Biology Major Course Map

200 level courses
BIOL 200 Overview:
Biology (Sci) : The physical and chemical properties of the cell and its components in relation to their structure and function. Topics include: protein structure, enzymes and enzyme kinetics; nucleic acid replication, transcription and translation; the genetic code, mutation, recombination, and regulation of gene expression. Terms: Fall 2016
Instructors: Monique Zetka, Kenneth E M Hastings, Richard D W Roy, Rodrigo Reyes Lamothe, Shelton Hendricks (Fall)
3 hours lecture, 1 hour optional tutorial
Prerequisite: BIOL 112 or equivalent
Corequisite: CHEM 212 or equivalent
BIOL 201 Overview
Biology (Sci) : This course introduces the student to our modern understanding of cells and how they work. Major topics to be covered include: photosynthesis, energy metabolism and metabolic integration; plasma membrane including secretion, endocytosis and contact mediated interactions between cells; cytoskeleton including cell and organelle movement; the nervous system; hormone signaling; the cell cycle.
Terms: Winter 2017
Instructors: Gary Brouhard (Winter)
3 hours lecture, 1 hour optional tutorial
Prerequisite: BIOL 200.
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken or are taking ANAT 212 or BIOC 212
BIOL 202 Overview
Biology (Sci) : Introduction to basic principles, and to modern advances, problems and applications in the genetics of higher and lower organisms with examples representative of the biological sciences.
Terms: Winter/Summer 2017
Instructors: Nam Sung Moon, Laura Nilson, Daniel J Schoen (Winter)
3 hours lecture, 1 hour optional tutorial
Prerequisite: BIOL 200.
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken or are taking LSCI 204. BIOL 205 Overview
Biology (Sci) : Unified view of form and function in animals and plants. Focus on how the laws of chemistry and physics illuminate biological processes relating to the acquisition of energy and materials and their use in movement, growth, development, reproduction and responses to environmental stress.
Terms: Winter 2017
Instructors: Rajinder S Dhindsa (Winter)
3 hours lecture, optional conference hour
Prerequisites: BIOL 200 and PHYS 101 or 131 or equivalent
Corequisite: ANAT 212/BIOC 212 or BIOL 201
BIOL 206 Overview
Biology (Sci) : Introduction to modern methods used in organismal biology, including ecological sampling, experimental methods and statistics, taxonomic and phylogenetic analysis of biodiversity, experimental behavioural ecology, microbiological methods, and library search procedures.
Terms: Fall 2016
Instructors: Elena Cristescu, Andrea Miller-Nesbitt, Louis Lefebvre (Fall)
1.5 hours lecture, 3 hours laboratory and local field trip in week 1
Prerequisite: BIOL 111 or equivalent
BIOL 215 Overview
Biology (Sci) : An introduction to the fundamental processes of ecology and evolution that bear on the nature and diversity of organisms and the processes that govern their assembly into ecological communities and their roles in ecosystem function.
Terms: Fall 2016
Instructors: Catherine Potvin, Ehab Abouheif (Fall)
3 hours lecture
Prerequisite: BIOL 111
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken ENVR 202
CHEM 212 Overview
Chemistry : A survey of reactions of aliphatic and aromatic compounds including modern concepts of bonding, mechanisms, conformational analysis, and stereochemistry.
Terms: Fall 2016, Summer/Winter 2017
Instructors: Michel Daoust, Jean-Marc Gauthier, Mitchell Huot, Hanadi Sleiman, Laura Pavelka (Fall) Michel Daoust, Jean-Marc Gauthier, Mitchell Huot, Jean-Philip Lumb (Winter)
Prerequisite: CHEM 110 or equivalent.
Corequisite: CHEM 120 or equivalent.
Restriction: Not open to students who are taking or have taken CHEM 211 or equivalent
Each lab section is limited enrolment
Note: Some CEGEP programs provide equivalency for this course. For more information, please see the Department of Chemistry's Web page (http://www.chemistry.mcgill.ca/advising/outside/equivalent.htm).

300 level courses
BIOL 300 Overview
Biology (Sci) : A survey of current knowledge and approaches in the area of regulation of gene expression, post-transcriptional control of gene expression, and signal transduction.
Terms: Fall 2016
Instructors: Frieder Schöck, Nam Sung Moon (Fall)
3 hours lecture
Prerequisites: BIOL 200 and one of BIOL 201 or ANAT/BIOC 212.
BIOL 301 Overview
Biology (Sci) : An introduction to laboratory techniques with a focus on methods used to investigate fundamental questions in modern cell and molecular biology. Techniques including gene cloning, DNA and protein isolation and manipulation are covered, along with functional analysis of genes and proteins, basic bioinformatics, and computer-based experimental design and data analysis.
Terms: Fall 2016, Winter 2017
Instructors: Huanquan Zheng, Paul Harrison, Rodrigo Reyes Lamothe (Fall) Huanquan Zheng, Paul Harrison, Rodrigo Reyes Lamothe (Winter)
1 hour lecture and one 6-hour laboratory
Prerequisites: PHYS 102 or PHYS 142, BIOL 200, BIOL 201 or ANAT/BIOC 212, and BIOL 202. BIOL 206 recommended.
Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken or are taking BIOC 300. Requires departmental approval.
For approval email anne-marie.sdicu@mcgill.ca. Specify your ID number as well as the term and two lab day preferences.
BIOL 303 Overview
Biology (Sci) : A consideration of the fundamental processes and principles operating during embryogenesis. Experimental analyses at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels will be presented and discussed to provide an overall appreciation of developmental phenomena.
Terms: Winter 2017
Instructors: Shelton Hendricks, Yong Rao, Daniel Dufort (Winter)
3 hours lecture and 1 hour optional tutorial
Prerequisites: BIOL 200, and BIOL 201 or ANAT/BIOC 212.
Corequisites: BIOL 202. BIOL 300 strongly recommended.
Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken ANAT 381.
BIOL 304 Overview
Biology (Sci) : This course will show how the theory of evolution by natural selection provides the basis for understanding the whole of biology. The first half of the course describes the process of selection, while the second deals with evolution in the long term.
Terms: Fall 2016
Instructors: Ehab Abouheif, Hans Carl Larsson, Andrew Hendry (Fall)
3 hours lecture
Prerequisite: BIOL 205 and BIOL 215 or ENVR 202
BIOL 306 Overview
Biology (Sci) : Neural mechanisms of animal behaviour; neuroethology; cellular neurophysiology, integrative networks within nervous systems; neural control of movement; processing of sensory information.
Terms: Fall 2016
Instructors: Alanna Watt, Jon Sakata (Fall)
3 hours lecture
Prerequisites: PHYS 102 or PHYS 142 or CEGEP Physics and one of the following: BIOL 201, ANAT 212, BIOC 212 or NSCI 200
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken PSYC 308.
BIOL 308 Overview
Biology (Sci) : Principles of population, community, and ecosystem dynamics: population growth and regulation, species interactions, dynamics of competitive interactions and of predator/prey systems; evolutionary dynamics.
Terms: Fall 2016
Instructors: Frederic Guichard (Fall)
3 hours lecture, 1 hour computer lab/tutorial
Prerequisite: BIOL 215 or both ENVR 200 and ENVR 202

400 level courses
BIOL 434 Overview
Biology (Sci) : Study of theoretical ecology and of mathematical tools available to explore the dynamical behaviour of model populations, communities and ecosystems. Models addressing major ecological theories including population stability, community dynamics and ecosystem functioning, epidemic and disturbance dynamics, spatial models, game theory.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2016-2017 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2016-2017 academic year.
3 hours lecture
Prerequisites: BIOL 308 or BIOL 309 or permission of instructor.

500 level courses