The goals of this course are to teach students about the inner working of the cell, biological concepts, real life molecular laboratory techniques, and how to read and understand academic papers. We will do this through a series of lectures consisting of general biology concepts accompanied by a discussion and walk through of an academic paper of the week. This will allow the students to not only explore a variety of concepts ranging from virology to evolution, and everything in between, but also to see where the field is currently going. We will then use these to understand how inferences are made and further research and studies are inferred. This course should provide students with the ability to understand basic figures and grasp the general concept of an academic paper while also being able to apply it in a greater context. In the end I hope that you learn how to read an analyze an academic paper, connect it to general concepts learnt in class, and understand how the field as a whole progresses.

In this course students will work together with their fellow classmates to turn a Dystopian setting into a Utopian setting. Students will do so by discussing topics such as international ethics, history, and modern day politics to infer the creation of their Utopia. This class will allow students to develop their arguments based on modern day events, historical events, and opinions and sentiment. The goal is to help students become aware of the world around them, political climates, and to gain a more global perspective.

In this course students will explore the inner workings of cells, and how genes play a role in the cell. Students will develop an appreciation for genomics and genetic engineering. They will get to understand concepts such as epigenetics, the life cycle of DNA and how it affects the cell. How current techniques in theory can be applied in the real world research. Students will also have the opportunity to run experiments (virtually) and even learn basic biology laboratory techniques. The experiments will include creating a plasmid, running digests, and even applying their theories into a possible real life application.