机体发育与癌症病变中的转录调控

Modulating Transcription in Development and Cancer

Thomas J. Meade

西北大学化学系终身教授

(1)西北大学分子成像中心主任

(2)西北大学癌症研究Eileen Foell主席

(3)西北大学Meade（教授命名）生物无机配位化学实验室领导人

(4)全新生物传感器(可检测囊性纤维化等疾病)研发人

(5)临床微型传感器公司创始人（后被摩托罗拉3亿美元收购）

(6)80余项专利获得人

(7)美国国家发明家学会研究员

(8)美国国立卫生研究院-哈佛医学院博士后研究员、核磁共振探头开发人

(9)《化学科学（Chemical Science）》 副主编（2016）

课题背景
电化学与生物传感器的发展是目前分析研究中最活跃的领域之一。它是当前最常用的电化学传感器装置的原理、设计及在生物医学中的应用。 本课程将探讨蛋白质和DNA的电化学检测。参与现代生物和临床成像技术，从细胞到整个动物和人类进行拓展。课程主要教授学生生物科学基础，包括生物化学、细胞生物学和分子生物学，以及蛋白质和DNA快速检测的电化学新技术。我们将学习如何批判性地阅读和评估生物科学的原始研究论文，以及学习如何有效地形成和检验科学假设，呈现原始数据并将这些数据整合到一个解释模型中。

课题内容
课程将着重介绍蛋白质和DNA的电化学检测原理及其在人类疾病中的应用、强调交叉验证在现代生物研究中的必要性及其对证明概念的重要性、培养学生口头和书面交流的能力。

适合人群
 对生物学、化学专业感兴趣的高中生，本科生
 修读生物学，化学，药学等专业，以及未来希望在生物、制药、病理研究发展，DNA研究等领域从业的学生
 具备生物、化学等方面的基本理论和基本知识的学生优先

教授介绍

Thomas J. Meade

西北大学化学系终身教授

(1)西北大学分子成像中心主任

(2)西北大学癌症研究Eileen Foell主席

(3)西北大学Meade（教授命名）生物无机配位化学实验室领导人

(4)全新生物传感器(可检测囊性纤维化等疾病)研发人

(5)临床微型传感器公司创始人（后被摩托罗拉3亿美元收购）

(6)80余项专利获得人

(7)美国国家发明家学会研究员

(8)美国国立卫生研究院-哈佛医学院博士后研究员、核磁共振探头开发人

(9)《化学科学（Chemical Science）》 副主编（2016）

任职学校
西北大学（Northwestern University），创立于1851年，坐落于美国伊利诺伊州东北部城市埃文斯顿，是一所享誉世界的顶尖私立研究型大学，十大联盟创始成员和美国大学协会成员。西北大学位列2020U.S. News美国最佳大学排名第9位 。

西北大学由John Evans先生创办于1851年 。19位诺贝尔奖得主、38位普利策奖得主曾在此工作或学习  。截至2015年，西北大学获得捐赠约为101.9亿美元，是美国最有实力的10所大学之一  。

西北大学Medill新闻学院与Kellogg商学院排名全美第一 ，化学排名全美第五  ，Pritzker法学排名全美第九，材料科学排名全美第二。

西北大学以严格录取出名，其录取中国留学生录取率低于1%，尤其是中国本科生以及每年获得全额奖学金博士研究生录取的中国留学生。2018年，西北大学本科生整体录取率仅为8.4%，其中常规录取率为6.4%，位列美国录取率最低的学校之一。

课程安排与收获
• 8周在线小组科研（总课时78小时）
• 网申推荐信
• 学术评估报告
• 项目成绩单
• 论文成果

课纲
 

Modulating Transcription in Development and Cancer:

INSTRUCTOR:

Professor Thomas J. Meade

CLASS MEETINGS: The first 4 class meetings will consist of a interactive 3 hour lectures from the professor on the topics listed in the syllabus. In the last 4 class meetings, groups of students will meet with the Professor to develop their research projects.

MEETING LOCATION: Online via Zoom

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Lectures and research projects will explore the mechanisms involved in the principles of Biochemistry focusing on structure and function. We will explore the role of proteins and metalloproteins in living systems and the fundamentals of how function. To investigate the nature of proteins we will. 1) We will investigate the role of proteins and metalloproteins in life processes. 2) We will study a family of proteins known as Zn-finger transcription factors and how they function as Master Gene Regulators in development and cancer. 3) Learn how recent research is discovering ways to inhibit the important transcription factors.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: The primary goal of this course is to teach students fundamentals of biological sciences including biochemistry and molecular biology and how to apply this fundamental knowledge to their research projects. We will learn how to critically read and evaluate original research  papers in the biological sciences as well as to learn how  to effectively formulate and test scientific hypotheses, present primary data and integrate these data into an interpretative model. The course will therefore:

·         Describe  the  basics  of  biochemistry  including  the  structure  and  function  of proteins, metalloproteins, DNA and RNA

·         Introduce  a  wide  range  of  experimental  biochemical  techniques  and  their applications to modern biological analysis

·         Develop students’ ability to communicate science, both orally and in writing

BACKGROUND PREPARATION (PREREQUISITES): Students are required to review the class powerpoints before each class which will be provided by the professor ahead of time.

REQUIRED TEXT: All material will be provided in class in the form of powerpoints. Additional reading materials will be posted.

Class schedule

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & ASSIGNMENTS

1)      Attendance and participation in ALL lecture and discussion sections.

2)      Students will be expected to review the course powerpoints before each class and to be ready to discuss in depth during class.

3)      Students will be responsible for one oral presentation at the end of the course to describe the results of their research projects. Well-organized, well-prepared presentations are expected.

4)      Students will be responsible for preparing a written report of their scientific findings in the format of a scientific research paper.

PRESENTATION:

Each group will make one oral presentation at the end of the class. The talk should provide an in-depth introduction to the subject of the research project plus a thorough description of their hypotheses, methods,  results, and conclusions in the form of a powerpoint presentation.

RESEARCH PROJECTS:

The class will be divided into three research teams. Each team will select a unique specific research project, or a topic of their own choosing with the Professor’s approval. This will be the subject of each student’s final paper and presentation.

Teams will work together on their assigned research problem to devise a hypothesis and experiments to test their hypothesis. Below is a brief introduction and background for these projects.

TOPICS LIST:

I.    Investigate how Zn-finger transcription factors function in development and cancer

II.    Explore how Zn-finger transcription factors are regulated (up or down)

III.     Study how might Zn-finger transcription factors be selectively inhibited

Each group will  work collaboratively with the professor to select scientific journal articles within their topic area. Based on this background reading, students will develop new hypotheses about their topic and design a series of experiments to test the hypothesis.

RESEARCH REPORT: Each student will be responsible for preparing a written report of their scientific findings in the format of a scientific research paper.

The main sections are:

Abstract (150 words)

Background and Significance (1 page max) Methods (1 page max.)

Results (2 pages max.) Conclusions (2 pages max).

Each section should be prepared similarly to a scientific research paper as we will discuss in class. The maximum length for your paper is 7 single- spaced pages, not including literature citations (the paper may be shorter). The first page is for the title and abstract with authors. Please use Arial or Helvetica typeface with a font size of at least 11 point, and 1-inch margins.

Diagrams can be used to explain the experiments or the background science but inclusion of diagrams does not alter the page limits.

GRADING GUIDLINES:

40% research oral presentation 40% written research report 20% class participation

LATE POLICY

All due dates are clearly specified on the course schedule. Assignments must be turned in on time in the format specified to be eligible for full credit. For the written assignment, late submissions will lose points on the following scale: up to 24 hours, 15% of assignment value; 24 – 48 hours, 50% of assignment value; more than 48 hours, no credit. We encourage you to turn in your work on time.

HOW ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE EVALUATED:

Oral presentations: Evaluation criteria for oral presentations are:

·         -organization of the presentation/slides

·         -quality of the slides

·         -oral delivery

·         -knowledge of the research project and background material and ability to answer questions from the audience.

Class participation: Students are expected to provide substantive answers to questions about the classroom material and  be active participants in class activities.

Students will have thoroughly read, and be able to discuss, the required reading. Students with a thorough command of the material will receive an 'A', those that demonstrate knowledge, but not in-depth knowledge will receive a B and students that, on average, provide incomplete answers and demonstrate they do not fully understand the material will receive a C.

WRITTEN WORK : The scored criteria to be evaluated will include:

-background relevance

-focus /argument (Is there a central question or argument?)

-clarity  of  style  and  organization  (This  includes  mechanics, clarity, organization, and appropriate citations)

-clear definition of hypothesis

LETTER GRADES:

1. Complete mastery of course material and additional insight beyond course material (Learning outcome: Insightful)

1. Complete mastery of course material (Learning outcome: Proficient)

1. Gaps in mastery of the course material; not at the level expected of a Brown University student (Learning outcome: Developing)

F        Inability to develop mastery of any course material (Learning outcome: Ineffective)