Department_Chair: Richard C. Back II
Department_Chair_Email: back@oswego.edu
Additional_Contact: James A. MacKenzie (Chair of Department Curriculum
Committee)
Additional_Contact_Email: jmackenz@oswego.edu
Course_Number: Bio 211
Course_Type: New Course
Course_Title: Human Genetics
Catalog_Description: An introductory course for non-science majors on
the basic principles of human genetics. Emphasis is on the mechanisms
of inheritance at the molecular, cellular and population levels. Human
heredity will be introduced using concepts from both classical and
modern genetics. Not for major credit.
Prerequisites: None.
Sp_every Spring: Yes
Semester_Hours: 3
Justification: Genetics is a very active, exciting, relevant science
that has a significant impact on everyoneâ??s daily lives. This course
supports the General Education program (Knowledge Foundations in the
Natural Sciences) by targeting freshman and sophomore non-science
majors with no background in biology, chemistry or mathematics. This
course will introduce these students to human genetics, help them
better attain scientific literacy, and aid them in making informed
decisions about their personal medical care and as citizens engaged in
public debates related to human genetics and biotechnology. This course
will also provide students with an appreciation of the genetic
uniqueness of each individual and the biological basic of human
diversity. This course will be taught in a large instruction lecture
format as the material can easily be transmitted via this format.
Course_Objectives: The objectives of this course are to:
â?¢ articulate the basic principles of human genetics at a level that
non-science majors can understand including the chemical nature of the
genetic material, how the DNA is arranged, and how genetic information
is transmitted from generation to generation;
â?¢ gain sufficient knowledge to be able to make bioethical decisions
and evaluate issues that involve human genetics including how to make
informed health decisions concerning genetic issues;
â?¢ foster an awareness of the relevance of human genetics as a parent
or as a thoughtful and caring member of society and to stimulate
thought on the moral and ethical issues associated with modern
genetics;
â?¢ examine the social, cultural, and ethical implications associated
with the use of genetic technology and be able to apply them to reallife situations;
â?¢ use contemporary issues as a spring board for learning critical
thinking and discussing contemporary biogenetic issues affecting
students, their family, their future work environments, and apply this
critical thinking and discussions to issues facing our society as a
whole;
â?¢ discuss the impact of science and technology on society and the
influence of society on scientific advances;
â?¢ articulate an understanding of the genetic relatedness of all life
on this planet with an emphasis on the origins and evolution of human
genetic diversity;
â?¢ articulate an understand of the scientific method, especially with
complex topics such as cancer and human behavior, evolution, and
genetic engineering;
â?¢ provide critical thinking skills, attain scientific literacy and an
understanding of how scientific information is gathered, the way it
influences our lives and how to evaluate new scientific discoveries.
Course_Description: Rationales for offering this course are to:
â?¢ Promote the general education program and address the demands for
scientific literacy among non-science majors.
â?¢ Present the principles of human genetics in a clear, concise
manner.
â?¢ Help students to comprehend and interpret discoveries and
technologies in human genetics.
â?¢ Help students to make more informed decisions about their health
care related to human genetics and more actively engage in the public
debate regarding the infusion of genetic technologies in our society.
â?¢ Provide students with a foundation for understanding of the
biological basis of human diversity and the principles of human
evolution.
Conceptual Subject Matter Outline
Subject matter content may include all or some of the following:
â?¢ Basic genetics including how genes work, how genetic information is
transmitted, and how scientists study genes.
â?¢ Cells, chromosomes, and cell division including cell structure and
function, the cell cycle, and cell types.
â?¢ Transmission of genes including how genes are inherited, basic
Mendelian genetics, and how Mendelian genetics applies to humans.
â?¢ Pedigree analysis, the inheritance of human traits, and gene
expression.
â?¢ Polygenes and multifactorial inheritance.
â?¢ Cytogenetics, including variation in chromosome structure and
number.
â?¢ Development and sex determination including an overview of human
sexual differentiation, sex limited and sex influenced traits, and the
impact of substances (teratogens) on human development.
â?¢ DNA structure and function, chromosomal organization, gene
expression, and the flow of genetic information.
â?¢ Protein structure and function, metabolic pathways,
pharmacogenetics and ecogenetics.
â?¢ The nature and cause of mutations including measuring mutations,
environmental factors influencing mutation and the molecular basis of
mutations.
â?¢ An introduction to modern genetic technologies such as cloning and
recombinant DNA.
â?¢ Biotechnology and genomics such as recombinant DNA, DNA
fingerprinting, the Human Genome Project, and ethical issues associated
with these technologies.
â?¢ Cancer genetics and immunogenetics.
â?¢ Genetics of behavior.
â?¢ Population genetics, human diversity and evolution.
â?¢ Genetic testing, gene therapy and genetic counseling.
Course Requirements:
â?¢ Attending class.
â?¢ Completing reading assignments.
â?¢ Taking scheduled examinations and quizzes.
Where appropriate, participating in class discussions and writing
reaction papers.
Methods of Instruction may include the following:
â?¢ Large lecture format
Additional instructional methods may include video presentations, guest
speakers, in-class discussions, attending presentations, and web-based
assignments.
Means of Evaluation:
â?¢ In class examinations and a final examination. Students may be
asked to write reaction papers, take quizzes, make class presentations,
or write research papers.
Resources: This course will make extensive use of Internet resources
including such resources as Online Mendelian In Man (OMIM), the Human
Gene Mutation Database (HGMD) and related online resources. This course
will also make use of library resources (books, journals and databases)
available from or through Penfield Library. No additional Library or
Computer resources beyond those currently available will be needed.
Bibliography: Possible textbooks:
Cummings, Michael T. 2006 Human Heredity: Principles and Issues.
Thompson Brooks, Cole.
Cummings, Michael T. 2008 Human Genetics and Society. Thompson Brooks,
Cole.
Joblin, Mark, Matthew Hurles, Chris Tyler-Smith 2003 Human Evolutionary
Genetics: Origins, Peoples & Disease; Garland Science.
Korf, Bruce R. 2006 Human Genetics and Genomics; Blackwell Publishers.
Lewin, Roger, Robert A. Foley 2006 Human Evolution: An Illustrated
Introduction 5e. Blackwell Publishers.
Lewis, Ricki 2008 Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications 8e; McGrawHill.
Mange, Elaine Johansen, Arthur P. Mange
Sinauer Associates.
2001 Basic Human Genetics.
Strachan, Tom and Andrew Read 2003 Human Molecular Genetics, 3e
Garland.
Weiss, Kenneth M. and Anne V. Buchman 2004 Genetics and the Logic of
Evolution; Wiley-Liss.
Wells, Spencer. 2004 The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey; Random
House.
Selected Books and Journal Articles:
Allan, J.S. 1996 â??Xenotransplantation at a Crossroads: Prevention
Versus Progress.â?• Nature Medicine. 2 18-21.
Ames, B. et al. 1995 â??The causes and prevention of cancer.â?•
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) U.S.A. 92. 52585265.
Barash, Carol Isaacson 2008 Just Genes: the Ethics of Genetic
Technology. Praeger.
Barnum, S. R. 2005. Biotechnology 2e Brooks-Cole.
Brenner, C. & Cohen J. 2000 â??The genetic revolution in artificial
reproduction: A view of the futureâ?•. Human Reproduction, 15
(Supplement 5) 111-116.
Cavalli,-Sforza, Luigi-Luca 2001 Genes, Peoples, and Languages.
University of California Press ISBN: 0520228731
Chandonia, J.M. 2006. The impact of structural genomics: expectations
and outcomes. Science. 311. 347-351.
Comings, D.E. 2001 â??Clinical and molecular genetics of ADHD and
Tourette syndrome: Two related polygenic disordersâ?•. Annals of the
New York Academy of Sciences. 931. 50-83.
Congressional Research Service 2002 Genetic Engineering, Human
Genetics, and Cell Biology: Evolution of the Technological Issues.
Books for Business.
Dawkins, Richard. 2004. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn
of Evolution. Houghton Mifflin.
Devore, E. and C.R. Cloninger 1989 â??The genetics of alcoholism.â?•
Annual Review of Genetics. 23. 19-36.
Durham, W. 1991 Coevolution: Genes, culture and human diversity.
Stanford University Press. Stanford.
Eberhard, M.D. 2008 Color Atlas of Genetics 3e. Thieme Medical
Publishing.
Entine, Jon 2007. Abrahamâ??s Children: race, identity and the DNA of
the chosen people. Garland Publishing.
Gehring, V.V. (ed.) 2003 Genetic Prospects: Essays on Biotechnology,
Ethics and
Public Policy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. New York.
Gee, Henry. 2004. Jacob's Ladder: The History of the Human Genome. W.
W. Norton & Company.
Glannon, Walter 2002 Genes and Future People: Philosophical Issues in
Human Genetics. Westview Press.
Goldstein, D. B 2008 Jacobâ??s Legacy: a genetic view of Jewish
history. Yale University Press.
Green, Ronald Michael 2007. Babies by Design: the ethics of choice.
Yale University Press.
Henig, R.M. The Monk in the Garden: The lost and found genius of Gregor
Mendel, the father of genetics. Houghton-Mifflin.
Jaenisch, R. and I. Wilmut. 2001 â??Developmental biology: Donâ??t
clone humans.â?• Science. 291 2552.
Johnson, Norman A., 2007. Darwinian Detectives: revealing the natural
history of genes and genomes. Oxford University Press.
Kim, J. et.al. 2002. Telomeres, aging and cancer: In search of a happy
ending. Oncogene 21: 503-511.
Kohiyama, M. et.al. 2003. Bacterial Sex: Playing voyeurs 50 years
later. Science 301: 802-803.
Korf, Bruce R. 2007. Human Genetics and Genomics. Blackwell Press.
Lonberg, N. 2005. Human antibodies from transgenic animals. Nature
Biotechnology. 23: 1117-1125.
Marantz, Henig. 2001 The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius
of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics . Mariner.
McKusick, V.A. (ed.) 2008 Mendelian inheritance in man: a catalog of
human genes and genetic disorders."16th e., JHUP. Baltimore
Also
online as Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim/ National Center for Biotechnology
information.
Monsour, Daniel, 2007 The Ethics of the New Genetics: an integrated
approach. University of Toronto Press.
Olson, Steve 2003 Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common
Origins Mariner Books.
Oppenheimer, Stephen 2003 The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of
Africa. Carroll & Graf Publishers.
Pearson, H. 2006. What is a gene. Nature. 441: 399-401.
Ridley, Mark 2002 Genome: The autobiography of a species in 23
chapters. Harper Collins
Ridley, Mark 2004 The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture.
Perennial.
Ridley, Matt 2003 Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes
Us Human. Harper Collins.
Robertson, J.A. 2001 â??Human embryonic stem cell research: Ethical and
legal issues.â?• Nature Review of Genetics. 2 74-78.
Sarich, Vincent and Frank Miele, 2004 Race: The Reality of Human
Differences. Westview Press ISBN: 0813340861
Sayre, A. 2000 Rosalind Franklin and DNA. Norton. New York.
Simpson, J.L, et. al. 2000 â??Gender verification in the Olympics.â?•
JAMA 284. 2568-2569.
Stone, Linda, Paul F. Lurquin, and L.L. Cavalli-Sforza. 2007 Genes,
Culture and Human Evolution: a synthesis. Blackwell.
Sykes, Brian 2002. The Seven Daughters of Eve W. W. Norton.
Wexler, Barbara. 2008. Genetics and Genetic Engineering.
Thomson Gale.
Venter, Craig C. 2007. A Life Decoded: my genome, my life. Viking
Press.
Wallace, D., and A. Torroni, 1992 â??American-Indian prehistory as
written in the mitochondrial DNA: A reviewâ?•. Human Biology. 64. 403416.
Watson, J.D. 1968. The double helix. Athenaeum, New York
Watson, J.D. and A. Berry 2003 DNA: The secret of life. Knopf.
Other_Comments: This course is a revision of Zoology 302 Human Genetics
which was a non-science majors course and was an approved (Old) General
Education course in â??Human Diversityâ?•. This course has been revised
for the current General Education program as a Knowledge Foundations
course in the Natural Sciences.
IP_Adress: 129.3.26.123