Methods in Molecular Life Science
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This course is based on a comprehensive wet-lab exercise in yeast - covering genetic screening, next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics analyses and interpretation of results. Besides, this course has ten lectures on methods in life sciences - these lectures have been selected to be relatively complementary to other content at the MTLS programme.
This course is part of the joint Master’s programme in Molecular techniques in life science, together with KTH and KI. The course is not open for application to students outside of the programme.
The course lectures cover methods in molecular life sciences, with special emphasis on model systems and transcriptomics. Lectures could cover these areas: permafrost paleogenomics, cryo-EM, functional genomics, genetic analysis and mutagenesis in yeast, and the use of plants, nematodes and fruit flies as model systems.
Besides the lectures, the yeast genomics exercise is an important part of the course. Here the students will screen for yeast cells with spontaneous mutations that allow them to grow on an ordinarily toxic medium. The students will then extract the DNA, and libraries for NGS will be prepared and sequenced on an Illumina instrument.
Finally, the students will perform advanced bioinformatics analyses to identify the mutations that originally allowed their yeast cells to grow in the toxic medium, and will write a report on their entire study.
Teaching Format
The course consists of ten class-room lectures and the yeast genomics exercise described above. The exercise will cover around six afternoons of wet-lab exercise instances and five mornings of bioinformatics exercise instances. Participation in the yeast wet-lab exercises is mandatory.
Assessment
The examination will be a 3-hour written exam, and will test the students’ theoretical understanding of the ten lectures and the yeast genomics exercise.
Examiner
Marc Friedländer
E-mail: marc.friedlander@scilifelab.se
No mandatory course book.
