Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• GMS FA 805: Advanced Crime Scene Investigation
  Graduate Prerequisites: GMS FS 701 Crime Scene Investigation - This hands-on and lecture-based course will provide students with methods and underlying theories related to specialized aspects of crime scene processing. Topics will include techniques and principles utilized in search and recovery of human remains. Forensic entomology, mechanisms of human decomposition, use of ground penetrating radar, soil composition, excavation, telltale disturbances in flora and the presence of animal activity will be examined. A semester-long practical exercise will include the search and recovery of mock remains and the reconstruction of events. 2 cr
• GMS FA 806: Advanced Human Osteology
  This course builds on the topics covered in GMS FA 712 Human Osteology by exploring human osteology in greater depth and will include lectures and extensive experience with radiographical material. 4 cr
• GMS FA 807: Taphonomy
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor - This course will provide students with an advanced basis for vertebrate taphonomy, both with specific focus upon forensic settings but also with a broader understanding of taphonomic processes covering archaeology, paleoecology, and zooarchaeology. 3 cr, Fall & Spring sem.
• GMS FA 808: FORENSIC TRAUMA
  This course description is currently under construction.
• GMS FA 810: Mortuary Archaeology
  This course will provide students with an advanced theoretical basis for cross-cultural comparison of mortuary behavior and its archaeological interpretation. The topics will cover the history of archaeological though in this topics, processual and post-processual theoretical frameworks, the prehistory of burial, regional archaeological studies, modern Western burial practices and symbolism, gender and class difference, trophy taking, cannibalism, beliefs in undead and how they affect mortuary practices, military memorialization and warfare, ethical issues involved in the analysis of cemeteries and human remains, repatriation, and modern homicide investigation of serial killings and body movement. 3 cr, Fall & Spring sem.
• GMS FC 706: Molecular Metabolism
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor - This course focuses on the biochemical, cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate cell and tissue-specific fuel metabolism. The course will present an integrated view of biochemistry and the control of cellular and organismal functions with regard to nutrient utilization. Classes include small group discussions of key papers. Mechanisms that allow cells to survive variations in nutrient supply (starvation, feeding, nutrient excess/stress) and how these mechanisms contribute to metabolic derangements contribute to disease pathogenesis (e.g. diabetes, obesity, cancer) will be discussed. 2 cr, Spring sem. (Meets with NU756 but with later February start date).
• GMS FC 708: Professional Development Skills
  This course introduces basic professional development skills for PhD students in the following areas: communication skills, research compliance/law/bioethics, and personal professional development.
• GMS FC 709: Research Design and Statistical Methods for Biomedical Sciences
  The overall objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of basic concepts of research design and data analysis in the biomedical sciences. The primary didactic areas to be covered include framing hypotheses and objectives, the use of experimental designs and, to a lesser degree, non-experimental designs, problems of differential and non-differential error (including bias and confounding), foundational principles of data description and analysis (independent vs. correlated, parametric and non-parametric, measures of central tendency and dispersion), effect estimation, the use and limitations of statistical testing, and univariable and multivariable modeling. The course employs both didactic sessions and in-class discussion. 3 cr., Spring sem. Co-listed as NU709.
• GMS FC 711: Foundations in Biomedical Sciences I: Protein Structure, Catalysis and Interaction
  The second module of the Foundations in Biomedical Science course "Protein structure, catalysis and interactions" will provide students with a quantitative understanding of protein structure, function, posttranslational modification and the turnover of proteins in the cell. In addition, students will gain facility with thermodynamics, catalysis, kinetics and binding equilibria as they apply to proteins and also to other molecules in biological systems (e.g. nucleic acids, lipids, vitamins, etc.). This course is part of a series of four core integrated courses and additional elective courses aimed towards first year Ph.D. students in the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences. The four cores will be integrated in content and structure, and therefore are intended to be taken as a complete, progressive sequence. 3 cr, Fall sem.
• GMS FC 712: Foundations in Biomedical Sciences 2: Structure and Function of the Genome
  The first module of the Foundations in Biomedical Sciences course will focus on the mechanisms of biological processes that influence the inheritance, regulation, and utilization of genes. Genetic and genomic, molecular, cell biological, and biochemical experimental approaches to understanding these processes will be explored. In addition, we will discuss the possibilities of utilizing these technologies in medical treatments. This course is part of a series of four core integrated courses and additional elective courses aimed towards first year Ph.D. students in the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences. The four cores will be integrated in content and structure, and therefore are intended to be taken as a complete, progressive sequence. 3 cr, Fall sem.
• GMS FC 713: Foundations in Biomedical Sciences 3: Architecture and Dynamics of the Cell
  The third module of the Foundations in Biomedical Sciences course will focus on the movement of proteins and membranes with the cell, the secretory process, the cytoskeletal framework of the cell and the resulting cell-cell interaction and communication with the matrix. Molecular, cell biological, and biochemical experimental approaches to understanding these processes will be explored. In addition, we will discuss the possibilities of utilizing these technologies in medical treatments. This course is part of a series of four core integrated courses and additional elective courses aimed to-wards first year Ph.D. students in the Division of Graduate Medical Science. The four cores will be integrated in content and structure, and therefore are intended to be taken as a complete, progressive sequence. 3 cr, Spring sem.
• GMS FC 714: Foundations in Biomedical Sciences 4: Mechanisms of Cell Communication
  The fourth module of the Foundations in Biomedical Sciences course will focus on the mechanisms of cell communication. This module will begin by discussing overarching concepts before examining the specific types of molecules that initiate and transduce signals. Examples of cell signaling and subsequent cellular responses will then be considered in different contexts to provide a framework on which future learning can be applied. As the module progresses, the complexity of the systems explored will increase from individual cells to multicellular environments such as tissues, organs, and organisms. In addition, normal processes as well as the dysregulation of cell-cell communication is disease will be studied. This course is part of a series of four core integrated courses and additional elective courses aimed towards first year Ph.D. students in the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences. The four cores will be integrated in content and structure, and therefore are intended to be taken as a complete progressive sequence. 3 cr, Spring sem.
• GMS FC 715: TRANS G & G
  This course description is currently under construction.
• GMS FC 717: Physiology of Specialized Cells
  This course is one of the elective course modules (Module V) of the Foundations in Biomedical Sciences curriculum. Knowledge of cellular and molecular physiology is critical to understanding the higher order of functioning of tissues, organs, and organs systems. The objective of the course is to discuss the specialized adaptations of cells that help them to function in their respective tissues and organs. This course will also provide a framework to bridge the gap between the biochemistry and the molecular and cellular biology that students have acquired in the core modules (I through IV) and organ physiology and pharmacology that will be addressed in the second year. 3 cr, Spring sem.
• GMS FC 721: Statistical Reasoning for the Basic Biomedical Sciences
  Biomedical research entails the inference of reliable knowledge from incomplete, noisy data. The ability to reason effectively in the midst of such uncertainty is a key component of success in the field. Students in FC721 will learn both judgment and technique. Judgment will be developed through discussion of key concepts in statistics while developing sound intuition through in-lecture short exercises. Technical skill will be acquired in the statistical computing language R using the powerful user interface R Studio. Topics covered will include Exploratory Data Analysis, estimation, probability, hypothesis testing, statistical modeling (linear regression, Logistic regression, non-linear regression), experimental design, and reproducibility. 4 cr, Fall sem
• GMS FC 762: Critical Thinking in Biomedical Research
  The primary goal of this course is to use the framework of the scientific literature to develop Critical Thinking Skills to generate novel hypotheses with a focus on establishing novel biological mechanisms and pathways. Critical Thinking skills will be used to examine research findings and theories to uncover inconsistencies, bias, or faulty logic. The student will be expected to build on their careful evaluation and analysis of the papers to create a novel hypothesis each week and design a single experiment to address their question. The weekly course discussion will be student led and this will facilitate the development of teaching skills. Generally the papers to be discussed will be an older, classic paper, which established an important new concept and a newer paper that builds on that theme. Grading is based on weekly participation in class discussions, presentations, and a concise final written assignment. 2cr, spring
• GMS FC 764: Professional Presentation Skills
  The course is designed for first year graduate students. The goal of this course is to teach students how to present their research in written and oral form. Students will give multiple short oral presentations and be critiques. They will also give 1 longer presentation. Students will learn to give presentations with and without slides. Students will also begin to acquire written skills in preparation for the Proposal writing course in the second year. The course will meet weekly and will be 2 credits.
• GMS FC 951: RES CELL & MOL
  RES CELL & MOL
• GMS FC 952: Research in Cell & Molecular Biology
  Var cr
• GMS FS 700: Criminal Law and Ethics
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor - An overview of legal, ethical and practical issues of forensic science, the impact of forensic science on the justice system and a discussion of traditional and emerging admissibility standards involving forensic science evidence is given. The curriculum will include a description of the roles law enforcement, attorneys and forensic scientists, professional standards for the practice of criminalistics and ethical issues in various forensic disciplines. 2 cr