Learning outcomes
This course has two major objectives:
1) To provide an overview of current topics in cell cycle control
2) To provide experience in the critical reading and evaluation of research literature
Brief description of content
The class will begin with a description of the phases and main events of the cell cycle and the main model organisms in cell-cycle analysis, including Xenopus, Drosophila, and yeasts. Later lectures will focus on the molecules and mechanisms of the cell-cycle control system, including the cyclin-dependent kinase family of protein kinases, the cyclins that activate them, and the signaling molecules that regulate them, and discuss cell-cycle control in development and the failure of controls in cancer.
1. Events of the eukaryotic cell cycle
2. Model organisms in cell-cycle analysis
3. The overview of cell-cycle control system
4. Cell cycle switches and regulatory modules
5. Chromosome duplication
6. Early mitosis: Preparing the chromosomes for segregation
7. Assembly of the mitotic spindle
8. The completion of mitosis
9. Cytokinesis
10. Meiosis
11. Control of cell proliferation and growth
12. Cell-Cycle responses to DNA damage
13. Systems level modeling of the cell cycle
14. The cell cycle in cancer
