The cell is the structural and functional unit of all living organisms. The aim of this course is to describe how the cell is organized and functions, and how a complex organism is built up from these elementary building blocks. This course introduces students to cell biology and developmental biology, central disciplines in the life sciences, at the interface with many other aspects of biology, as well as with physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering.
The main topics covered will be
- the internal organization of the cell (membranes, compartmentalization, traffic)
- integration of the cell into its environment
- cell multiplication and death
- the construction of a complex multicellular organism (appearance of different cell types, stem cells, the establishment of axes of symmetry and regionalization, morphogenesis).
BIO451 provides a strong foundation and is recommended for other second and third year biology courses. It is complementary to BIO452. Some concepts seen in BIO452 are used. However, they will be reviewed at the beginning of the course, and taking BIO451 without having taken BIO452 is not a problem.
- Teaching coordinator: David Nicolas
- Teaching coordinator: Nicol Xavier