Mar 24, 2025  
2014-2015 Catalog 
    
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2014-2015 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
Lower Division Courses numbered 1–99 are designed primarily for freshmen and sophomores but are open to all students for lower division credit. (Graduate students requesting to enroll in lower-division undergraduate courses will not receive unit credit nor will the course fulfill degree requirements.) Upper Division Courses courses numbered 100–199 are open to all students who have met the necessary prerequisites as indicated in the catalog course description. Preparation should generally include completion of one lower division course in the given subject or completion of two years of college work.

GRADUATE COURSES
Courses numbered 200–299 are open to graduate students. (Undergraduate students must obtain the signature of the instructor, School Dean, and the Dean of Graduate Studies. Graduate level units will count towards the required 120 units for graduation; however students are urged to meet with their academic advisor in order to determine if graduate course units may be used to fulfill a graduation requirement.)

CROSS-LISTED/CONJOINED COURSES
Cross-listed Courses are the same course offered under different course subjects at the same level (either undergraduate or graduate) that share the same meeting time, requirements, units, etc. Conjoined Courses are the same course but one is undergraduate and one is graduate.

COREQUISITE COURSE
A corequisite course is a course that must be taken at the same time as another course.

PREREQUISITES
Prerequisites for courses should be followed carefully; the responsibility for meeting these requirements rests on the student. If you can demonstrate that your preparation is equivalent to that specified by the prerequisites, the instructor may waive these requirements for you. The instructor also may request that a student who has not completed the prerequisites be dropped from the course. Note: For all courses a “C-” or better grade is required for a course to be used as a prerequisite for another course. If a course was taken for a “P/NP” grade then a “P” grade is required. If the prerequisite for a course is not satisfied, students must obtain the approval of the instructor (or school designee) of the course they wish to take.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES
No credit is allowed for completing a less advanced course after successful completion (C-or better) of a more advanced course in the foreign languages. This applies only to lower division foreign language courses, not upper division courses. 

More information about Course Substitutions , Grading Options , and Course Materials and Services Fees  can be found in alternate areas of the catalog.
 

Biological Sciences
  
  
  

  • BIO 101: Biochemistry I

    [4.0 units]

    Advanced study of proteins, enzymes, enzyme kinetics, and carbohydrates metabolism in living organisms.

    Prerequisite: . Normal Letter Grade only. Discussion included.


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  • BIO 102: Advanced Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

    [4.0 units]

    Mechanisms of amino acid, nucleic acid, and lipid metabolism plus advanced mechanisms of gene expression, signal transduction, and regulation of gene expression.

    Prerequisite: . Normal Letter Grade only. Discussion, Laboratory included.


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  • BIO 104: Biophysics

    [4.0 units]

    Aims to give students an understanding of relevant physical principles for biological systems, introduce them to experimental and theoretical techniques of biophysics and to communicate the excitement of cutting-edge biophysics research. Topics include diffusion, fluids, entropic forces, motor proteins, enzymes, nerve impulses, networks and evolution.

    Prerequisite: ( or or ) and ( or or ). Normal Letter Grade only. Discussion included.


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  • BIO 104L: Biophysics Laboratory

    [1.0 unit]

    Laboratory experiments demonstrating and reinforcing topics covered in BIO 104.

    Corequisite: . Prerequisite: ( or ) and ( or or ) or consent of instructor.  Normal Letter Grade only. Laboratory included.


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  • BIO 105L: Enzymology Laboratory

    [1.0 unit]

    Laboratory experiments demonstrating and reinforcing topics covered in BIO 105.

    Corequisite: . Prerequisite: and ( or ).
     Laboratory included.


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  • BIO 106: Introduction to Molecular and Cell Biology

    [4.0 units]

    Advanced study of the mechanisms of nucleic acid replication, transcription and translation as well as gene regulation and expression.

    Prerequisite: . Normal Letter Grade only. Discussion, Laboratory included.


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  • BIO 107: Physical Biochemistry

    [4.0 units]

    Physical Biochemistry is the study of Biochemistry via properties that can be quantitatively assessed to provide specific molecular information. Such properties include macromolecular folding, multimerization, structure, and ligand binding. This course will instruct students on these properties of macromolecules and on the experimental techniques that can quantitatively probe these properties.

    Prerequisite: and ( or ). Normal Letter Grade only. Discussion included.


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  • BIO 110: The Cell

    [4.0 units]

    Introduction to the structure and function of bacterial, plant and animal cells, with an emphasis on universal cellular systems, including regulation of sub-cellular organization, control of cellular processes by internal and external signaling, energy capture, storage and usage, and cell cycle.

    Prerequisite: (( or ) and ) or , which may be taken concurrently. Discussion, Laboratory included.


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  • BIO 111: Cells, Tissues and Organs

    [4.0 units]

    Introduction to principles of cell structure and the organization of cells into tissues, organs, and organ systems. Both the cellular and extracellular components of the primary tissues and their compilation into the major organic systems are covered. Emphasis on understanding the link between cellular architectures and organ function.

    Prerequisite: . Discussion included.


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  • BIO 120: General Microbiology

    [4.0 units]

    Molecular basis for diversity in bacteria and archae. Students explore the significance of molecular diversity in microbial biology and gain an understanding of the genetic, physiologic, and structure-function relationships that underlie the remarkable ability of these organisms to adapt to the environment.

    Prerequisite: . Discussion included.


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  • BIO 120L: General Microbiology Laboratory

    [2.0 units]

    Laboratory experiments demonstrating and reinforcing topics covered in BIO 120.

    Prerequisite: and (, which may be taken concurrently). Laboratory included.


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  • BIO 121: Introduction to Ecological and Environmental Microbiology

    [4.0 units]

    Fundamentals of microbiology in ecological and environmental systems, including the distribution of microbial diversity throughout terrestrial, ‘extreme,’ and marine environments; microbial control of global biogeochemical cycles; and environmental services provided by microorganisms. Both classical and contemporary biochemical, molecular, and genomic approaches to microbial physiology, metabolism, and ecology will be discussed.

    Prerequisite: ( or ) and ( or or ) or consent of instructor. Discussion included.


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  • BIO 122: Microbial Pathogenesis

    [4.0 units]

    Genetic and biochemical features of infectious agents including identification and characterization of pathogens and the epidemiology of infectious diseases.

    Prerequisite: . Discussion included.


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  • BIO 123: Human Parasitology

    [4.0 units]

    Introduction to protozoan, worm, and insect parasitism in animals and humans and resultant diseases. Emphasis on epidemiology, diagnosis, and immunology of parasitic infections.

    Prerequisite: . Discussion included.


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  • BIO 124: Microbial Evolution

    [4.0 units]

    Evolution of microbes. Concepts covered include horizontal exchange, genome evolution, dispersal of microbes, population size, cryptic genes, mutagenesis and mutagenic pathways, phylogenetics, experimental evolution, metabolic evolution and antimicrobial resistance evolution.

    Prerequisite: , which may be taken concurrently. Normal Letter Grade only. Discussion included.


    View course scheduling information
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Chemistry
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 

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