Course Information LS3 Section 1: Introduction to Molecular Biology Instructor: Debra Pires Office Hours: T 12-1 and W 8-10

Schlicter Hall 2877 debpires@ucla.edu, phone 825-0376

Course Website: https://ccle.ucla.edu/ Click on View your sites to login. Once you sign into this website a list of your courses will appear, select the appropriate course and then you will have access to anything I have uploaded to the course site. Text: Fundamental Molecular Biology by L. Allison 2e Course TAs: Below you will find the information for the TAs if you have questions related to the labs or discussion sections please ask the appropriate TA. TA lab sections are listed on the lscore labs website: http://lslab.lscore.ucla.edu

Aschemeyer, Sharraya Campos, Oscar CHANG, CHRISTINA Srinivas, Prathna Harouty, Bella

sharraya@ucla.edu oacampos@ucla.edu cchang429@ucla.edu psrinivas@ucla.edu bharouty@ucla.edu

Lectures: TR 2:00-3:15 La Kretz 110 Lectures will be based on the reading listed in this handout. There will be additional examples given in the class that may not be from the text, but are chosen to help in understanding different concepts in the course. Lectures will be posted on the course website the night before by 10PM so that you can print them out and bring them to class if you choose. Discussion sections: You can find the appropriate discussion room on the LS Core Labs website http://lslab.lscore.ucla.edu/. Discussion section attendance is mandatory. Discussion sections are run by your TAs and are your opportunity to ask questions about material that may seem unclear, or to go over problems that have been assigned to help you study for the exams. You must attend the discussion schedule in which you are enrolled. If you need to switch a section you must confirm it with your TA and the TA for the section you will be attending that week. You may not simply show up to another section or lab without arranging everything ahead of time. There will be short quizzes and group exercises given during discussion sections. Each discussion section is worth 10 points towards your final grade. Reading Quizzes: There will be a quiz administered on the CCLE course website beginning in Week 2 and ending in Week 10. There will be no reading quizzes on the weeks with midterms. These quizzes are based on the current weeks reading. In order to prepare for Week 2 reading quiz read the assigned material in the schedule for Week 2. They are only available for a limited time (11 AM Sundays until 1 PM Mondays), You

must login and take the quiz before the quiz time ends (i.e. 1PM Mondays). You will be given 20 minutes to complete the quiz. This time limit is enforced and you will not be able to answer any questions once the time limit is reached. Reading quizzes are open book, and they are designed to help you look over the material and be prepared for what we will be covering in class. Under no circumstances are the quizzes meant to be done collaboratively with other students, this means that you need to work alone whole completing the quizzes. Exams and Review Sessions: You have two midterms for the course. Both midterms are held in the evenings, so please plan accordingly. The midterms for this class are on October 24th and November 14th. You must take the exams on the scheduled date as there are no make-up exams. Failure to appear, hand in, or take an exam will result in a zero for that exam. There are no exceptions to this policy. Enrollment: All questions related to enrollment should be taken to the LS Core office in Hershey Hall room 222. You can also e-mail them at the following e-mail address: LSCore@lifesci.ucla.edu. If you would like to switch sections, there is a sign-up board just to the left of the door to the Core Office where you can try to find students that are also looking to switch sections. If you find a student to switch with, then both of you must go to the Core Office together and they will change your official section enrollments. Exams and Grading: Material for the exams will be taken from lectures, the text, additional posted readings, problems that have been posted on the course website, problems handed out in lecture and material from your discussion section. There will be a mix of multiple choice and true/false questions on the exams. The exams will cover all material up to the Thursday before the exam. For example, the first midterm will cover material from weeks 1-3. All grades will be posted into MyUCLA. You will have a chance to review your exam during the discussion section following the exam, you will not be able to keep your midterms or finals. Midterm 1: October 24th 5 6:50 PM Rooms: TBA Midterm 2: November 14th 5 6:50 PM Rooms: TBA Final Exam: December 10th 3 6 PM Rooms: TBA Regrading policy: Any request for a regrade must be made within one week of the assignment being returned to you. You must write out your request for a regrade and staple it to the front of the assignment. You must turn it into the LS Core Office within one week of receiving the graded assignment. Regrades will be addressed at the end of the quarter if the number of disputed points will have an effect on your final grade in the course. If you think there has been a simple addition error on the assignment then write a note explaining which page was added incorrectly, attach this to the front of the assignment and let your TA know when you return the assignment during discussion or lab. Turning Point Clickers: Students are required to bring Turning Point clickers to class beginning Tuesday 10/09. Students use clickers to respond to questions posed during lecture. Each lecture is worth 4 points towards your participation grade. You must register your clicker online to be included in the course roster and to receive participation

points (There is a how to register your clicker document on the CCLE course website). You will receive two free days of points this means that you can miss two lectures and not be penalized points. You must answer all of the questions each day to receive full participation credit for that day. You may not share a clicker with someone else in this lecture. Answering questions for another student not in attendance constitutes cheating and both students involved will be referred to the Dean of Students for academic dishonesty. You should check your participation daily to make sure that you are receiving points. If you have noticed a problem (i.e. your points arent showing up and you know you attended class) then you must notify me by the end of Week 3. Many times the issue will be that you did not register your clicker correctly. I am not responsible for any issues with your participation grade if you fail to inform me of any problems during the quarter and choose to wait until the end of the quarter to bring up any issues. If you lose your clicker and purchase another clicker you must notify me in person so that I may change your clicker ID on the roster i.e. re-registering the new clicker on the Turning Point website will not suffice. Point Breakdown: Midterm 1 Midterm 2 Final Exam Discussion Reading Quizzes Participation Total Points 120 120 190 100 70 72 672

If the class mean is 75% or higher, letter grades will be based on a straight percentage of the total points in the class, see the breakdown below. Within each letter grade, a minus (-) will be assigned to the bottom three percentage points and a plus (+) will be assigned to the top three percentage points (e.g. 80-82.9% is a B-, 87-89.9% is a B+). If the class mean is lower than 75% the scale will be adjusted to compensate (e.g. 89% may become an A-). Under no circumstances will grades be curved down. You can use the straight grading scale as an indicator of your minimum grade in the course. I am not responsible for tracking your progress in the course, you should keep track of your own points so that at any time during the quarter so you know your minimum standing in the class. If and when, for any reason, you have concerns about your grade, then that is a great time to come and see me so we can discuss study techniques or alternative strategies to help you along in this course. Lecture Etiquette: Although you are one in a class of many, your behavior has an impact on other students in the course. If you are going to be late by any amount of time, enter the room from the second floor entrance and then quickly find a seat. All cell phones must be turned off. Computers should be used for the sole purpose of taking notes, and not for facebook updates, tweeting, carrying on long conversations with your neighbor, looking at websites, etc. during class time. While you may not think that these activities bother others, it is not fair to those who have come to lecture and are fully engaged in the activities of the day. You have signed up to be in this course at the designated time, I will hold you to that agreement.

Academic Dishonesty: My best advice to you is just dont do it!!! If you are caught cheating (e.g. giving answers to someone else, receiving answers from someone else, turning in any written work that is not your own for points, copying passages from websites, copying passages from your or any other textbook, you should be getting the idea by now) on any graded material in the course you will receive a zero as your score for that assignment. In addition, you will be reported immediately to the Dean of Students NO EXCEPTIONS for further action.

Lecture Schedule and Readings:

Week 0 Week 1

Lecture Topic Review of Course Nucleic acids, DNA structure, DNA as the genetic material, the nature of the genome Proteins and Enzymes, protein analysis DNA replication and repair DNA transcription

Reading Sections 1.2-1.5 Chapter 2 Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Chapter 6 and 7 Chapter 10 sections 1 and 2 Chapter 11 Chapter 13 sections 1-5 Chapter 14 Chapter 10 sections 3-6 Chapter 13 sections 6-8 Chapter 10 sections 3-6 Chapter 13 sections 6-8 Chapter 12 sections 1-4 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 sections 4-6 Handouts Handouts

Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Week 5 Week 6 Week 7

DNA translation Control of gene expression Control of gene expression

Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

Molecular techniques and applications Phylogenies and Genomics Bigger Picture and In the News

N.B. This syllabus represents the content of the course at the time of its printing. Modification may be made if deemed necessary. All students will be notified via an announcement in lecture, and posted in the course website of any changes to the syllabus if they should occur.