Cell Biology

What you'll learn

• Explain how confocal, super-resolution, live-cell and electron microscopy are used to study cells, and analyze quantitative imaging data, including stereological estimates of organelle size, colocalization coefficients and FRAP recovery curves.
• Describe the structure of the nuclear envelope, lamina and nuclear pore complex, and explain how nuclear localization and export signals, importins, exportins and the Ran-GTP gradient drive selective transport between nucleus and cytoplasm.
• Explain co-translational targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum by signal sequences, SRP and the Sec61 translocon, predict membrane protein topology from hydrophobic segments, and describe N-linked glycosylation, folding quality control and the unfolded protein response.
• Describe vesicle formation by COPII, COPI and clathrin coats, the roles of Rab GTPases and SNAREs in targeting and fusion, processing in the Golgi apparatus, and constitutive and regulated secretion, and model secretory pulse–chase data.
• Explain receptor-mediated endocytosis, endosome maturation and receptor recycling, mannose 6-phosphate targeting to lysosomes, lysosomal storage diseases and autophagy, and calculate receptor uptake and autophagic flux from experimental data.
• Explain how proteins are imported into mitochondria, chloroplasts and peroxisomes, calculate the proton-motive force and its energy, and identify presequences and peroxisomal targeting signals in protein sequences.
• Use the Nernst and Goldman–Hodgkin–Katz equations to calculate equilibrium and resting membrane potentials, explain how channels, carriers and pumps move solutes, and analyze transporter kinetics and secondary active transport.
• Explain actin nucleation, critical concentration and treadmilling, the roles of actin-binding proteins and Rho GTPases, the myosin cycle and muscle contraction, and analyze the speed and persistence of migrating cells.
• Explain microtubule structure and dynamic instability, simulate how catastrophe and rescue control microtubule length, compare kinesin and dynein motors in axonal transport, and describe cilia, microtubule drugs and intermediate filament diseases.
• Describe tight junctions, adherens junctions, desmosomes, gap junctions and hemidesmosomes, calculate transepithelial electrical resistance, explain collagen structure and matrix diseases, and describe integrin activation and mechanotransduction.
• Explain signaling through GPCRs, second messengers, receptor tyrosine kinases, the Ras–MAPK and PI3K–Akt pathways and transcriptional pathways such as Wnt and Notch, fit dose–response curves with the Hill equation, and explain ultrasensitivity, feedback and desensitization.
• Explain cyclin–CDK control, the restriction point and cell-cycle checkpoints, model a cell-cycle oscillator, analyze DNA content histograms, describe the pathways of apoptosis and the properties of stem cells, describe US regulation of stem cell research through the Dickey–Wicker Amendment, the NIH Guidelines and registry and state laws, and analyze an integrated investigation.