Ever wondered what is the latest cutting-edge research in microbiology? Think bacteria are cool? Love to discuss about science? Then this class is for you! In each class session, we will study a different bacterial related topic; example topics are: antibiotics, toxin-antitoxin systems in bacteria, quorum sensing, bacterial pathogenesis, persister cells formation, biofilms, etc. In this course, not only you are going to learn about the basics of microbial physiology, you will also get the experience of reading scientific articles and discussing your thoughts with your peers and teacher.

In this course, students will learn about everything that happens in and/or to the cell, from transport systems to signal transduction pathways to cell cycle regulation and cancer. Students will not only learn the concepts but also how everything was discovered, what scientific questions were asked and what experimental approach was taken to solve the problem.

How were cancer cells discovered? How can cells get "transformed"? How do cells metastasize from the primary tumor? In this course, students will be introduced to the basics of cancer biology; students will get an understanding of novel discoveries about tumor viruses, oncogenes, and tumor suppressor genes. Students will also get exposed to reading scientific papers and learning about basic technique in a cancer biology lab.