1. Welcome to BI 142 The Genetic Century Instructor: Dr. Clare O’Connor
Office hours:
F 3-5 in Higgins 478
or by appointment
Teaching Assistant:
Karen Zhu

2. Course syllabus is posted on Canvas
Links to course readings are incorporated into calendar:
Scientific American articles
Concepts of Genetics (open access biology text)
Scitable (Nature Education Site)
U. Utah Genetics Learning Center
Others....
Lecture capture can be accessed through the Echo Center
Note - the syllabus is dynamic and will undergo changes during the semester - Access it often!!

3. Course Grading
Midterm exams ( points each) 300
Final exam
Online quizzes (10 points each) (normalized)
Clicker points (present for 75% questions) 50 (normalized)
Class assignments (normalized)
Group presentations
(Genes in the news)
“Bump” points based on class participation (cold calls)

4. Register your i-clicker on Canvas
Some clicker practice!

5. you receive 10 points for completing it before the next class
Quiz 1 – course concepts
you receive 10 points for completing it before the next class

6. What are some of the issues that we will address in this class?

7. Our understanding of ourselves: Do our genes determine our destiny?
Phenotypes result from genes and environmental factors
Identical twins have the same genes

8. Our unique genetic identity
Human diversity:
Our unique genetic identity
Our genetic relatedness

9. Medicine becomes personalized
A new, molecular understanding of disease
Marfan syndrome
Metabolic diseases
Huntington’s Disease
Sickle cell disease

10. How did our foods originate?
The foods we eat
How did our foods originate?
Are genetically modified foods a good idea?
Golden rice
Monsters???
Flavr Savr tomatoes

11. Our understanding of life’s history
Credit: nbii.gov
Our understanding of life’s history

12. This is not the first genetic century
Civilization depended on man’s (unwitting) manipulation of genetics
Corn, beans, squash
Mesoamerica
by 3500 BC
Wheat, peas, olives
Southwestern Asia
8500 BC
Rice, millet
China
7000 BC
Potatoes
Andes
by 3500 BC
Civilizations depend on cereal crops

13. In less than 100 years after Mendel discovered the basic principles of inheritance (1865),
….the first “molecular disease”, sickle cell anemia, was identified by Linus Pauling (1949)
….the structure of DNA was described as a double helix by Watson and Crick (1953)

14. Genome: the complete genetic information of an organism
The 21st century began with the draft sequence of the human genome
Begun in 1990
Draft sequence
Completed
(exactly 50 years after the structure of DNA was solved)
A human genome can now be sequenced for several thousand dollars

15. New kinds of therapies are being developed some are controversial
Inner cell mass of human blastocysts is a source of embryonic stem cells
Gene therapies use genetically modified viruses to introduce DNA

16. Genetic engineering continues to advance
Cloned organisms
Genetically modified organisms
GloFish
Drugs are produced by organisms grown in bioreactors

17. Genome sequencing costs have dropped significantly:
The $1000 genome may not be far off

18. One view: A deterministic future based on genetics?
1997