MCD BIO 144
Molecular Biology of Cellular Processes
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisites: Life Sciences 3, 4, and 23L, or 7A, 7B, 7C, 23L, and 107. Not open for credit to students with credit for Chemistry 153B. Development of thorough understanding of fundamentals of modern molecular biology both from perspective of known molecular mechanisms for regulating fundamental processes in cells and from theoretical applied perspective for using molecular biology as laboratory tool. Special emphasis on molecular mechanisms that relate to chromatin and histone modifications, DNA replication and repair, transposition, microRNAs, meiosis, and splicing. Application of molecular biology as tool to understand embryonic development, reprogramming, cancer, and stem cells. Development of sophisticated understanding of DNA, RNA, and protein as well as capability of designing experiments to address fundamental questions in biology and interpreting experimental data. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - I took MCDB 144 with Dr. Rigueur after taking MCDB 138 with her. Overall, I would recommend taking the courses she teaches as she is a good professor who is clearly very passionate about biology. In terms of course content, this course is pretty biochemistry heavy as it mainly focuses on molecular mechanisms involving DNA, RNA and proteins. The trickiest part of this course in my opinion was breaking down these processes as well as keeping track of all the various components and their roles (like transcription factors) in each mechanism. That being said, don't be too intimidated as this course is very doable if you put in the effort. I would highly recommend paying attention to content covered in lecture for this course. This shouldn't be a big problem, as Dr. Rigueur is a very engaging lecturer and facilitates discussions about class content during lecture to enhance understanding. In addition to slides, Dr. Rigueur also includes helpful videos in her lecture slides to better visualize the processes she talks about in lecture and explains what is happening in the videos as well. She also provides really helpful resources like study guides to help students study for exams. Discussions mainly focus on research papers loosely relating to content covered in lecture. Though it may seem daunting, Dr. Rigueur provides resources in the beginning of the quarter on what to pay attention to when reading a paper with is really helpful. When I took the course, discussion consisted of discussing the assigned paper for the week. Lastly Dr. Rigueur encourages students to reach out to her if they need help. She has office hours which are very helpful and also provides her office line for students. Highly recommend reaching out to her if help is needed!
Spring 2025 - I took MCDB 144 with Dr. Rigueur after taking MCDB 138 with her. Overall, I would recommend taking the courses she teaches as she is a good professor who is clearly very passionate about biology. In terms of course content, this course is pretty biochemistry heavy as it mainly focuses on molecular mechanisms involving DNA, RNA and proteins. The trickiest part of this course in my opinion was breaking down these processes as well as keeping track of all the various components and their roles (like transcription factors) in each mechanism. That being said, don't be too intimidated as this course is very doable if you put in the effort. I would highly recommend paying attention to content covered in lecture for this course. This shouldn't be a big problem, as Dr. Rigueur is a very engaging lecturer and facilitates discussions about class content during lecture to enhance understanding. In addition to slides, Dr. Rigueur also includes helpful videos in her lecture slides to better visualize the processes she talks about in lecture and explains what is happening in the videos as well. She also provides really helpful resources like study guides to help students study for exams. Discussions mainly focus on research papers loosely relating to content covered in lecture. Though it may seem daunting, Dr. Rigueur provides resources in the beginning of the quarter on what to pay attention to when reading a paper with is really helpful. When I took the course, discussion consisted of discussing the assigned paper for the week. Lastly Dr. Rigueur encourages students to reach out to her if they need help. She has office hours which are very helpful and also provides her office line for students. Highly recommend reaching out to her if help is needed!
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