BIOL2000 Molecules & Cells Syllabus                                                                       Spring 2025

Class schedule:  MWF 12:00-12:50                                         Location:  McGuinn 121

 

Instructor:  Rebecca Dunn rebecca.dunn@bc.edu                    

Office Hours: Higgins 412 Mon 1-3,

Higgins 412 Thurs 9:30 11:15                                                       

 

Undergraduate Teaching Assistants:                         Graduate teaching assistants:        

Daniel Akinremi (akinremi@bc.edu) Wed Higgins 466 3:30-5      Minqi Shen (shenmk@bc.edu)

Chloe Fields (fieldscc@bc.edu). Wed Higgins 466 3:30-5             Ciara Bauwens (bauwensc@bc.edu)

Colin Woros (woros@bc.edu) Zoom Mon 5-6, Higgins 466 Fri 2:30-3:30     

Prerequisites:  It is recommended, but not strictly required, that students have taken or be concurrently enrolled in general chemistry. 

 Course overview

Biology literally means "the study of life."  Biology is truly a broad field, encompassing the minute workings of chemical machines inside our cells to broad scale concepts of ecosystems and the impact of global climate change. Molecules and Cells (BIOL2000) provides a foundation in biochemistry, molecular biology of gene expression, cell biology, and genetics.  It is a foundational requirement for students majoring in Biology and Biochemistry. Ecology and Evolution (BIOL2010) focuses on aspects of biology that manifest on a larger scale and is a requirement for the Biology major.  Molecules and Cells and Ecology and Evolution may be taken in any order.

 

Course goals

The primary goal of this course is to provide a framework for developing a unified understanding of how biological molecules and cellular structures work in an orchestrated fashion to carry out the functions of cells.  A second goal is to prepare you to take more advanced courses in biology and biochemistry.  By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Apply the rules of gene expression to predict the protein produced from a protein-coding gene sequence
2. Distinguish between the evolutionary origins of different intracellular organelles
3. Describe the unique characteristics of prokaryotic, plant, and animal cells
4. Explain how the two major types of signaling receptors, cell-surface and intracellular, relate to cell permeability and compartmentalization
5. Describe the energy flow during synthesis and breakdown of glucose through photosynthesis and respiration respectively
6. Explain how solute concentrations in the cytosol and intracellular compartments are controlled
7. Differentiate between facilitated membrane transport and transport via the endomembrane system
8. Describe the basic steps, requirements, and outcomes of DNA replication and cell division
9. Explain how meiotic division underlies Mendelian heredity
10. Explain how energy flows through cells via cellular respiration and photosynthesis.

 

Codon Learning

We will use a courseware platform called Codon Learning, which is designed to help you practice concepts and skills for this class. Codon uses evidence-based strategies to help you develop self-regulated learning skills.  Data have shown that students who use Codon Learning are more likely to earn a higher grade.  To get into Codon Learning, you must click on the Codon Learning link in the “Course Essentials” module on the course’s Canvas site homepage.  Assignments in Codon Learning will include “readiness” assignments that should be completed before class, and regular homework assignments that are due Monday’s at 11:59 pm.  It is the responsibility of the student to regularly check the Codon Learning calendar for assignments due.  The lowest FIVE readiness assignments will be dropped, and the lowest TWO homework assignments will be dropped.  All of the “counting” points earned in the Codon Learning will be normalized such that each readiness assignment and each homework assignment is weighted the same.

Canvas Quiz Homeworks

There will be weekly homework questions, written by me, assigned as Canvas “quizzes.”  The purpose of these problems is to help work through the material and while getting accustomed to my style of questioning.   Each homework problem set, no matter how many questions, will be worth 4 pts toward your final grade and due Monday at midnight as indicated in the schedule (exceptions if noted in the attached schedule).  Your homework grade for the course will be the sum of all homework grades except that the lowest two scoring HWs (of 12 total) will be dropped. 

Quizzes & Exams      

Quizzes will contain multiple-choice questions only, and midterm exams will contain multiple-choice (“MC”) questions and open response/variable format (“OR”) questions.  Your highest 2 of 3 quizzes and highest 2 of 3 midterm exams will be counted toward your final grade.  If you must miss a quiz or exam for any reason, the missed quiz or exam will count as the one that is dropped, NO EXCEPTIONS.  This means that you should do your best on every assessment, because no one plans illnesses or emergencies. The final exam contains all multiple-choice questions, is cumulative, and is required for a final grade in this course. 

MC questions will be answered using Gradescope bubble sheets, and you will be able to see your answers and MC scores using the Gradescope tab in the course Canvas site. 

In-Class Activities

In-class activities occur before each midterm exam and are designed to help you integrate the content from the corresponding exam into a unified understanding of how biological molecules and cells function in a coordinated fashion.  Attendance on these days is required and will be recorded by your submission of responses to in-class questions.  Each in-class activity is worth 10 points.  Responses are not graded for accuracy, but rather for evidence of effort and engagement.  The top two of three in-class activity scores will count toward the final grade.

 

Assessments and Grading

Final grades will be assigned according to a composite of scores from activities and assessments as follows:

Canvas Homeworks    50 points (10%)  (Lowest 2/12 dropped)

Codon Assignments     50 points (10%) (Lowest 5 “readiness” dropped, lowest 2 homeworks dropped)

In-class activity            20 points (4%)  (Lowest 1/3 dropped)

Quizzes                        40 points (8%) (Lowest 1/3 dropped)

Midterm Exams            200 points (40%) (Lowest 1/3 midterm exams dropped)

FINAL                          140 points  (28%)

Total                            500 points

A final percentage of the indicated values will earn a grade at least as high as the one indicated.  In other words, grades will not be “curved down,” but they may be “curved up.”  If everyone in the class has a course percentage of 90 or greater, then everyone will get an A or A-.  But if your course percentage is 70, and the average grade in the class is 68, you will earn a grade higher than a C-. 

 

Accommodations

If you are a student with a documented disability seeking reasonable accommodations in this course, please contact Kathy Duggan, (617) 552-8093, dugganka@bc.edu, at the Connors Family Learning Center regarding learning disabilities and ADHD, or Paulette Durrett, (617) 552-3470, paulette.durrett@bc.edu, in the Disability Services Office regarding all other types of disabilities, including temporary disabilities.  If you have special needs particularly in relation to written examinations, please contact Dr. Dunn at least two weeks prior to the exam in question. 

 

Academic Integrity

Unless explicitly designated as group work, all assignments and exams for this course are to be completed independently, and anything a student submits is presumed to be his or her own work.  Please familiarize yourself with the Academic Integrity Policy of Boston College (http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/resources/policy.html#integrity).  Deviation from this policy may result in course failure and referral to the Board of Academic Integrity.

 

Student Wellness

Please be especially careful of your and others’ physical and mental health during this difficult time.  If you are feeling stressed, having challenges managing your time, sleep, or making choices around alcohol and food, the Office of Health Promotion (OHP) offers individual and group health coaching appointments with a trained health coach. Please reach out by going to OHP website or walk to Gasson 025 and talk with a staff member.  Be Well. 

 

Succeeding in this course

My best recommendations are as follows:  print out the slides and take notes on them (or do the equivalent on a tablet).  Study the pictures and explain them to someone else or to yourself out loud.  Take every opportunity to work through the material in a non-rote way – homeworks, practice problems & practice exams, etc.  Imagine your own exam questions and answer them; ask yourself what-if questions.  GO TO OFFICE HOURS and use the human resources that are available to you.  We WANT to help you succeed.

 

Date	Topic	Optional reading in Biology 2E	Canvas Homework due Monday 11:59 pm   mondayy 11:59 pm	Codon Learning
Jan 13	Course introduction, atoms & molecules Water and pH	2.1 Atoms, Isotopes, Ions, & Molecules, 2.2 Water, 2.3, 3.1, 3.5 skim 3.2-3.4		Please see Codon Learning calendar for assignments due
Jan 15	Water and pH Biological building blocks & nucleic acids
Jan 17
Jan 20	MLK Day – no class Nucleic acids, DNA replication	14.3-14.6	HW1 Molecules, water & pH, building blocks, nucleic acids
Jan 22	DNA polymerase and DNA mutability
Jan 24	DNA replication I
Jan 27	DNA replication II	15.1-15.4	HW2, DNA, mutability, DNA polymerization
Jan 29	Transcription
Jan 31	Quiz 1 Genetic code
Feb 3	Translation	15.5, 3.4	HW3 Replication and transcription
Feb 5	Protein Structure
Feb 7    E1  E1	In-class activity
Feb 10	Review	4.2, skim 4.3	HW4 Translation and protein structure
Feb 12	Exam 1
Feb 14	Prokaryotic & Eukaryotic Cell Structure
Feb 17	Membranes - lipids and structure	review 3.3, 5.1 – 5.3, see figure 15.20 in 15.5	HW5 Cell structures and organelles
Feb 19	Membrane transport
Feb 21	Membrane proteins
Feb 24	Endomembrane system	4.4 - 4.5, 5.4	HW6 Membranes
Feb 26	Cytoskeleton
Feb 28	Quiz 2 Cytoskeleton cont’d
Mar 3 - Mar 7  No Class – Spring Break
Mar 10	Cell -cell & -ECM interactions, Cell cycle	10.1-10.3 skim 10.5, 11.1, skim 11.2	HW7 Endo-membrane system & cytoskeleton	Please see Codon Learning calendar for assignments due
Mar 12	Mitotic division
Mar 14	Meiotic division
Mar 17	In-class activity		HW 8 Cell interactions & cell division
Mar 19	Review
Mar 21    E@E2E2E2	Exam 2

 

Mar 24	Mendelian genetics	12.1-12.2, 12.3 only up to and including independent assort.	No Canvas homework	Please see Codon Learning calendar for assignments due
Mar 26	Beyond Mendel and pedigrees
Mar 28	Chemical reactions and enzymes
Mar 31	Energy in food, redox, respiration	7.1, skim 7.2 – 7.5, 8.1-8.3	HW9 Genetics, reactions, and enzymes
Apr 2	Respiration cont;d & fermentation,
Apr 4	Photosynthesis
Apr 7	Quiz 3 Photosynthesis cont’d	16.1-16.4	HW10 Redox reactions and cellular energetics
Apr 9	Prokaryotic gene regulation
Apr 11	Eukaryotic gene regulation
Apr 14	Electrophoresis & blotting		HW11 Gene regulation
Apr 16	In-class activity
Apr 17-21  No class – Easter Break Review Exam 3 (Fri) None   Review Exam 3 (Fri) None
Apr 22	Review (Monday classes on Tuesday)			Please see Codon Learning calendar for assignments due
Apr 23	Exam 3	9.1-9.3	No Canvas HW
Apr 25	Principles of Signaling
Apr 28	RTK and GPCR signaling pathways		HW 12 Signaling
Apr 30	TBD
May 9	9:00 Final exam