BIOL 3041
Plant Biology and Genetic Engineering
A 4 credit lecture course that provides an introduction to plant development, genetics, physiology and biochemistry with emphasis on processes that can be manipulated or better understood through genetic engineering. The course is divided into 3 sections. The first section of the course discusses basic plant biology, development and genetics. The second part of the course emphasizes gene structure, expression, and cloning as well as methods for introducing foreign DNA into plant cells and regenerating fertile plants in tissue culture. During the third part of the course we will discuss a variety of examples of genetically engineered traits, including: herbicide resistance; fruit ripening; pathogen and/or insect resistance; the use of plants for production of industrial and pharmaceutical compounds. Friday discussion sections focus on critical reading of the primary literature related to the material covered in lecture. (Biology Major Area A)
Instructors
Reviews
Plant Bio and Genetic Engineering is a great class, and I really can't recommend it enough if you like plants and genetics at all. The lectures are very clear, though sometimes a little repetitive (you will draw many many constructs). Just enough work.
3/30/2012
This has been the worst class I have taken at Wash U. Kunkel is a TERRIBLE teacher, and she takes a class with very interesting material and ruins it. Do not take this class. Everyone that sat around me also thought it was a terrible class. Trust me, its awful.
12/22/2010
I'm a junior, and she's probably the best bio professor I've had so far at WU. The first third of the course was just basic plant physiology and that wasn't really my thing, but after that the genetic engineering stuff gets very interesting. Word of caution: some people take this class thinking it will be easier than other bio courses. It isn't.
12/1/2005
Such a nice teacher. She is really caring, and loves the subject she teaches. I highly recommend this class to anyone who has not thought about plant biology. I love animal physiology, but this class makes plants very interesting. The presentations at the end are really neat too.
12/22/2004
plant bio is amazing. such a fun class. so useful. very well taught. take it and brave new crops (anthro)--that should be a cluster
12/21/2004
Very helpful, explained things very well and made it easy to remember them.
12/21/2004