Courses
The Structural Biology department offers course work and opportunities for research in structural biology, though our students also draw on the wide array of courses offered by other departments and programs. Information about additional courses can be obtained from the Stanford University Bulletin.
SBIO 199. Undergraduate Research Investigations sponsored by individual
faculty members. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
1-18 units, Aut, Win, Spr, Sum (Staff)
SBIO 228. Computational Structural Biology-(Same as BIOPHYS 228.)
Interatomic forces and interactions such as electrostatics and hydrophobicity,
and protein structure in terms of amino acid properties, local chain
conformation, secondary structure, domains, and families of folds. How
protein motion can be simulated. Bioinformatics introduced in terms of
methods that compare proteins via their amino acid sequences and their
three-dimensional structures. Structure prediction via simple comparative
modeling. How to detect and model remote homologues. Predicting
the structure of a protein from knowledge of its amino acid sequence.
Via Internet.
3 units, Aut, Spr (Levitt, M)
SBIO 229. The Eukaryote Chromosome - The principles of chromosome structure
and function including the structure, dynamics, and topological forms
of DNA; units and hierarchies of DNA coiling in chromosomes; centromeres,
telomeres, and basis of chromosome maintenance and sorting in mitosis;
mechanism of gene activation with particular regard to enhancer,
promoter, and terminator sequences; basis of sequence-specific protein-DNA
interaction; and organization and assembly of the cell nucleus. Prerequisite:
knowledge of basic biochemistry and cell biology.
3 units, not given this year
SBIO 241. Biological Macromolecules-(Same as BIOC 241, BIOPHYS 241.)
The physical and chemical basis of macromolecular function. Forces
that stabilize biopolymers with three-dimensional structures and their
functional implications. Thermodynamics, molecular forces, and
kinetics of enzymatic and diffusional processes, and relationship to
their practical application in experimental design and interpretation.
Biological function and the level of individual molecular interactions
and at the level of complex processes. Case studies. Prerequisites:
introductory biochemistry and physical chemistry or consent of instructor.
3-5 units, Aut (Herschlag, D; Puglisi, J; Garcia, K; Ferrell, J;
Block, S; Pande, V; Weis, W; Harbury, P)
SBIO 242. Methods in Molecular Biophysics-(Same as BIOPHYS 242.)
The potential utility of physical approaches to research, and how
to evaluate literature that incorporates these methods. Experimental
methods in molecular biophysics from theoretical and practical standpoints. Emphasis
is on X-ray diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Additional topics include fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism,
calorimetry, and separation methods. Prerequisite: physical chemistry
or consent of instructor.
3 units, Puglisi, J; Weis, W.
SBIO 274. Topics in Nucleic Acid Structure and Function-Principles
of nucleic acid structure and function. Methods for investigating
nucleic acid structure. Limited to graduate students and postdoctoral
fellows in structural biology. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
2 units, Spr (Puglisi, J)
SBIO 299. Directed Reading in Structural Biology-Prerequisite: consent
of instructor.
1-18 units, Aut, Win, Spr, Sum (Staff)
SBIO 399. Graduate Research-Investigations sponsored by individual
faculty members. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
1-18 units, Aut, Win, Spr, Sum (Staff)
