Molecular Biology: Principles and Techniques

Molecular Biology: Principles and Techniques

This module aims to provide students with a physical sciences background, a comprehensive understanding of the principles of modern molecular biology, and equip the students with both the theoretical and practical skills necessary to analyse and manipulate nucleic acids and proteins.

The module explores structure-function relationships of proteins, nucleic acids and lipids, the structure of the cell and its compartments, the flow of information from DNA to protein, chromosome duplication and segregation, the regulation of cell proliferation, gene expression and an extensive repertoire of molecular analysis and cloning techniques.

Students will learn how to purify and quantify nucleic acids, how to clone a gene into a bacterial vector, how to express and purify a recombinant protein, modern methods to investigate protein-protein interactions, and strategies for mutagenesis.

Students will be able to appraise the practical considerations and theoretical limitations of each approach.