Division of Biological Sciences Freshman Course – NEW!
Spring 2015
Instructor: Jean Y J Wang, PhD (jywang@ucsd.edu)
COURSE TITLE:
BILD40 Introduction to Biomedical Research (IBR)
JUSTIFICATION FOR COURSE OFFERING:
The goal of this new course is to introduce freshmen students to biomedical research. The
course will be open to all freshmen students who are interested, irrespective of their declared or
intended majors.
Because diseased-oriented research has been the major driver of medical and biotechnological
innovations for the past 50 years, it is of value for any college-educated individuals to have
some ideas on biomedical research.
The School of Medicine at UCSD is one of the top leaders of biomedical research in the nation.
This course will take advantage of that local strength to introduce our freshmen students to the
physicians and the scientists who work on the leading edge of laboratory, translational and
clinical research.
SHORT COURSE DESCRIPTION FOR THE UCSD CATALOG:
This course introduces students to some of the research approaches employed by physicians
and scientists at the UCSD School of Medicine to investigate the etiology, the biology, the
prevention and the treatment of human diseases. The lecturers will explain the importance of
their areas of research and what are the unanswered questions to be addressed by their
research.
SPECIFICS:
• Targeted students: Lower Div. course; Freshmen
• Major: Open to biology majors and non-majors
• Format: Weekly lectures and Discussion sections
• Units: 2 units, one-hour lecture and one-hour discussion section per week
• Prerequisites and or other restrictions: None
• Quarter the course should be taught: Spring Qtr.
• Proposed enrollment: start with 100 students in Spring of 2015. Enrollment limit may be
increased in future years to match student interest.
• Means of evaluation: paper
• Syllabus: No Textbook
Lectures: Tuesdays, 5 to 5:50 pm
Lecture Schedule:
Week-1: Course introduction and orientation – Jean Y J Wang
Weeks 2 to 9: Eight guest lecturers:
David Brenner: Dean, SOM, on Liver Fibrosis
Bess Marcus: Chair, Family & Preventive Medicine, on Physical Activity & Public Health
Lucia Ohno-Machado: Professor of Medicine, on BioMedical Informatics & Precision Medicine
Santiago Horgan: Professor of Surgery, on Robotic-assisted Surgery
Jerry Olefsky: Professor of Medicine, on Diabetes
Atul Malhotra: Professor of Medicine, on Pathogenesis of Sleep Disorders
Razelel Kurzrock: Professor of Medicine, on Personalized Cancer Therapy
Ezra Cohen: Professor of Medicine, on Translational Cancer Research
Week-10: Course Summary –Jean Y J Wang
• LEARNING GOALS:
To gain knowledge on human diseases
To gain an appreciation for how diseases are studied in the laboratory and in the clinic
To become acquainted with UCSD SOM faculty members
To practice key-word focused and disease-oriented online research skills
To practice problem- and teamwork-based learning skills
CONTENT OVERLAP WITH CURRENT COURSES:
The Molecular Basis of Human Diseases is an upper division course for Biology Majors. There
may be some content overlap with that course. However, the target students, the format and
the learning goals are completely different between this lower division course and that existing
upper division course.
GRADING:
P/NP
To earn a P-grade, the student must submit a one-page paper (0.5 inch all around margins)
during the Final’s week.
In week-10, we will randomly assign one of the eight lecture-topics to each student. The student
will have one week to write the one-page paper. We will encourage students to work in teams.
However, each student must write his/her own one-page paper.
The one-page paper will consist of two sections: a synopsis of the assigned lecture-topic, and a
personal idea on where the future is for that area of biomedical research.
Students will be encouraged to write the synopsis at the end of each lecture and can submit as
many synopses as they wish. However, they only need to write the personal idea on the lecturetopic assigned to them. By giving them the topic assignment in week-10 will give them
incentives to attend all lectures.
PODCASTS: YES
OFFICE HOURS: YES
DISCUSSION SECTIONS: NO