Please click here for a Word document containing all suggested Genetics and Genomics courses for the 2009-2010 academic year.

EPI249 (Molecular Biology for Epidemiologists), taught by Dr. Immaculata De Vivo, offers an overview of molecular biology and presents molecular biological concepts and techniques commonly used in the laboratory and in epidemiological research. Topics include the structure of DNA and genes, DNA replication, transcription and RNA translation. This course will be of most interest to those who have not have a recent college-level Molecular Biology course, or equivalent.

EPI 250 (Molecular Epidemiology of Cancer), taught by Dr. David Hunter, is an introductory course  to provide an overview of current knowledge of the molecular genetics of cancer, particularly the pathogenetic role of high penetrance genes, and the role of newer techniques such as genome-wide association studies in discovery of low penetrance genes related to cancer, and to discuss applications of this emerging knowledge to cancer prevention and early detection.

EPI293 (Analysis of Genetic Association Studies Using Unrelated Subjects), taught by Dr. Peter Kraft in eight 3-hour sessions and three computer labs during WinterSession, introduces the conceptual and practical tools needed for genetic association studies using unrelated subjects.  Students will gain hands-on experience with a range of analytic tools and software packages as part of a class project which gives them the opportunity to design and analyze an association study. This project will require students to tackle real-world problems such as marker selection, potential multiple comparisons issues due to multiple markers and multiple outcomes, and missing data. Lectures and selected readings present key ideas (such as linkage disequilibrium, "tagging SNPs," haplotypes, population stratification and epistasis) and appropriate statistical methods.

EPI 222 (Genetic Epidemiology of Diabetes), taught by Drs. Frank Hu and  James Warram in the Spring 2 session of alternating years (will be offered 2008-2009).  The genetics of diabetes and its complications, together with the descriptive epidemiology of these conditions, will be used to illustrate the process of generating etiologic hypotheses that can be studied by the methods of genetic epidemiology. Techniques of molecular genetics relevant to epidemiologic studies will be reviewed and demonstrated. Data sets that include genotype information will be analyzed with an emphasis placed on the examination of various gene/environment interaction.

In Biostatistics we recommend:

BIO227 (Fundamental Concepts in Gene Mapping), to be taught in Fall 2 by Dr. Christoph Lange, will teach students to the diverse statistical methods used in genetic epidemiology, from familial aggregation and segregation studies to linkage scans candidate-gene association studies. While some familiarity with molecular biology and statistical hypothesis testing (e.g. material covered in EPI249 and BIO201) is helpful, it is not required since relevant concepts will be reviewed in lectures and labs. Students should leave with a basic understanding of how to read and evaluate statistical studies of genetics epidemiology.

BIO292 (Introductory Genomics & Bioinformatics for Health Research) is a good choice for students without much biological or statistical background who are seeking a broad introduction to genomics-inspired techniques and bioinformatics tools. This course will be taught by Dr. John Quackenbush in Spring 1.

BIO277 (Computational Biology) will be taught by Dr. Guocheng Yuan in the Fall. Targeting biostatistics students and other quantitatively well-prepared students, the course covers statistical methods for microarray analysis, motif finding, CHIP-chip data, gene regulatory network and other biological problems. Topics include multiple hypothesis testing, clustering and classification, variable selection, hidden Markov model, and Bayesian network.

BIO257 (Advanced Statistical Genetics), to be taught by Dr. Lange during the Spring semester, will also cater to a more advanced statistical audience (BIO 231 and BIO 233, or permission of instructor required). Designed as an advanced seminar-type course with an emphasis on student participation, the course will enable students to read fundamental papers and to engage in original research in statistical genetics.