This course gives fundamentals of diverse fileds of life science and introduction of current topics. The course cover fundamentals of development, structure of nucleic acids and proteins, architecture of genes and genomes, central dogma (gene expression), cell structures, and DNA replication, as well as current topics such as stem cells and cancer therapies. This course aims to provide fundamental knowledge on life sciences as the basis not only for advanced life sciences but also for broad fields in science and technology.
By the end of this course, students will understand the fundamentals of life sciences, which shall be the basis for various fields in advanced science and technology. In addition, the students will understand current topics related to life sciences more deeply.
biology, cell, DNA, cancer, stem cell
✔ Specialist skills | ✔ Intercultural skills | Communication skills | Critical thinking skills | Practical and/or problem-solving skills |
Students will learn the topics with a textbook, Powerpoint slides, and handouts. Students are divided into eight classes (in Japanese) and one class (in English). Students attend one class per week.
Course schedule | Required learning | |
---|---|---|
Class 1 | Structure of DNA, gene, chromosome, and genome | Understand the basic structures of DNA, gene, chromosome, and genome |
Class 2 | Central dogma I: DNA replication, structure of RNA, transcription, and RNA splicing | Understand the basic processes of DNA replication, transcription, and maturation of messenger RNA |
Class 3 | Central dogma II: Structures of amino acids and proteins, and translation mechanism | Understand the structures of amino acids and proteins, and basic mechanism of translation |
Class 4 | Replication of cell: cell skeletons and cell division (meitosis and meiosis) | Understand the basis of cell skertons and cell division |
Class 5 | What is cancer?: Cancer cell, metastasis, therapy, and cell cycle | Understand the basis of cancer research and cell cycle |
Class 6 | Animal development and stem cell | Understand the basic process of development and what stem cells are |
Class 7 | Structure of cell: structure of animal cells (organelles and their functions) | Understand the basic structures of animal cells and functions of organelles |
Class 8 | Integral study | Unify the knowledge learned in Classes 1 to 7 |
"Biology", C. Starr, C.A. Evers, L. Starr
"Introduction to Biology", MIT OpenCourseWare
Learning achievement is evaluated by a final exam.
This is the prerequisite course to take "Fundamental Life Science 1-2","Fundamental Life Science 2-1","Fundamental Life Science 2-2" or "Fundamental Life Science Laboratory".
The class level is adjusted to students who did not study biology in high school.