A10. Topics in Biology: How Did We Get to Know What We Know?

Advances in science usually come incrementally by building on what came before, but every once in a while a new idea, or a new technology, produces a dramatic leap forward.   In this course we explore how we have reached the current level of understanding of selected topics of biology (e.g., genetics, the cardiovascular system, diabetes, nerves, and muscles)..  For each topic we will look at critical discoveries, the people who made them, and the technology that made such discoveries possible.  

Course notes

PowerPoint presentations for this course are available for download:

• DNA - 9/7
• Diabetes - 9/14
  
• Cardiovascular - 9/21
  

Please note that these notes contain copyrighted materials that are to be used only by students of this course.

GROUP LEADERS:  Dr. Moe Goodman is the retired founding chairman of the Department of Physiology at UMass Medical School where he taught human physiology for 40 years.  Previously he served as Associate Professor of Physiology at Harvard Medical School where he also earned the PhD degree in Physiology.  

Dr. Peter Grigg is emeritus professor of physiology at UMass Medical School where he has taught physiology since 1972.  He received his PhD in Physiology from the State University of New York at Syracuse.