Membranes in Health and Disease
A critical examination of the roles of cellular membranes in healthy and diseased cells, specifically in the areas of transport, recognition and signaling, and synthesis and recycling. These phenomena will be studied in the context of current research on the importance of ion channels, pumps and membrane receptors in regulating cellular function, on the infection and replication of animal viruses and other pathogens, and on the sorting and targeting of newly synthesized cellular components using cloned Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as a tag. Students will prepare brief oral and written presentations of primary literature and write a critical review of a current research topic. (BIOL 0145, or BIOL 0250 and CHEM 0241; or CHEM 0322 and permission; or PSYC 0301 and by waiver) 3 hrs sem.