Genetics: Population Genetics and Human Traits
How do we know what we know about heredity? Enhance your scientific thinking and experimental design skills with this in-depth adventure through genetics.
Course Information
Certificate Track
Learn for Free
About this Course
This is the third genetics course in a three-part series. Building upon the concepts from biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology from our 7.00x Introductory Biology MOOC, these genetics courses go to a new level of depth. How do we determine the content of genomes? What can allele frequencies tell us about the genetics of different populations? And why does this matter to human society?
Professors Mary Gehring and Olivia Corradin will challenge you to expand your understanding of genetics. You will study the content of genomes, quantitative methods for studying traits, and the impact of genetics on population structures.
We developed the 7.03x Genetics series with an emphasis on:
- Developing your scientific thinking skills including articulating hypotheses, designing experiments, performing thought experiments, and interpreting data.
- Using data based on real scientific experiments and highlighting the scientific process in assessments.
- Demonstrating that biology is an active field that changes daily through examples of research and relevance to medicine, not static information in a textbook.
- Uniting themes and principles that inform how scientists conduct and interpret research.
- Implementing the science of learning in the course design.
What you'll learn
- How to appreciate the applications of genetics to everyday life.
- How to apply terminology appropriately to concepts in genetics.
- How to justify the use of specific sequencing methods for answering genetic questions.
- How to interpret the patterns and driving forces of genetic variation within and between human populations.
- How to analyze results from genome-wide association studies.
- How to use a quantitative approach to determine genetic features of different populations.
- How to explain the impact of genetic tools on human society
Prerequisites
Undergraduate introductory genetics and and molecular biology (as found in 7.00x Introductory Biology, 7.03.1x Genetics, 7.03.2x Genetics)
Meet your instructors
Darcy Gordon
Instructor of Blended and Online Initiatives, Department of Biology
As a core member of the MITx Biology course development team, Darcy blends her pedagogical and scientific expertise to foster authentic learning experiences online, including the creation of visual resources and assessments. Previously, she completed her Ph.D. in the Traniello lab studying the evolutionary neurobiology of social insects, and additionally developed curricula for outreach programs while at Boston University.
