in academia or industry, education, and policy related to human, animal, and planetary health.
Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science with Research Honors (Research Honors): Biology Research Honors is reserved for students who excel in the coursework of the major and have completed original research of high quality suitable for inclusion in a professional publication. Successful Research Honors students will (1) gain a scholarly understanding of a specific area of biology; (2) conduct scientific experiments, collect original data, analyze that data using appropriate statistics, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the data; (3) interpret their findings in the context of their field; (4) describe their work in an Honors Thesis; and (5) present and defend their work in an oral presentation.
Students completing the major in the Computational Biology Track must take five upper-level electives distributed as follows: Three upper-level BIOS courses in the area of computational biology (annotated CB) and two courses from the approved non-BIOS course list (see list below).
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