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MBG 105 Chemistry for Life Sciences I
This course provides fundamental knowledge and principles of chemistry. This course allows the students to understand the interaction between chemistry and world around us. This course will provide students with the necessary background knowledge that allows them more advanced chemistry related courses. The course will cover multiple areas of chemistry. Students will learn the basics of analytical chemistry, physical chemistry and organic chemistry. Students will discover chemical processes, cycles and properties that are key to the study of life. The course covers the following topics: Matter and Its properties and Measurements, Atoms and Atomic Theory, Chemical Compounds, Chemical Reactions, Introduction to Reactions in Aqueous Solutions, Gases, Thermochemistry, Electrons in Atoms, The Periodic Table and Some atomic Properties, Chemical Bonding: Basic concepts and Additional Aspects, Intermolecular Forces, Solutions and Their Properties.
MBG 106 Chemistry for Life Sciences II
This course provides fundamental knowledge and principles of chemistry. This course allows the students to understand the interaction between chemistry and world around us. This course will provide students with the necessary background knowledge that allows them to be ready more advanced chemistry related courses. The course will cover multiple areas of chemistry. Students will learn the basics of analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, organic chemistry and organometallic chemistry. Students will discover chemical processes, cycles and properties that are key to the study of life. The course covers the following topics: Chemical Kinetics, Principles of Chemical Equilibrium, Acids and Bases, Additional Aspects of Acid Base Equilibria, Solubility and Complex Ion Equilibria, Spontaneous Change: Entropy and Gibbs Energy, Electrochemistry, Chemistry of the Main Group Elements, Complex Ion and Coordination Compounds, Nuclear Chemistry, Structure of Organic Compounds, Reaction of Organic Compounds, Chemistry of the Living State.
MBG 108 Computing for Life Sciences
The aim of this course is to introduce freshmen to the fundamentals of computing with specific emphasis on its applications in life sciences. Topics include programming principles, command-line operations, program control and logic, functions, files, object orientation, mathematics coding, biological sequence analyses, and graphs. Upon completion of the course, the students should be comfortable with basic coding in a popular scripting language on common platforms, in order to perform simple analyses of life sciences-related data.
MBG 111 General Biology I
This is an introductory course in biology together with the practical laboratory section. This course will provide students the background knowledge to take more advanced biology courses but will also be useful to understand biological principles for everyday life. The course will cover multiple areas of biological organization, from tiny atoms to biological molecules. Students in this course will discover biological processes, cycles and properties that are key to the study of life. The students will learn the process of scientific thinking and basic biological experimentation techniques required to test the biological concepts that involves topics such as; molecules, enzymes, basic biological processes, and cell structure and division.
MBG 112 General Biology II
This course will introduce the fundamental concepts in biology, including prokaryotes; protists; fungi; plant and animals. Students will take a journey to discover the anatomy and physiology of plants and animals. They will learn structure, growth, nutrition, transport, reproduction, development, and control systems of plants and animals. This course will also focus on relationships between structure and function with respect to evolutionary adaptation and changes in different systems of plants and animals. Also, the differences between invertebrates and vertebrates in the animal kingdom will be covered. This course is ideal to cover basic biological concepts of plants and animals.Organization of cells into tissues to organs and organ systems in plants and animals will be studied experimentally in the practical course hours. Moreover, structural and functional relationships between digestive, reproductive and transport systems in selected systems will be examined during this lab.
MBG 204 Bioistatics
The aim of this course is to introduce students the fundamentals of biostatistics and biostatistics methods with specific applications and examples in life sciences and to make them understand and evaluate the literature in their field. The course content includes the following topics: introduction to biostatistics and basic concepts; descriptive statistics; probability and probability distributions; sampling methods and parameter estimation; introduction to hypothesis testing and testing statistical assumptions; one-sample, two-sample and multi-sample inference with hypothesis testing; nonparametric tests; categorical data analysis; correlation and regression analysis.
MBG 205 Cell Biology
This course tackles the cellular biology of higher organisms. Knowledge of the structure, function, and formation of cellular membranes and organelles, in addition to cellular growth and oncogenic transformation will be covered throughout the course. Also, this course will cover transport, receptors, and cell signaling; the cytoskeleton, the extracellular matrix, and cell movements; chromatin structure and RNA synthesis. The course focuses on the interaction of the cells its social context that includes its neighboring cells, the extracellular matrix (ECM) and the soluble mediators.
MBG 206 Microbiology
The course aims to introduce students to the microbial world. Through the course the following topics will be covered: basic concepts in microbiology, history of microbiology, the emergence of life, microbial diversity, human-microbe interactions and microbial genetics. Concepts will be familiarized by using real-life examples in the classrooms and laboratory experiments throughout the course.
MBG 207 Organic Chemistry
This course provides knowledge of organic chemistry. This course allows the students to understand the interaction between carbon compounds and other related areas such as biochemistry, Students will discover synthesis processes of different compounds, especially amino acids, lipids and protein synthesis which will be helpful for their future perspectives. The course covers the following topics: Families of Carbon compounds, Acids and Bases, Nomenclature and Conformations of Alkanes and Cycloalkanes, Stereochemistry, Ionic Reactions, Alkenes and Alkynes, Radical Reactions, Alcohols and Ethers, Alcohol from Carbonyl Compounds, Conjugated Unsaturated Systems, Aromatic Compounds and Reactions of Aromatic Compounds, Carbonyl Compounds and their Reactions, Carbohydrates, Lipids, Amino Acids and Proteins, Nucleic acids and Protein Synthesis
MBG 208 Molecular Biology
The aim of this course is to introduce the major processes in the central dogma of molecular biology and help students to develop the knowledge and practical skills to pursue further studies in the molecular biology. The course includes chromosome and nucleosome structures, mechanisms of DNA replication and repair, transcription, mechanisms of transcription regulation, description of the translation process in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Laboratory course is dedicated to develop students’ skills of experiential learning, the students will design and conduct and report basic molecular biology experiments.
MBG 209 Fundamentals of Genetics
This course will focus on teaching the structure of DNA, prokaryotic and eukaryotic gene expression, the molecular process of gene expression, a genetic regulatory system, Meiosis, mitosis, Mendelian and non-Mendelian genetics, translation and Proteins, Gene Mutation, DND repair and Transposition, Epigenetics, Emerging Roles of RNA and Gene Therapy.
MBG 210 Science and Erhics
The course focuses on the introduction to the ethics of science and research, the rules and contents of the ethics of science and research, the aim and the importance of making ethical decisions regarding the scientific research and studying ethical issues concerning human based research. In addition to that, ethics for the usage of stem cells, genetically modified organism, cloning, ethics for drug developing and the scientific publications will be covered throughout the course.
MBG 301 General Biochemistry I
General Biochemistry-I is a lecture that teaches the chemistry of life. Biochemistry is a combination of different fields such as biology, medicine and chemistry. In this course, the scope of biochemistry, molecular interactions in biological environment, chemical bonds, energy and thermodynamics, nucleic acids, peptides, proteins and three-dimensional structure, carbohydrates, lipids, enzymes, enzyme kinetics, and ligand binding will be taught. In general biochemistry-I laboratory, experiments are designed to explore some of the following concepts; molecular interactions in biological environment, chemical bonds, energy and thermodynamics, nucleic acids, peptides, proteins and three dimensional structures, carbohydrates, lipids, enzymes, enzyme kinetics, and ligand binding.
MBG 302 General Biochemistry II
General biochemistry-II is a follow up course of General biochemistry-I (MBG 301). The focus of this course is the metabolic pathways such as glycolysis, glycogen metabolism, signal transduction, transport through membranes, citric acid cycle, electron transport and oxidative phosphorylation, photosynthesis, lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism and nucleic acid metabolism. İn addition to this, expression and transmission of genetic information such as nucleic acid structure, DNA replication, repair, and recombination, transcription, translation, viruses, eukaryotic gene expression and molecular physiology will be covered.
MBG 302 Gen Regülasyonu
Bu ders ökaryotik gen regülasyonunun temelleri ve mekanizmaları üzerinde özellikle yeni önem kazanmış konularıda içine alacak şekilde tasarlanmıştır. Ana bir ders kitabı eşliğinde güncel literatür takip edilerek konular işlenecektir. Dersin içereceği temel konular; ökaryotik gen regülasyonunun cis (promotorlar, enhansırlar ve insulatorler) ve trans (transkripsiyon faktörleri) elemenlerini içeren transkripsiyon düzeyinde kontrolü, farklı gen ekspresyonlarının modülleri, cis ve trans elementler arasındaki etkileşimin belirlenmesi için kullanılacak yöntemler, kromatin yeniden modellenmesi, RNA interferensi içerecek şekilde posttranskripsiyonel gen regülasyonu ve translasyon düzeyinde gen regülasyonu şeklindedir.
MBG 304 Bioinformatics
This course is designed to introduce students to bioinformatics tools and analysis methods and therefore is a hands-on type. Most weeks will include both classroom lecture and computer lab time. Upon completion of the course, the students should be comfortable with handling biological data and online tools that are relevant to their research. The topics include databases, sequence alignment, homology search, phylogenetic trees, and structure prediction.
MBG 305 Special Techniques and Applications in Molecular Biology
The aim of this course is to explain the applications and principles of techniques used in molecular biology. The course includes cloning, PCR, microarray, RNAseq, cell culture and techniques used to diagnose hereditary diseases. Moreover, the course will also cover the Crispr / cas-9, one of the most recent gene editing techniques of our time. In addition, the application of the learned techniques and the evaluation of the results will be carried out in this course. Learning both theoretical and practical knowledge of the methodology of molecular biology and genetics will enable students to acquire the ability to understand and design their projects.
MBG 306 Gene Regulation
This course will focus on the basics and mechanisms of eucaryotic gene regulation with a specific focus on newly emerging topics. This course will be using current literature together with a main textbook. Topics will include transcriptional regulation of eukaryotic gene expression including cis elements (promoters, enhancers and insulators) and trans elements (transcription factors), key modules of differential gene expression, methods to identify interactions between cis and trans elements, chromatin remodeling, the posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression including RNA interference and control of gene expression at the level of translation.
MBG 309 Human Genetics
Mendelian diseases (diseases caused by single gene defects), molecular development, chromosomal abnormalities and diversity, principles of genetic disease analysis, gene mapping and mapping methods, various genetic diseases and their inheritance, mitochondrial DNA, hereditary diseases, cytogenetic, genetic diagnosis, cancer and genetics of carcinogens, mutagens, evolutionary genetic and common diseases will be covered. With this course students will be able to understand the basis of human genetic diseases.
MBG 451 Capstone Projects I
This lecture will aim to integrate a range of knowledge and skills learned during molecular biology and genetics (MBG) education. The capstone project in MBG consists of a mentored research project on a related topic, which can be performed in the same department or any other research laboratories in other universities or centers. The capstone project must be designed or chosen by the student in consultation with a faculty mentor. The project must include evaluation of data, methods, results, interpretation, and conclusion in a report written by the student.
MBG 452 Capstone Projects II
This lecture will aim to integrate a range of knowledge and skills learned during molecular biology and genetics (MBG) education. The capstone project in MBG consists of a mentored research project that can be an independent project or a continuation of capstone I, which can be performed in the same department or any other research laboratories in other universities or centers. The capstone project must be designed or chosen by the student in consultation with a faculty mentor. The project must include evaluation of data, methods, results, interpretation, and conclusion in a report written by the student.
MBG 402 Computational Biology
This course will provide up-to-date theories and methodologies in computational biology with emphasis on structural and dynamical aspects of biological systems at atomic scale. The classes consist of both classroom lectures and computer labs. Upon completion of the course, the students should be able to perform various computational analyses on biological systems. The topics include Linux basics, molecular modelling and visualization, molecular dynamics, search altorighms, statistical analysis of biological data.
MBG 403 Human Genetic Disorders
There are at least 7000 diseases around the world, affecting 350 million people worldwide. Of these diseases, 80% are of genetic origin. In the lectures series, a range of topics including whether the diseases are caused by mutations in a single gene, mutations in multiple genes, defects in chromosome or mitochondrial DNA will be discussed. A number of genetic diseases such as Parkinson's and anemia will be covered in the lectures. Information on the causes, mechanisms and history of diseases will be given.
MBG 404 Current Topics in Molecular Biology
This course will highlight the recent development in molecular biology and genetics. Each faculty contributing to this course will give the general perspective of their area, the most recent exiting research papers and future perspectives in his/her field. The course will be given by the all faculty members.
MBG 405 Molecular Evolution
In this course, the principles of evolution, molecular evolution and phylogenetic issues will be taught. The lecture also covers specific topics including DNA polymorphisms, molecular evolutionary trees, molecular clocks, gene count and genome size, organelle and nuclear genetic markers, genetic mutations and selection, evolution of multiple gene families, gene duplications, transpositions and gene transpositions.
MBG 406 Molecular Medicine
This course will introduce new interdisciplinary area of study named “molecular medicine” that explores revolutionary developments in disease diagnosis, therapy and prevention, which is allowed by bio-molecular research. It shows how basic science is translated from ‘theory to the clinic.’ It covers advances in genomics that allowed the understanding of the disease mechanisms at cellular level, opening up new ways to treat major illnesses. The course’s main focus includes cancer, neuroscience, genetics, microbiology and immunology. This course allows students to have a perspective on the advances of science and importance of basic and clinical research in future drug discoveries.
MBG 407 Stem Cells
This course will introduce a broad range of topics related to stem cell biology. It will present stem cells in relation to many aspects of basic and applied biology and medicine including development, regeneration/repair, and cancer. The course will cover the following concepts and themes: pluripotency and reprogramming, pluripotent cell types, organ systems, stem cells and cancer, therapeutics and ethics.
MBG 408 Biomolecules
The aim of this course is to teach students about biomolecules having unique properties that determine how they contribute to the structure and function of cells, and how they participate in the processes necessary to maintain life. The scope of the course contains physicochemical and the structural properties of proteins, nucleic acids, membranes and carbohydrates. Basic physics and biochemistry knowledge is recommended.
MBG 409 Cancer Biology
This course will provide a general background of the cancer development process at the cellular and molecular level. Various genetic and molecular changes during carcinogenesis process will be introduced to students. These changes include dysregulated cell proliferation, escape from cell death, angiogenesis, metastasis and invasion. Moreover, this course will discuss the factors involved in cancer development, interactions between tumor and its environment, cancer prevention and treatment approaches.
MBG 410 Data Analysis
This course will provide the theories and applications in data analyses. Topics include general concepts including data preprocessing, feature selection, sampling, using different statistical and machine learning techniques and visualization.
MBG 411 Model Organisms
In this course, model organisms will be discussed extensively in molecular and biological studies. Mice, frogs, zebrafish, Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans are the main model organisms that are focused on throughout the course. Model organisms have advantages and disadvantages according to different studies, which will be also covered in the course. The course will discuss the appropriate usage of right type of model organisms to the right studies and techniques.
MBG 412 Immunology
This course will introduce the basic principles of immunology. Lectures on fundamental immunological processes will be presented. The goal of lectures will be to provide students with the fundamental knowledge of the immune system. This will includes innate and adaptive immunity and their components such as antibody production, antigen-antibody reactions, structure of antibody, the major histocompatibility complex reactions and antigen presentation. In addition to that, immune responses to infectious organisms and tumors, autoimmunity, allergies, and immune deficiencies will be covered throughout the course.
MBG 413 Biotechnology
The course deals with the major elements of biotechnology and its global significance, the categories of biotechnological processes and products, and a comparison between "traditional" vs "modern" biotechnology processes. Also, the key developments in the history of biotechnology specifically - fermentation, downstream processing; recombinant methods, monoclonal antibody, analysis and automation, genomics, proteomics and metabolomics.
MBG 414 Biomaterials
The aim of this course is to gain knowledge about design, selection, development and characterization of natural or synthetic materials to change, augment or correct a function, a tissue or an organ in the body. Different types of materials such as metals, ceramics, polymers, biopolymers for the use as biomaterials; blood or tissue response, biocompatibility and improvement startegies; coagulation, inflammation, wound healing mechanism; biomaterials in soft tissue applications; biomaterials in hard tissue applications; blood interfacing materials will be discussed throughout the lecture.
MBG 415 Cell and Tissue Engineering
The course introduces students to the fundamentals of tissue Engineering and biomaterials. It also covers cells and growth factors used in tissue Engineering, extracellular matrix, synthetic and natural polymers as support materials. The cell/biomaterial interaction will also be studied while taking into consideration the application of engineering principles combined with molecular cell biology. Throughout the course, specific applications including skin, nerve, bone, and soft tissue regeneration and links between the topic of study and clinically relevant situations are addressed.
MBG 416 Developmental Biology
The developmental biology explores how living things are shaped, how their lives are formed, how this complex structure develops and differentiates. The course covers topics such as the stages of development in different organisms in the early period, how fertilization, meiosis, organogenesis and environmental factors affect the organism’s development. It also links the content of the course to the context of modern and old experiments used in the study of developmental biology.
MBG 417 Basics of Neuroscience
This undergraduate-level course will teach how the nervous system functions at the molecular and cellular level. The main purpose of this course is to introduce types of nervous cells, strctures of nervous cell, nerve impulse, connection between nervous cells, nerve cell formation in the brain and spinal cord; sensory systems such as vision, hearing, smell, transformation and processing of physical energy into neural signals, neurochemical basis of brain diseases, emotional, mobility, learning and memory control systems.
MBG 418 Neural System
Highly specialised cells called neurons possess a tremendous capacity to detect and respond to different stimuli. In this course, the topics of nervous system organization, synaptic transmission, muscle contraction, spinal cord and brain motor mechanisms, autonomic nervous system, somatic neural control, hearing and chemical senses, nerve development, synaptic plasticity, language and learning organization will be covered.
MBG 419 Functional Genomics
In this course, genomic transition from genetics, genomic sequence acquisition and analysis, evolution of genomes, genome description, genomic variations, gene and homology, basic and applied genomic methods; the principles of DNA microarrays and other intermediate technologies, cloning and expression strategies, in vivo gene expression techniques, proteomics principles and techniques will be covered. Current examples of the application and development of functional genomic technology and its use in biotechnological industry are also included in the course.
MBG 421 RNA Biology
The course covers types and roles of RNAs, RNA structure and non-coding RNAs in post-transcriptional gene regulation. The main topics of the course include RNA splicing, editing, localization, regulation and translation.
MBG 425 Population Genetics
This course will cover the topics of genetic and phenotypic variations, organization of genetic variation, genetic drift, mutations, recombinations, darwinian selection, inbreding, migration, molecular population genetics, quantitative genetics, population genomics. This course also comprises methods of measuring genetic variation and frequency using mathematical approach in theory of population genetics. The aim of the course is to introduce students knowledge at the advanced level which give students fundamental principle of population genetics.
MBG 426 Histology of Tumors
The course will cover the histopathology of tumors, classification of tumors, introduction to histological methods, cytohistological features of malignant tumors, markers used in immunohistochemistry of tumors.
MBG 428 Epigenetics
Epigenetic mechanisms alter gene expression which results in short and long-term functional consequences. The course covers epigenetic mechanisms; (1) histone modifications, (2) DNA methylation, and (3) expression of small RNAs. The role of epigenetics in stem cell differentiation, aging and cancer with emphasis on the most common research tools used to dissect epigenetic changes.
MBG 430 Virology
The course covers the topics of virus taxonomy, virus structure, epidemiology, molecular basis of the viral replication and infection in the host cells, immune response of the host cell against the viruses and host cell growth control, virus vaccines, antiviral drugs, prions, and virus vectors for gene therapy.
MBG 431 Human Physiology
This course provides knowledge on functional systems of the human body along with the physiological mechanisms taking role in the regulation/maintenance of the body. It covers the topics of the skeletal system, endocrine system, circulatory system, respiratory system, nervous system, immune system, reproductive organs, kidney and urinary system, and the muscle function from the level of the cell to the level of the organism.
MBG 435 Disease and Genetics
This course will introduce number of diseases to students. Students will learn diseases and their moleculer mechanism in details. Diseases that we will touch are cancer, diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases including Prion and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, autoimmune diseases, Muscle Diseases, Lysosomal diseases, Mitochondrial Diseases. Student will also learn gene editing technics and gene therapy that are important and very new technics for untreatable disorders. Most importantly ,this course will focus on reletionships between diseases and its genetic background which will help to understand moleculer mechanism of those diseases. In this course, students will present an article about a disease which are explained in the lecture or a presentation about a disease. In this way, the students will strengthen what they have learned in lecture. In addition, students will be able to improve their ability to present papers.
MBG 499 Summer Internship
This course covers summer internship program that provides experience in an industrial or research setting. This internship program cannot be less than 20 working days. During internship, students will gain an understanding of the molecular biology and genetics workplace in industry or academia. They will discover their own interests, better clarified their professional goals and develop practical skills and judgment.