Fall courses:
Course: PPath 416
Instructor: Cristina Rosa, PhD
Credits: 3
Title: Plant Virology: Molecules to Populations
Overview:
Plant viruses are one of the major groups of microorganisms that cause severe diseases impacting crops; at the same time some viruses coexist in wild plants without causing any apparent damage. How do plant viruses cause symptoms in plants? How can we control viruses and attenuate their symptoms? Many plant viruses evolved to be transmitted by vectors, such as insects. Why? How do plants and vectors respond when they are infected by viruses? How do plants become resistant to viruses, and how viruses evade plant defenses? The goal of this class is to explain how plant viruses function. This understanding is fundamental to plan efficacious viral control strategies and, as consequence, is necessary to improve the well-being of human populations that rely on crops for feed, fiber and fuel production.
Course: SC 297G
Instructor: Moriah Szpara, PhD
Credits: 3
Title: Viruses in Our World
Overview:
This course will explore the amazing range of viruses in our world, using examples that are popular as well under-appreciated. We will discuss how viruses differ from other microbes, and what aspects of host cells and organisms are used by viruses to reproduce and spread. The course will cover the known range of life-forms on earth, by covering viruses that infect everything from bacteria, plants, animals, and humans. We will include viruses that are well-known (e.g., influenza or “the flu”) as well as unusual and oddball examples (e.g., gigantic viruses, or viruses that infect other viruses). This course will utilize popular-media portrayals of viruses in film to engage students in evaluating fact vs. fiction in the media. Students will engage with the course material with direct in-class assessments, as well as through creative endeavors such as building an infographic and exploring viruses in songs and poetry. Through this course, students will gain an understanding of the coincident beauty and hazards that viruses entail. This course is intended to stimulate a greater interest in biology and science overall, and to empower students to use good scientific judgement as they seek out additional information in their own areas of interest.
Course: PPEM 454
Instructor: Christina Fox Call, PhD
Credits: 3
Title: Virus Ecology
Overview:
This course will provide a perspective about virology that is different from the paradigm of viruses only as agents of disease. All living entities are hosts for viruses; the presence of viruses can be detrimental, neutral or beneficial, depending on the ecological context. Students will gain a basic understanding of the ecology of viruses: how viruses interact with their hosts, and how those interactions modulate the hosts’ interactions with their environment.
Course: BMB/MICRB/VBSC 435
Instructor: Anthony Schmitt, PhD
Credits: 3
Title: Viral Pathogensis
Overview:
The course provides students with a general knowledge of medically relevant viruses, with focus on important human viral pathogens. The course is meant to help students understand how viruses cause diseases in humans. Lectures and in- class discussions will focus both on the fundamentals of virology, and on contemporary virology-related topics in the scientific literature. Topics discussed can be divided into two main areas: (1) general concepts in virology, viral pathogenesis, and control of viral infections; and (2) specific viruses that cause human disease including HIV-1, herpes viruses, papillomaviruses, influenza virus, West Nile virus, Ebola virus, and SARS virus. Although prior knowledge of virology is not required for taking this course, a working knowledge of molecular biology, cell biology, immunology, and some microbiology is helpful. Thus, MICRB 201 is a prerequisite for this course as well as a combination of either Biol 110 and 230 or BMB/MICRB 251 and 252. MICRB 415 is not a prerequisite for this course.
Spring courses:
Course: MICRB 415
Instructor: Joyce Jose, PhD
Credits: 3
Title: General Virology
Overview:
This course explores virology, which is the study of viruses that infect all manner of life on earth. We will focus on animal viruses and those that impact human health. Important discoveries from viruses that infect microbes, plants, and non-human animals will be included. The course will focus on the molecular and cell biology of viruses, covering aspects of protein structure, biochemical reactions, molecular interactions, and infection at the levels of the host cell, the host organism, and the host population. The course will include an overview of how our immune system defends us against viral pathogens, and how antiviral drugs and vaccines augment these defenses.
Fall & Spring courses:
Course: BIOL 412
Instructor: Isabella Cattadori, PhD
Credits: 3
Title: The Ecology of Infectious Diseases
Overview:
This course will take an ecological approach to the study and control of infectious diseases. We will look at the dynamics of disease, how parasites (worms, bacteria and viruses) spread through a host population, the consequences for the hosts and the consequences for the parasite from both an ecological and evolutionary viewpoint. We will use the ecological insights to discuss and identify effective means of controlling the parasites. We will learn how to develop basic mathematical models to describe the dynamics of a parasitic infection and discuss how these models can be applied to make predictions and optimize control-strategies for infections. This will be illustrated with numerous work examples of human, veterinary and wildlife diseases. We will also look at the role of parasites in the ecosystem and how environmental changes affect parasite transmission. At the finer level we will look at how host-parasite interactions and multi-parasite species infections are modulated by host immunity and what may cause rapid changes in infectiousness and transmission. We will touch on a range of current issues that include pandemic outbreaks, emerging diseases and the role of parasites in ecosystem functioning. Our ecological approach involves applying the principles of population biology to understand infectious diseases and develop new perspectives on epidemiology: thus the title “Ecology of Infectious Diseases”. This course is designed for ecology, biology and animal science majors to obtain insights into the ecology of parasitism, and for pre-meds to provide biological foundation to the study of epidemiology.