Medical Biology. Lecture 1

Course Outline
Introduction
Cell biology
Molecular biology and Biochemistry
Genetics and Reproduction
Medical parasitology

COURSE SCHEDULE
1st class: 8:00 – 9:35
2nd class: 9:50 – 11:25
3rd class: 11:40 – 13:15
4th class: 13:45 – 15:20
5th class: 15:35 – 17:10
6th class: 17:25 – 19:00
Typical class lasts 1 hour 35 minutes, including a five-minute break after the first 40 minutes.
Normal break is 15 minutes.
Midday break is 30 minutes (between 3rd and 4th classes)

Course structure
Lectures
on Wednesday, 1 week (odd number week)
Practical lessons
one lesson every week + one lesson every first or second week, (check your schedule)
Credit – the end of the 1st semester (“pass”/”not pass”)
Final oral exam – the end of 2nd semester (with a “excellent”, “good”, “satisfactory”, “unsatisfactory”)

EXAMINATION AND ASSESSMENT
Students attend lectures and practical classes (seminars) and do homework. During classes, lecturers check students’ knowledge. The five-mark grading system is used, but in practice marks from 2 to 5 are used:
2 – “Unsatisfactory” mark
3 – “Satisfactory” mark
4 – “Good” mark
5 – “Excellent” mark
In line with the five-mark grading system, the university applies the point-rating system under which students obtain points for their achievements. The received amount characterises learning outcomes of students during semester. The total amount of points is taken into account during exams and pass-fail exams:
0 - 59 points – “Unsatisfactory” mark
60 - 72 points – “Satisfactory” mark
73 - 86 points – “Good” mark
87 - 100 points – “Excellent” mark

Course Grading
Total 100% (or points)
1st semester (two check-points)
1st check-point 30 points
2nd check-point 30 points
Credit 40 points
2nd semester (two check-points)
1st check-point 30 points
2nd check-point 30 points
Total of 60 points (of daily grades: class attendance, assignments, lab work, tests, etc.)
Final oral examination (40 points)
Total score will be converted to the five grade system

How to become a successful student?
Be active and seek for help
Complete all assignments
Do not get behind and miss classes
Advocate yourself (by asking questions and seeking help there is no reason a student cannot be successful)
Follow laboratory safety guidelines

Professors
Kirill Vladimirovich Babeshko
Practical lessons (groups 6, 7, 8, 10, 11)
Elena Aleksandrovna Malysheva
Practical lessons (group 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9)
Lectures

Literature: Theory
Campbell et al. (2009 and earlier)
Lazarev et al. (2003)

Workbooks in the lab
Romanenko O.V. (2008) Medical biology: The study guide of the practical classes course / O.V. Romanenko, O.V. Golovchenko, M.G. Kravchuk, V.M. Grinkevych; Edited by O.V. Romanenko. – Kiev: Medicine, 2008. – 304 p.
Literature: Practical classes

World wide web

What is Medical biology?
Why do we need to study biology?
Biology is the scientific study of life.
Human beings are living organisms.
=> their basic structure and functions must be similar to other living organisms
What does it mean for you?
=> depend on other organisms and affect them during life-time
What does it mean for you?

Organization and Cell
Regulation and homeostasis
Growth and development
Energy use and metabolism
Reproduction
Response to environment
Evolutionary adaptations
Characteristics of life
from Campbell et al. 2009:2

Organization and Cell
All living organisms represent highly ordered structures.
Most of the living organisms are composed of tiny units which are called cells.
The cells are the basic units of life.

Growth and development
Living organisms are able to increase their size (or get larger), i.e. to grow, thanks to the cell division (formation of new cells) and cell enlargement (the increase cell size).
Living organisms are able to become more complex over time, i.e. develop.

Regulation and homeostasis
Living organisms are able to regulate their internal environment to maintain it in a constant/stable state (homeostasis), e.g. body temperature.

Energy use and metabolism
Living organisms need energy in order to maintain their organization and to produce other phenomena associated with life.
Organisms obtain energy, maintain their organization and perform activities associated with life in the result of the set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells, i.e. metabolism.

Reproduction
All living organisms are able to produce new individual organisms
… either asexually from a single parent organism
… or sexually from two parent organisms.

Response to environment
Living organisms react to changes in environment.

Evolutionary adaptations
Living organisms are able to change over time in response to environment.
This ability is fundamental to the process of evolution. The evolution leads to adaptations of species to constantly changing environment.

Levels of Biological organization
or the hierarchy of life, is the hierarchy of complex biological structures and systems that define life.

A molecule is a chemical structure consisting of two or more small chemical units called atoms.
Medical importance
Molecules

Organelles("little organ") area specialized structures inside of a cell. Often organelles are "membrane bound" (surrounded by a plasma membrane) but not always!
Examples of organelles you will be come familiar with are the nucleus, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, chloroplast, cilium, vacuole. The line between organelles and molecular assemblies is not clear. Sometimes the ribosome is not considered an organelle because it's not a membrane bound structure.
Organelles

The cell is the smallest unit of biological organization that biologists consider alive.
All true cells are surrounded by a plasma membrane, carry out complex chemical reactions, and are at least potentially capable of self reproduction. Cells come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Not all cells have a nucleus, but again all true cells have genetic material in the form of DNA.
Cells

A tissue is a group of distinct and similar cells that carry out a specific set of functions.
For example, muscle tissue is for contraction. Connective tissue is tissue consisting of cells surrounded by a large amount of non living material. Nerve tissue is for the conduction of nerve impulses and secretion of specialized chemicals called neurotransmitters.
Tissues

Organs are groups of tissues organised together to carry out a particular set of functions. Organs typically have several kinds of tissue. The stomach has an inner lining of tissue that secretes digestive enzymes outside the stomach has several layers of muscle and connective tissue
Multicellular organisms, especially animals typically are organized into organ systems, groups of organs that function together to carry out broad sets of functions.
For instance an organ system in humans is the digestive system. Some of the organs in the digestive system are the stomach, liver, small intestine, pancreas.
Organs and organ systems

The organism or individual is that level of biological organization that has its own distinct existence as a complex, self reproducing unit.
We are multicellular organisms in that we are made of many highly specialized cells which cannot exist independently of other cells in the organism.
Many organisms are unicellular, that is consist of a single independent cell.
Anatomy, physiology
Organisms

A population is group of freely interacting and breeding individuals of the same species.
For example, all the bull frogs in a pond can be considered a population of bullfrogs. Typically populations are subdivided into smaller groups: a pack of wolves, pride of lions, colony of ants.
Population ecology
Populations

Species is the technical name given for a kind of organisms.
For example all people are considered to be one species distinct from other primates based on common appearance and more importantly that all races can and do interbreed with each other.
Taxonomy, systematics
Species

An ecological community is all the populations of different species living and interacting together in a distinct area (e.g. all the species in a prairie).
Community ecology
Ecological Communities

The Earth contains numerous ecosystems.
Ecosystems are distinguishable groups of species and the abiotic (non-living) components of the environment with which the living creatures interact to create biochemical cycles.
Examples of ecosystems: ponds, forests, prairies.
Landscape ecology, ecosystem ecology, environmental sciences
Ecosystems

The biosphere is the region on, below, and above the Earth's surface where life exists.
Living things can be found into the atmosphere, the deepest parts of the ocean, and at least in some areas, microbes live in rock several kilometers below the surface of the earth.
Biogeography, Macroecology
The Biosphere

Levels of biological organization