Philosophy of the class

Biochemistry/MCB 568 -- Fall 2007
University of Arizona

Bioc/MCB568 Home Page

 

This class has two major goals:

The first goal is to broaden and deepen your previous knowledge of the subject matter, both by lectures and by class discussions.

The second goal is to use this material as a vehicle to teach many of the skills you need in order to develop into an independent scientist. Among these skills are

• Understanding the process of scientific research and discovery. This involves developing your abilities in critical thinking and hypothesis-testing.
• Learning to read and critically evaluate scientific papers.
• Communicating your ideas about science and scientific issues clearly, and being able to discuss these issues with others. 

In order to develop these skills, many class sessions will be devoted to discussion of papers, and to developing and testing hypotheses or models for the molecular mechanisms of cellular processes such as gene regulation.

Other links on the 568 home page lead to discussions of these topics.