GEN 800 Seminar Courses

Fall 2008

GENETICS 800, SEC 001
Topics in Breast Cancer Research
Coordinators:  Sue Conrad, Ph.D. and Kathy Gallo, Ph.D.
Other Faculty Facilitators:  Michele Fluck, Ph.D., Sandra Haslam, Ph.D., Hua Xiao, M.D., Ph.D., Chenfeng Yang, M.D., Ph.D.
Meeting Time/Place:  Wednesdays, 12:30-1:30 p.m., 3280 Biomedical and Physical Sciences

Participants in this seminar course will present and discuss contemporary issues in breast cancer research.  Selected topics will include cancer stem cells; signaling pathways in breast cancer; transcriptional regulation (including steroid hormone signaling) in breast cancer; control of invasion and metastasis; gene expression profiles as prognostic/diagnostic indicators of disease outcome; and targeted therapies and mechanisms of resistance.

Students may register under one of the following course numbers. PSL 950, CMB 800 Section 1, GEN 800 Section 1, or MMG 892. Students must have successfully completed BMB 801 or obtain permission from Dr. Conrad or Gallo before registering. Contact Dr. Sue Conrad (conrad@msu.edu) or Dr. Kathy Gallo (gallok@msu.edu) for further questions or for permission to register.

GENETICS 800, SEC 002
DNA Repair
Coordinator:   Kefei Yu, Ph.D.
Room and time:  TBA
This seminar course will focus on all aspects of DNA repair mechanisms. Dr. Yu will give an overview presentation of all the major DNA repair pathways: 1. direct reversal of DNA modification; 2. base excision repair; 3. mismatch repair; 4. nucleotide excision repair; 5. homologous recombination; 6. double strand break repair. Dr. Yu will list a pool of papers for students to pick for their presentations, but the students are also allowed to present the papers of their own choices under his discretion. The selected papers can be most current ones as well as those of historical importance. Pass or fail depends on attendance as well as perform of oral presentation.  Contact Dr. Yu (yuke@msu.edu) for further questions.

GENETICS 800, SEC 003
Plant Breeding for Biomass and Biofuels
Coordinator:   Wayne Loescher
Room and Time:  Thursday, 10:20 pm, 279 PSSB
There is much interest in using plant-derived materials as renewable alternatives to petroleum, natural gas, and coal.  A number of plant species are under consideration, but nearly all  present some significant technical or economic hurdles to implementation.  We will discuss a number of the options, their advantages and disadvantages, the prospects for the immediate future, and where appropriate the potential for unintended consequences.