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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cell Biology: The Cytoskeleton and Cell Cycle

Massachusetts Institute of Technology via edX

Overview

This is the second cell biology course in a three-part series. Building upon the concepts from biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology from our 7.00x Introductory Biology and 7.05x Biochemistry MOOCs, these cell biology courses transition to a comprehensive discussion of biology at an experimental level. How do we know what we know about cells at a molecular level and how can we use that knowledge to design experiments to test hypotheses in cell biology?

Do you think you know how cells grow and divide? Professor Iain Cheeseman will challenge you to see the cytoskeleton in new and beautiful ways. You will explore these structural elements of cells with an expanded toolkit to better understand the dynamic processes that generate incredible amounts of force and regulate function throughout the cell cycle.

We developed the 7.06x Cell Biology series with an emphasis on:

  • Developing your scientific thinking skills including articulating hypotheses, performing thought experiments, interpreting data, and designing experiments.
  • Using data based on real scientific experiments and highlighting the scientific process in assessments.
  • Asserting that biology is an active field that changes daily through examples of research and relevance to medicine, not static information in a textbook.
  • Uniting themes and principles that inform how scientists conduct and interpret research.
  • Implementing the science of learning in the course design.

Syllabus

  • Microscopy
  • The Actin Cytoskeleton
  • The Microtubule Cytoskeleton
  • Force Generation and Movement
  • Cell Division
  • Cell Cycle Regulation

Taught by

Iain Cheeseman, Frank Solomon, Mary Ellen Wiltrout, Darcy Gordon and Monika Avello

Reviews

5.0 rating, based on 6 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Cell Biology: The Cytoskeleton and Cell Cycle

  • Another great course of MITxBio. This course is not 700x or 705x but 706x. This course is not Part1 but Part2. Most people interested in this course already know that this is a great course. This course is as great as other courses. But I want to ad…
  • Another great course in MIT's bio series. Primarily the course covers various signaling pathways: G-proteins, which send second messengers out to start cascades; various pathways that use dimerization and autophosphorylation to start a signal; an…
  • Anonymous
    Another fantastic course, opening up the wonders of cells, their components and their behaviours. Very sympathetic lecture format coupled with some fascinating video clips really help me to get a grasp on what's happening within me. Many thanks to Prof Cheeseman and the teams at MIT and edX!
  • Anonymous
    The course is amazing and introduces many basic concepts of cell biology and connects them with ongoing research. Good for learning and even better for a comprehensive review to brush up the knowledge.
  • Maria Del Carmen Nicolazzo
    This is the 4th subject in the MIT biology courses that I have completed. All of them have been inspirational. The enthusiasm of the lecturers is contagious. They are extremely knowledgeable but most importantly they transmit that knowledge so clea…
  • Anonymous
    An excellent cell biology course from the MITx team.
    You'll learn about microtubules and actin. They turn out to be incredibly important for our most fundamental biological processes (movement and mts also govern cell cycle).
    The 7.00x and the 7.05x are a prerequisite to understand the material.

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