BACK TO WORK!

In this post I will detach the different projects of the second block of units. As you will see, we have finished with the study of space and the planet Earth and are now going "head first" into biology, biochemistry, genetics and medicine. I'm sure you all agree with me that they are all interesting subjects that affect us all and are topical themes. I hope you learn a lot and enjoy doing them.

1.- CELLS: THE UNITS OF LIFE.
      1.- THE CELL.
      1.1.- Definition of the cell.
      1.2.- Different kinds of cells. (Eucaryotic and procaryotic)
      1.3.- Cell theory (tenets and explanation of them).
      1.3.1.- Importance of cell theory (for human beings, consecuences, meaning...)
      2.- GENETIC MATERIAL
      2.1.- Nucleotids (different kinds, chemical composition (brief), matching...)
      2.2.- DNA and RNA (Differences in structure and in functions, different kinds of RNA...)
      2.3.- Organisation of DNA
      2.3.1.- Eucaryotic Chromosomes (What are they? When do they appear? Function? ....?)
      2.3.2.- Procaryotic chromosome
      3.- DIFFERENT KINDS OF CELL DIVISION. (Mitosis and meiosis. Meaning of mitosis in unicellular and pluricellular organisms. Meaning of meiosis.)

2.- DNA.
      1.- INTRODUCTION: BASIC STRUCTURE OF DNA. (Brief review of what we saw in the last project, but focusing on eucaryotic cells. What are introns and exons)
      2.- DNA REPLICATION. (How does DNA copy itself?) (DNA synthesis)
      3.- TRANSCRIPTION AND TRANSLATION OF DNA/RNA. (How is the information in DNA read? How is  DNA expressed? Where and how does it happen?)
      4.- ¿WHAT ARE GENES?
      5.- MENDELIAN INHERITANCE. (Brief explanation and tenets)
      6.- DEVELOPMENT AND GENETICS (How do we go from one small simple cell to a whole pluricellular adult. Stem cells)
      7.- EPIGENETICS. (Definition. Brief explanation. What if Lammark not that wrong in the end?)

3.- APLICATIONS OF GENETICS:
      1.- DEFINITION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY. (Explain the main processes and tools)
      2.- PHARMACEUTICAL APLICATIONS. (Creation of microorganisms "a la carte" and fabrication of proteins.
      3.- GMO's (GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS) (Plants: different ways to achieve GM and examples. Advantages and problems posed by GMOs)
      4.- MEDICAL APPLICATIONS (Stem cells, genic therapy, gene therapy, genetical diagnosys....)
      5.- HUMAN GENOME PROJECT (definition, importance, stage of advance...)
      6.- CSI (las vegas :)   (Criminal investigagion Genetics)  (Genetical parental testing, genetical suspect identification...)


4.- HEALTH AND DISEASES
      1.- DEFINITION OF HEALTH AND DISEASES. (and some other concepts: quality of life, life expectancy...)
      2.- ENVIROMENT AND GENETICS (genetic predisposition vs enviromental factors (physical and chemical ones)
      3.- DIFFERENT TYPES OF DISEASES (Just a brief clasification without explaining each type, just explain your clasification criteria)
      4.- MEASURES TO PREVENT INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
      5.- HEALTH HABITS (Measures to prevent non-infectious diseases)
      6.- EVOLUTION IN THE INCIDENCE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF DISEASES AND IT'S CAUSE. (Why has the importance of infectious deseases decreased?)


5.- INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
      1.- DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BACTERIA, VIRUS, PROTOZOO AND FUNGI.
      2.- BACTERIA (pathogene and not)
      3.- VIRUS (How do they work? Different kinds of virus and life cycles in virus.)
      4.- TRANSMISSION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
      5.- MAIN INFECTIOUS DISEASES (This is the most important and longest part of the project. Detach each type of infectious disease. Give some examples and explain them briefly).
            5.1.- Virus
            5.2.- Bacteria
            5.3.- Fungi
            5.4.- Protozoa.


6.- NON-INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
      1.- ENVIROMENTAL DISEASES.
           1.1.- Main enviromental factors that affect us.
           1.2.- Most important enviromental diseases.
      2.- TUMORS AND CANCER.
            2.1.- Definitios (tumor, cancer, metastasis...)
            2.2.- Causes of cancer (genetic, carcinogens...)
            2.3.- Treatments for cancer.
      3.- ENDOCRINE, METABOLIC AND NUTRITIONAL DISEASES (brief explanation and examples.)
      4.- CIRCULATORY SYSTEM DISEASES (colesterol, hypertension, myocardial infarctation....)
      5.- MENTAL DISEASES (defintion. explain briefly the most important).
      6.- SUBSTANCE DEPENDENCE.


7.- MEDICINE AND THE BODY'S DEFENCES.
      1.- DEFENCES
            1.1.- Defensive systems (pasive or inespecific and active or especific) (different types of each kind of mechanism, and explanation)
      2.- MEDICINE.
            2.1.- Historical introduction (4 schools of medicine).
            2.2.- Diagnosys of different diseases (related with 2.1) (main techniques. schematic)
            2.3.- Medicines (definition and main types)
            2.4.- Antibiotics (included in 2.3) (definition, how do they work? different kinds)
            2.5.- Vacuum (Definition, different kinds and funcionamineto)
            2.6.- Surgery (different kinds, advantages and disadvantages, risks, different types, techniques...)


8.- ETHIC IN BIOSCIENCE.
      1.- PRIVATE INVESTIGATION AND PUBLIC INTEREST. (What is the relation between public institutions and science? Does private investigation benefit the society? How is science conditioned by founding. Opinion)
      2.- ANIMAL TESTING (Lab animals. What are they used for? Are they necessary? Where are the limits? What does the law say? Opinion.
      3.- ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF GMOs
      4.- DESIGNER BABIES (niños a la carta) (Embryonic genetic selection) (uses, limits, moral dilema, opinion)
      5.- ACCIDENTS?  (Bhopal, Monsanto.) Read about it and make a short briefing of what happened in both cases).




Very soon I will post the questions about thess projects, so you can make sure that your work is on the right path and all questions are getting answered. I remind you that the projects and the PPTs must include the answers to the questions, but they must not be organized arround these questions.

I hope that after this first round of work and the subsequent exam, we are all clear on what are we supposed to do and what our responsabilities are with ourselves, with our group and with the class. If you give me enough time I will be glad to answer your questions by email. Ah, one more thing. We have passed the first contact phase, so, now that you know what is asked of you, I will be more demanding with your work. If you want good grades you will have to be worthy of them.

Soon enough after the questions I will post some things that I want you to take into account when doing your bibliographical reference list and the group diary. (and also the project and the ppt).

So.... LET'S HIT IT!!