Methods of molecular biology (methods-of-molecular-biology)

The course “Methods of molecular biology” is the first course developed by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) in collaboration and kind support of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. 

Al-Farabi KazNU is one of the leading universities in Central Asia and is the oldest classical university in Kazakhstan. In 2019/20 it was ranked 165 in the QS World University Rankings and is 18th in the Emerging Europe and Central Asia (EECA) University Rankings.

Molecular biology is one of the most interesting sciences, in which new discoveries are made every day. Initially arising at the intersection of such disciplines as biochemistry, genetics and physics, molecular biology was able to lay the foundation for many interesting achievements of modern engineering mind, which brought an invaluable contribution to the development of medicine, agriculture, and cutting-edge technologies. It studies the structure and properties of proteins and nucleic acids as well as various molecular mechanisms underlying biological processes and the life itself. The study of molecular biology provides a basis for understanding the molecular foundations of the structure, growth, development and functioning of cells and living systems, regulation of gene expression, matrix syntheses, and mechanisms of signal transduction.

This multidisciplinary course will be interesting for students and specialists in the field of chemistry, ecology, mathematics, physics, medicine, and legal sciences, as well as to a wider audience, since it reveals various aspects of molecular biology and its methodological tools in an interesting and comprehensive language.

The entire course is designed for 6 weeks. As part of this course, the following subsections will be available to you: 

• Video-lectures. Each topic of the module contains one video lecture that reveals the topic.  
• Lecture notes
• Glossary and literature
• Tests. You'll have 4 obligatory tests, selfchecking tests and final exam test.
• Final project (an essay on the topic “The future of molecular biology”)

Module 1. Molecular biology of viruses

Module 2. Molecular biology of bacteria

Module 3. Molecular plant biology

Module 4. Molecular biology of animals

Module 5. Molecular biology and medicine

Module 6. Final project

After completing this course, students will be able to: 

• See the correlation of molecular biology techniques with advances in related fields of science. 
• Understand the specifics of methods related to the study, regulation and application of proteins and nucleic acids. 
• Interpret information on differences in molecular biological processes in pro- and eukaryotes. 
• Analyze the interaction of regulatory and functional elements of molecular-biological processes. 
• Apply the knowledge gained within the course in simulation and modeling, risk assessment, when writing articles, reviews, reports, developing cases and for analysis of the information perceived.