Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

MCDB 1A – Section 200

Fall 2018 Course Outline

Instructors

Mike Wilton, PhD.

Office: Bio II 2119
Office Hours: M & W 1-3 PM @ ONDAS Kerr Hall 1150 or by email appointment
E-mail: mike.wilton@lifesci.ucsb.edu

Eduardo Gonzalez, PhD.

Office: Bio II 2123
Office Hours: T & R 10-12 @ ONDAS Kerr Hall 1150 or by email appointment
Email: eduardo.gonzalez@lifesci.ucsb.edu

Class Meetings: Monday/Wednesday/Friday 8:00AM in Buchanan 1910

Tutorial Meetings: Monday/Tuesday in BSIF 1217 (check GOLD for your section time)
Course Website: https://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/

General Course Learning Outcomes

In this course, students will:
1) Learn to think like a scientist
2) Be capable of examining, understanding and communicating scientific evidence
3) Understand the principles of biochemistry, molecular, cell and developmental biology
and genetics
4) Apply the acquired knowledge to solve biologically relevant problems.

Course Policies
Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with general information and University
policies provided in the UCSB Calendar.

In keeping with the principles of the UCSB Code of Student Conduct, which promotes student
educational development, academic integrity, and the rights and freedoms of the individual, it is
expected that all students will familiarize themselves with the Code of Student Conduct at
http://judicialaffairs.sa.ucsb.edu/CMSMedia/Documents/CodeofConduct2012.pdf

In particular, please note that UCSB takes the matter of plagiarism very seriously. Plagiarism is
defined as “submitting or using someone else’s ideas, words, images, computer code, music,
etc. as though they were your own” (Office of Student Conduct, 2012). All work handed in by a
student will be original work that has been done by that individual. You will certainly use the work
and ideas of others as the basis for your own work but you must credit those sources. Failure to
credit your sources will be considered an act of academic dishonesty - or plagiarism - and
can result in an automatic "F" grade for the course and a permanent notation on your
transcript.

It is a student's responsibility to request academic accommodation. If you are a student with a

disability who may require academic accommodation and have not registered with Accessibility
Services, please contact their office at. You must be registered with Accessibility Services to
access academic accommodations.

eCoach

MCDB 1A - Section 200 students will have the choice to participate in the online mentorship
program, E Coach. This online program, linked to GauchoSpace, is designed to help students
succeed in MCDB 1A – Section 200. Students who voluntarily enroll in E Coach will receive
personalized mentorship as well as time management and study strategies based on their own
academic goals. This quarter-long program is optional, but participation offers students the
opportunity to “learn how to learn” while gaining important time-management and study strategies
that will be assets in their upper-division course work; further, participation in E Coach will confer
additional course credit.

If you choose to use E2 Coach, whether or not you participate in the E2 Coach study, you will
receive 2 bonus points toward your total course grade. If you choose not to use E2 Coach, you
may also receive 2 bonus points toward your grade by completing weekly journal entries (no fewer
than 700 words) where you describe your study objectives for the week and a plan for how you
will achieve the objectives. After each quiz or midterm, you also will evaluate whether you
achieved your goal and what actions you will take based on your results that will help you achieve
your goal for the next quiz or exam. Lalo or Mike will provide these assignments to you.

Required Materials

1. MCDB1A uses readings from the textbook Campbell Biology 11th Edition by Urry (ISBN
9780134093413) You are responsible for completing all assigned readings prior to coming to
class. The assigned readings will be posted on the Gaucho Space of the course. A limited
number of Textbooks are available on reserve at the Davidson Library. Please make sure that
you regularly check your UCSB e-mail and the MCDB 1A Gaucho Space site for any changes
to the course as the quarter proceeds.

2. MCDB1A requires students have a personal iClicker. These interactive student tools can be
purchased at the UCSB bookstore.

Assessment
This course has been designed to be taught via interactive lectures as well as tutorials that will
reinforce central concepts. Students will be expected to participate in both settings and will be
involved in discussion of foundational biological topics that inspire you to think, research,
synthesize personal interpretations about the science of biology. This section of MCDB 1A will
focus on critical thinking with a thorough investigation of how understanding the scientific method
of biological research can help individuals make educated, informed decisions more broadly.
Class participation is central to your learning of course material. Midterm 1 100
Therefore, a variety of assessment techniques including formal Midterm 2 100
examinations, tutorial activities, weekly quizzes and interactive Final Exam 250
iClicker questions will be used. Final grades will be derived as Tutorial Activities 25
outlined below. Quizzes 12.5
iClicker points 12.5
Total 500

Midterm/Final Exams
This section of MCDB 1A will have two midterms (see dates in the Course Schedule below) and
cumulative final exam. Non-cumulative midterms will take place during allotted lecture time (50
minutes), and will be structured to include multiple choice. The cumulative final exam will occur
during the examination period and will be structured to include multiple choice.

MCDB 1A Tutorials/Activities
In addition to attending ‘lecture’ classes M/W/F, students will participate in one section of small
group, highly-interactive tutorials. These one-hour sessions will use in-class activities to help
highlight and reinforce key concepts that students often struggle with in MCDB 1A. Since this
interactive class time is limited to 1 hour, students will be required to watch a short 15-20-minute
video posted to Gaucho Space prior to participating in tutorial. These videos will explain the
necessary information required by the student to understand and fully participate in the tutorial.
An undergraduate Learning Assistant, a graduate Teaching Assistant and both Eduardo and Mike
will be present to help guide student learning and answer any other questions. In class activities
will not be accepted late; they must be completed as assigned.

Weekly Quizzes
Multiple choice quizzes of that week’s covered topics will be posted to Gaucho Space for this
section of MCDB 1A to complete. These quizzes are meant to help you assess your
comprehension of central concepts of this course and highlight key terminology, theory
and conceptual understanding. Students can reattempt incorrect answers in a limited fashion.
Quizzes will be opened on Gaucho Space on the Friday of each week and will be closed the
Tuesday following at 12:00PM PST.

iClickers
Instructors will use iClickers during lecture to pose questions or ask opinions of the class.
Therefore, please bring your iClicker to every lecture. Written notes (or any other form of
answering) are not an acceptable form of clicker participation.

 You must register your iClicker in the iClicker block in Gaucho Space (NOT at
iClicker.com)
 It is your responsibility to check the daily % score in the Gaucho Space gradebook to
make sure your iClicker is working throughout the quarter.
 Clicker responses are used to assess student daily participation. Each class is worth 1
clicker point. 75% of CORRECT answers are needed to obtain the clicker point of each
class.
 To account for emergencies, illness and other absences, 90% of all iClicker credits will
be equivalent to the 12.5 grade points for clickers at the end of the semester.
 Clicker points will start counting starting October 1st 2018.
Students who do not attend class lose the opportunity to earn marks for in-class
assessments.
 Course Schedule
Week Date Subject
0 9/28/2018 Course overview; Introduction to Cells and Biochemical Principles
10/1/2017 Nucleic acids and directionality
10/3/2017 Proteins, Lipids and Carbohydrates
1
10/5/2017 Membranes and CF case study
Tutorial Hershey & Chase and DNA as the Hereditary Material
10/8/2017 Gene structure and translation
10/10/2017 Translation and post translational mods
2
10/12/2017 Energy and how Enzymes work
Tutorial Transcription/Translation
10/15/2017 Enzymes and Energy Harvest
10/17/2017 Enzymes and Energy Harvest 2
3
10/19/2017 Cell theory 1 - Prokaryotes
Tutorial Energy Cycles
10/22/2017 Midterm 1 (covers up to/including Chemical Pathways)
10/24/2017 Cell theory 2 - Eukaryotes
4
10/26/2017 Cell theory 3 - Organelles
Tutorial Organelles
10/29/2017 Cell cycle, Mitosis
11/31/2017 Chromatin, Chromosomes
5
11/2/2017 Cell cycle, Mitosis
Tutorial Protein localization and Cytoskeleton
11/5/2017 How chromosomes move, cytokinesis
11/7/2017 Meiosis
6
11/9/2017 Principles of Early Development
Tutorial Meiosis vs. Mitosis Exercise, Why do we have sex?
11/12/2017 Veteran's Day
11/14/2017 Midterm II (Covers up to/including Development)
7
11/16/2017 Intro to genetics and Mendel’s monohybrid
Tutorial Mendelian Genetics I
11/19/2017 Independent Assortment and Probability
11/21/2017 Pedigree Analysis
8
11/23/2017 Thanksgiving
Tutorial Genetics II
 11/26/2017 Allelic Interactions, Epistasis and Linkage
11/28/2017 Recombination and Genetic Mapping
9
11/30/2017 Sex determination and sex linkage
Tutorial Genetics III
12/4/17 Genetic screening and therapy
12/6/17 Regulation of Eukaryotic Genes Epigenetics and MicroRNAs
10
12/8/17 Review
Tutorial Genetics IV
11 12/14/2017 Final Exam 8:00 - 11:00 AM

The schedule is tentative and subject to change to better fit the needs of the course.