Department of Genetics and Bioengineering

GBE 330 | Course Introduction and Application Information

Course Name

Nobel Prize-Winning Studies

Code	Semester	Theory (hour/week)	Application/Lab (hour/week)	Local Credits	ECTS
GBE 330	FALL	3	0	3	5

Prerequisites	None
Course Language	English
Course Type	ELECTIVE_COURSE
Course Level	First Cycle
Mode of Delivery	Face to Face
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course	Discussion Q&A Lecture / Presentation
National Occupational Classification Code	-
Course Coordinator	Prof. Dr. Zeynep Fırtına Karagonlar
Course Lecturer(s)	Prof. Dr. Zeynep Fırtına Karagonlar
Assistant(s)	-

Course Objectives

The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind”. By selecting Nobel prize-winning contributions in Genetics and Bioengineering-related areas, this course will focus on exploring the history behind some of the greatest achievements in science. We will further examine the lives of the laureates, the science behind the discovery and the impact of the prize on society.

Learning Outcomes

The students who succeeded in this course;

Name	Description	PC Sub	* Contribution Level
Name	Description	PC Sub	1	2	3	4	5
LO1	Explain historical, economical and sociocultural aspects of The Nobel Prize				X
LO2	Describe the scientific background and applications of Nobel Prize-winning studies in the field of Genetics and Bioengineering, as well as discuss these studies from ethical perspective				X
LO3	Discuss the achievements of selected Nobel laureates and their impacts on society				X
LO4	Perform literature search, write a scientific essay, and perform an oral presentation on a selected Nobel Prize.				X

Course Description

This course covers the scientific description and contribution of Nobel Prize-winning studies in the field of Genetics and Bioengineering.

Related Sustainable Development Goals

Course Category	Core Courses
	Major Area Courses	X
	Supportive Courses
	Media and Managment Skills Courses
	Transferable Skill Courses

WEEKLY SUBJECTS AND RELATED PREPARATION STUDIES

Week	Subjects	Required Materials	Learning Outcome
1	Introduction to Nobel Prize	www.nobelprize.org	LO1
2	“Genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death” - Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz and John E. Sulston	Sydney Brenner. Nature’s gift to science. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2002. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/brenner-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) H. Robert Horvitz. Worms, life and death. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2002 https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/horvitz-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) John E. Sulston. C. elegans: The cell Lineage and beyond. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2002.https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/sulston-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02)	LO2
3	“Discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein” - Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsie	Osamu Shimomura. Discovery of green fluorescent protein, GFP. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2008. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/shimomura_lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) Roger Y. Tsien. Constructing and exploiting the fluorescent protein paintbox. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2008. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/tsien_lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02)	LO2
4	“The specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies” - Niels K. Jerne, Georges J.F. Köhler and César Milstein	Niels K. Jerne. The generative grammar of, the immune system. Nobel lecture, 8 December 1984. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/jerne-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) Georges Köhler. Derivation and diversification of monoclonal antibodies. Nobel lecture, 8 December, 1984. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/kohler-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) César Milstein. From the structure of antibodies to the diversification of the immune response. Nobel lecture, 8 December, 1984. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/milstein-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02)	LO2
5	“Odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system” - Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck	Richard Axel. Scents and sensibility: a molecular logic of olfactory perception. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2004. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/axel-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) Linda B. Buck. Unraveling the sense of smell. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2004. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/buck-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02)	LO2
6	“The biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA” - Paul Berg “The determination of base sequences in nucleic acids” - Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger	Nicole Kresge, Robert D. Simoni and Robert L. Hill Amino Acyl Ribonucleic Acid Formation and Recombinant DNA Technology: the Work of Paul Berg. The journal of biological chemistry Vol. 280, No. 45, Issue of November 11, p. e42, 2005. Shendure J, Balasubramanian S, Church GM, Gilbert W, Rogers J, Schloss JA, Waterston RH. DNA sequencing at 40: past, present and future. Nature. 2017 Oct 19;550(7676):345-353. doi: 10.1038/nature24286. Epub 2017 Oct 11.	LO2
7	“Discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation” - James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo	C. I. Edvard Smith, Rikard Holmdahl, Olle Kämpe & Klas Kärre. Discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. Members of the Nobel Committee and Members of the Nobel Assembly. Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, September 30, 2018. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/10/advanced-medicineprize2018.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02)	LO3
8	Midterm		-
9	“The discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent” - Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka and “Discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy” - Yoshinori Ohsumi	"Sir John B. Gurdon. The Egg and the Nucleus: A Battle for Supremacy. Nobel Lecture, December 7, 2013. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/gurdon-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) Shinya Yamanaka. The Winding Road to Pluripotency. Nobel Lecture, December 7, 2012. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/yamanaka-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) Yoshinori Ohsumi. Molecular Mechanisms of Autophagy in Yeast. Nobel Lecture, December 7, 2016. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/ohsumi-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) "	LO3
10	“Discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm” - Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young	Huang RC. The discoveries of molecular mechanisms for the circadian rhythm: The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Biomed J. 2018 Feb;41(1):5-8. doi: 10.1016/j.bj.2018.02.003. Epub 2018 Mar 29.	LO3
11	”Invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method” - Kary B. Mullis	Kary B. Mullis. The Polymerase Chain Reaction. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1993. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1993/mullis/lecture/ (28/04/2019 - 14:02)	LO3
12	“Discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain” - John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser	John O’Keefe. Spatial Cells in the Hippocampal Formation. Nobel Lecture, 7 December 2014. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/okeefe-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) May-Britt Moser. Grid Cells, Place Cells and Memory. Nobel Lecture, 7 December 2014. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/may-britt-moser-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) Edvard I. Moser. Grid Cells and the Entorhinal Map of Space. Nobel Lecture, 7 December 2014. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/edvard-moser-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02)	LO3
13	“Discovery of RNA interference – gene silencing by double-stranded RNA” - Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello	Andrew Z. Fire. Gene silencing by double stranded RNA. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2006. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/fire_lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) Craig C. Mello. Return to the RNAi world: rethinking gene expression and evolution. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2006. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/mello_lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02)	LO4
14	“Development of a method for genome editing." Emmanuelle Charpentier Jennifer A. Doudna	Tomas Lindahl. The Intrinsic Fragility of DNA. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2015. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/lindahl-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) Paul Modrich. Mechanisms in E. coli and Human Mismatch Repair. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2015. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/modrich-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02) Aziz Sancar. Mechanisms of DNA Repair by Photolyase and Excision Nuclease. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2015. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/sancar-lecture.pdf (28/04/2019 - 14:02)	LO4
15	Review of the course	Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna, Genetic scissors: a tool for rewriting the code of life. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2020/10/popular-chemistryprize2020.pdf (09/06/2012 - 17:00)	LO4
16	Final		-

Course Notes/Textbooks	Francis Leroy. A Century of Nobel Prize Recipients: Chemistry Physics and Medicine (Neurological Disease & Therapy) 1st Edition. CRC Press 1 edition (March 13 2003). ISBN: 978-0824708764.
Suggested Readings/Materials	-

EVALUATION SYSTEM

Semester Activities	Number	Weighting	LO1	LO2	LO3	LO4
Homework / Assignments	1	25	X			X
Presentation / Jury	1	25	X		X
Midterm	1	20		X	X
Final Exam	1	30		X	X
Total	4	100

ECTS / WORKLOAD TABLE

Semester Activities	Number	Duration (Hours)	Workload
Participation	-	-	-
Theoretical Course Hours	16	3	48
Laboratory / Application Hours	-	-	-
Study Hours Out of Class	16	2	32
Field Work	-	-	-
Quizzes / Studio Critiques	-	-	-
Portfolio	-	-	-
Homework / Assignments	1	10	10
Presentation / Jury	1	20	20
Project	-	-	-
Seminar / Workshop	-	-	-
Oral Exams	-	-	-
Midterms	1	20	20
Final Exam	1	20	20
		Total	150