Biology 421/521 Virology Syllabus Winter 2008

Preliminary Schedule/Reading List Winter 2008

Date	Lecture #: Topic(s)	Reading: Acheson. Text
7 Jan	1. Introduction	Chapter 1
9 Jan	2. Virus Structure	Chapter 2
11 Jan	3. Virus Classification	Chapter 3
14 Jan	4. Virus Entry	Chapter 4
16 Jan	5. ss RNA Phage	Chapter 5
18 Jan	6. PhiX174	Chapter 6
21 Jan	Holiday, No Class
23 Jan	7. T7	Chapter 7
25 Jan	8. Lambda	Chapter 8
28 Jan	9. Parvovirus - AAV	Chapter 9
30 Jan	10. Polyomavirus - SV40	Chapter 10
1 Feb	11. Adenoviruses	Chapter 12
4 Feb	12. Herpesviruses	Chapter 13
6 Feb	13. Baculoviruses	Chapter 14
8 Feb	Review
11 Feb	Midterm 1 - Problem Set Due
13 Feb	14. Picornaviruses - Polio	Chapter 16
15 Feb	15. Flaviviruses - Ebola	Chapter 17
18 Feb	16. Coronaviruses - SARS	Chapter 19
20 Feb	17. Paramyxo and Rhabdoviruses	Chapter 20
22 Feb	18. Orthomxyoviruses - Flu	Chapter 23
25 Feb	19. Reoviruses	Chapter 24
27 Feb	20. Retroviruses	Chapter 25
29 Feb	21. Eric Barklis / HIV-1	Chapter 26
3 Mar	22. HIV-1	Chapter 26
5 Mar	23. Hepadnaviruses - Hepatitis B	Chapter 28
7 Mar	24. Ruedas
9 Mar	25. Archaea
11 Mar	26. Grad Student Presentations
13 Mar	Review
18 Mar	Final Examination 8-10am TUESDAY!

Instructor/Office Hours:

• Ken Stedman
• Associate Professor, Biology Department, PSU
• Office 502A, Science Building 1
• Office Hours M, W, F 10:15-11:15 and by appointment
• E-mail: kstedman@pdx.edu (preferred)
• WebCT mail
• http://web.pdx.edu/~kstedman
• Tel: 503-725-3253

Textbook:

Acheson, Fundamentals of Molecular Virology. 2007 John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-35151-1

Prerequisites:

A Molecular Biology and Cell Biology course. (Bi 338 and 336 at PSU). I will assume that you know this information. If you have not taken Molecular Biology this course will be difficult at best.

Subject Matter:

Molecular Virology of the main classes of viruses, DNA viruses, RNA viruses and retroviuses, from bacteriophage to HIV-1 with concentration on virus replication. Very little viral pathogenesis will be discussed.

Special Features:

Guest lectures from Luis Ruedas, PSU and Eric Barklis, OHSU.

Graduate student presentations on "your favorite virus". 15 minutes each. Last lecture. Subject must be chosen by the midterm.

Lecture Powerpoint presentations:

Available on WebCT, hopefully by 10pm the night before the lecture.

WebCT:

• Lecture presentations
• Old examinations
• Supplemental materials
• Discussion Forum
• Mail (not read as frequently as pdx e-mail)

Examinations:

• One Midterm, 50 questions, multiple choice SCANTRON. (40% of Grade). Feb. 11th 9-10:05 am.
• One (non-cumulative) Final, 50 questions, multiple choice SCANTRON. (40% of Grade). March 18th, TUESDAY 8-10am.
• One Problem Set: 5 Questions/Assignments. (20% of grade, due at 9:00am on the date of the first midterm, Feb. 11th). Will be available online at least one week before the midterm. Written questions must be typed, printed out and brought to lecture.

Examination policy:

• Examinations are closed book. Working together on the Problem Set is recommended, but each student must turn in a separate, original problem set.
• Once started there is no time limit on taking the examinations. However, once the first person has finished with their examination and turned it in, noone will be allowed to start an examination.

Makeup/Cheating/Plagarism Policy:

• Makeup exams are only give under extreme circumstances, e.g birth/death in family or illness which requires medical attention (note from medical professional required). The format and date of the makeup examination will be determined by the instructor.
• If anyone is found to be cheating on any examination they will recieve a zero for that examination.
• If parts of the problem set are found to be copied from any source without proper citation, they will also be marked as zero.

Grading:

Top score in the class will be set to 100%. 85% of this score or higher will be an A, 80% or higher an A-, 75% or higher a B+, 65% or higher a B, etc. Late problem sets will be reduced 15% per day that they are late.

Regrade Policy:

Must be requested in writing within a week of return of examination/problem set. Entire exam/problem set will be regraded and the grade may go down.

Last Updated: Dec. 14, 2007