Key Information
About the content
You’re acquainted with your DNA, but did you know that your cells synthesize enough DNA during your lifetime to stretch a lightyear in length? How does the cellular machinery accomplish such a feat without making more mistakes than you can survive? Why isn’t the incidence of cancer even higher than it is? And, if the DNA in each and every cell is two meters long, how is this genetic material compacted to fit inside the cell nucleus without becoming a tangled mess?
Are you ready to go beyond the “what" of scientific information presented in textbooks and explore how scientists deduce the details of these molecular models?
Take a behind-the-scenes look at modern molecular genetics, from the classic experimental events that identified the proteins involved in DNA replication and repair to cutting-edge assays that apply the power of genome sequencing. Do you feel confident in your ability to design molecular biology experiments and interpret data from them? We've designed the problems in this course to build your experimental design and data analysis skills.
Let’s explore the limits of our current knowledge about the replication machinery and pathways that protect the fidelity of DNA synthesis. If you are up for the challenge, join us in 7.28x Part 1: DNA Replication and Repair.
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Prerequisite
7.00x Introduction to Biology and 7.05x Biochemistry or similar (biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics).
Syllabus
- How to compare and contrast the mechanisms of DNA replication in prokaryotes and eukaryotes
- How to describe several enzymatic mechanisms that the cell uses to repair or tolerate DNA damage
- How to analyze protein structures to infer functional information
- How to designmethods for the best experiment to test a hypothesis related to DNA replication or repair proteins
- How to interpret data from DNA replication and repair experiments
Instructors
Stephen P. Bell
HHMI Investigator; Professor of Biology
MIT
Tania A. Baker
HHMI Investigator; Whitehead Professor of Biology
MIT
Mary Ellen Wiltrout
Director of Blended and Online Initiatives, Lecturer, Department of Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sera Thornton
MITx Digital Learning Fellow, Department of Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nathaniel Schafheimer
MITx Digital Learning Fellow, Department of Biology
MIT
Content Designer
MIT is a world-class educational institution where teaching and research — with relevance to the practical world as a guiding principle — continue to be its primary purpose.
MIT is independent, coeducational, and privately endowed. Its five schools and one college encompass numerous academic departments, divisions and degree-granting programs, as well as interdisciplinary centers, laboratories and programs whose work cuts across traditional departmental boundaries.
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