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Biological Sciences Undergraduate Program
387 Thimann Laboratories
UC Santa Cruz,
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Phone: 831.459.4143
Fax: 831.459.1568
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PROGRAM UPDATE 2008-2009  

The following changes have been made to our catalog, undergraduate web site, degree requirements and course offerings for 2008-2009...

The BIG NEWS... Biology is no more: The Department of Biology was dissolved back in the summer of '99, but the official split of the degree programs and curriculum will take effect this Fall 2008. With the exception of the general biology majors, each degree program in Biological Sciences will now be owned and sponsored independently by either Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB) or Molecular Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB) as outlined on our degree programs webpage.

While the changes in degree ownership will not impact anyone but the departments, the split of the biology curriculum will likely cause much confusion for all. Starting this Fall, the Biological Sciences curriculum will now be split between two alpha designations, BIOE and BIOL. The new BIOE represents all courses, graduate and undergraduate, that are offered by Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB). Molecular Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB) will retain BIOL for all their courses. Many of the BIOE courses have been renumbered, so to prevent mass pandamonium next year we've posted a handy BIOE/BIOL renumbering reference list on our website.

THe GOOD NEWS... No major program changes for 2008-09: We figured the split in the curriculum would be disorienting enough that we best not make any major changes to the degree programs until everyone's had a year to get used to the new curriculum structure - in particular our poor BioAdvisors.

CHANGES TO COURSE OFFERINGS:

Like last academic year, the following courses will be offered multiple times a year:

BIOL 20A Cell & Molecular Biology - every quarter
BIOE 20B Development & Physiology - every quarter
BIOE 20C Ecology & Evolution - every quarter
BIOL 105 Genetics - every quarter
BIOE 107 Ecology - Winter and Spring
BIOE 109 Evolution - Fall and Winter "
BIOL 100L Biochemistry Lab - Fall and Spring
BIOL 105L Eukaryotic Genetics Lab - every quarter
BIOL 119L Microbiology Lab - every quarter
BIOL 130/L Human Physiology & Lab - every quarter

In addition to these offerings, we will be offering many of these courses during Summer Session 2009.

The following **NEW** courses will be offered this year:

BIOE 155 Freshwater Ecology offered in Fall
The newest faculty addition to the EEB Department, Jonathan Moore, will be offering this course which provides an overview of the physical, chemical, and biological processes that characterize inland waters such as lakes, streams, rivers, and wetlands. The introductory biology sequence, BIOL 20A, BIOE 20B, and BIOE 20C, are prerequisites for this course.

BIOL 21L Phage Genomics Lab offered in Fall, Winter and Spring
This is an honors lab course sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute looking at sequencing the genome of bacterial samples from our environment and cataloging the genomes with the Center for Disease Control. The instructors, Manny Ares and Grant Hartzog, are targeting entering frosh with high AP Biology scores by sending them email inviting them to enroll. If you are a well-prepared entering freshman planning on completeing a Biological Sciences degree program, and are interested in applying, contact the instructors. This lab is intended to taken along with the introductory biology sequence.

BIOL 127 Neurodegenerative Disease offered in Spring
We've added another neuroscience elective to our upper-division curriculum. This course will focus on the cellular and molecular processes that underlie neurodegenerative diseases. This course carries BIOL 105 Genetics and BIOL 110 Cell Biology prerequisites.

BIOL 178 Stem Cell Biology offered in Winter
MCDB has been gearing up their stem cell research and now is prepared with the hire of Camilla Forsberg to offer an undergraduate level course in stem cell biology. The course will cover a historical overview of stem cells, important breakthroughs in stem cell research and how basic research translates into medical therapuetics. The course is an upper-division elective for the general and MCD sponsored programs and has a BIOL 110 Cell Biology prerequisite with BIOL 115 Eukaryotic Molecular Biology as recommended preparation.

The BAD NEWS... The following courses will not be offered this year:

BIOL 20L Experimental Biology - Don't have a heartattack just yet, the course will be offered but we at present only able to offer a limited number of sections. Senior Health Sciences majors should make enrollment in this course their first priority. Juniors should also try to enroll if any spaces are available during their enrollment window.

BIOL 70 Introduction to Psychobiology - This course is not being offered due to faculty leave.

BIOL 89W Clinical Healthcare, Writing Intensive - BIOL 89 Clinical Healthcare will be offered in Fall and Spring, but the writing intensive section, BIOL 89W will not be offered this Fall.

BIOE 125 Marine Microbial Biology - This course is not being offered due to faculty leave.

BIOE 133/L Exercise Physiology & Lab - This course is offered in alternate years, and should be offered in 2008-09 but has been cancelled due to the instructor's research schedule.

BIOE 167 Ocean Ecosystems - This course is not being offered due to faculty leave.

QUESTIONS: Contact BioAdvising