First-Year Medicine
Block 1: Genes to Cells
This block covers protein biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics and
the statistics associated with these subjects. Topics covered include:
protein structure and function and some of the techniques used to assay proteins,
DNA and RNA structure and function, regulation of gene expression by
both genetic and epigenetic means, recombinant DNA technology with an emphasis
on what is used clinically, human genetics—including cytogenetics
and population genetics. There is an assignment designed to familiarize
students with some of the bioinformatics resources available on the
Internet. Biostatistics lectures cover topics applicable to genetics
such as Chi-squared test, LOD scores and genetic epidemiology.
