BioMedMath

Biology 1

Teachers: dr. Inga Urlić, associate professor
Semester: first
ECTS: 4
Required course

The main objective of the course is to introduce to students the main topics of the cellular, organismic, ecological, and evolutionary biology.

  1. To demonstrate a knowledge of the foundational concepts of biology, including cellular, organismic, ecological, and evolutionary biology,
  2. To understand the processes and patterns of biological evolution, and the role of evolution as the central unifying concept in biology,
  3. To understand how interactions between organisms and their environments drive the dynamics of individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems,
  4. To explain the roles of information flow, structure-to-function, physiology and transformation of energy and matter in understanding and explaining biological principles,
  5. To communicate correctly using scientific terminology in regard to biological organisms and processes and understanding the scale and limits of the biological systems.
  1. Introduction lecture – Exploring the biological systems (organization, information, energy and matter, interactions, evolution)
  2. Chemistry of life – the chemical context, water, carbon, molecular diversity, structure and function of macromolecules
  3. The Cell – A tour of the cell, membranes structure and function, introduction to metabolism, cellular respiration, photosynthesis, cellular communication and cell cycle,
  4. Genetics – meiosis and sexual life cycle, Mendel and gene idea, the chromosomal basis of inheritance, the molecular basis of inheritance, from gene to protein, regulation of gene expression, viruses, molecular biotechnology, genomes and their evolution,
  5. Evolution and biodiversity – descent with modifications, the evolution of populations, variability, drift, selection, speciation, the short history of biological diversity, phylogeny and the tree of life, bacteria and archea, unicellular eukaryotes, plants, fungi and animals,
  6. Plant and animal physiology – introduction to basic physiological processes in plants and animals,
  7. Ecology – An introduction to ecology, biosphere, population ecology, community ecology, ecosystems, conservation biology.

  • Course objectives

    The main objective of the course is to introduce to students the main topics of the cellular, organismic, ecological, and evolutionary biology.

  • Expected learning outcomes

    1. To demonstrate a knowledge of the foundational concepts of biology, including cellular, organismic, ecological, and evolutionary biology,
    2. To understand the processes and patterns of biological evolution, and the role of evolution as the central unifying concept in biology,
    3. To understand how interactions between organisms and their environments drive the dynamics of individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems,
    4. To explain the roles of information flow, structure-to-function, physiology and transformation of energy and matter in understanding and explaining biological principles,
    5. To communicate correctly using scientific terminology in regard to biological organisms and processes and understanding the scale and limits of the biological systems.

  • Course content

    1. Introduction lecture – Exploring the biological systems (organization, information, energy and matter, interactions, evolution)
    2. Chemistry of life – the chemical context, water, carbon, molecular diversity, structure and function of macromolecules
    3. The Cell – A tour of the cell, membranes structure and function, introduction to metabolism, cellular respiration, photosynthesis, cellular communication and cell cycle,
    4. Genetics – meiosis and sexual life cycle, Mendel and gene idea, the chromosomal basis of inheritance, the molecular basis of inheritance, from gene to protein, regulation of gene expression, viruses, molecular biotechnology, genomes and their evolution,
    5. Evolution and biodiversity – descent with modifications, the evolution of populations, variability, drift, selection, speciation, the short history of biological diversity, phylogeny and the tree of life, bacteria and archea, unicellular eukaryotes, plants, fungi and animals,
    6. Plant and animal physiology – introduction to basic physiological processes in plants and animals,
    7. Ecology – An introduction to ecology, biosphere, population ecology, community ecology, ecosystems, conservation biology.
PMF
EU fondovi
UNI-ZG