You have all heard about the DNA double helix and genes. Many of you know that mutations occur randomly, that the DNA sequence is read by successive groups of three bases (the codons), that many genes encode enzymes, and that gene expression can be regulated.
These concepts were proposed on the basis of astute genetic experiments, as well as often on biochemical results. The original articles were these concepts appeared are however not frequently part of the normal curriculum of biologists, biochemists and medical students. This course proposes to read study and discuss a small selection of these classical papers, and to put these landmarks in their historical context. Most of the authors displayed interesting personal histories and many of their contributions go beyond not only the papers we will read but probably all their scientific papers. Our understanding of the scientific process, of the philosophy underlying the process of scientific discovery, and on the integration of new concepts is not only important for the history of science but also for the mental development of creative science.
SD
very informational and much important for my higher aspirations.
SB
I love these stories and it gives me a lot of instructions. Thanks.
DP
Excellent course. It helped me a lot in understanding the classical experiments in detail.
SP
Amazing course! Even more interested in molecular genetics. Best professor!
AM
It's very informative course and l gain many knowledge from it thank you
DP
Very interesting course. I came to learn the new things of genetics which were not covered in UG PG and doctoral courses.
BS
It's very informative course filled with a supportive information make us better in this topic of genetic thanks doc
AA
Excellent course. The delivery of lecture notes was not easy to follow in the videos.
VV
The professor was excellent and dedicated. I request the professor to take a course on fundamental papers in Biochemistry. Thank you professor Dominique!
HR
it was informative course that i have been learnt many things like papers reading and critical thinking.
MH
it is a very good course, well led and directed by Professor Belin. The issues relate to the lack of activity in the forums and the assessment tasks which deviate from the material covered.
SW
Very cool. Love to hear about these scientists and their lives and efforts
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Best course I've taken on Coursera so far. The sessions are challenging but manageable with only a quiz due at each week. I loved how each lesson covered not only science, but history, relationships, quirks among scientists, and other fun facts of early molecular genetic experiments and scientists. The professor is a very good presenter, engaging, and makes the topics even more intriguing.
When listening to the lectures you have an impression as you would listen to the Lord of the Rings story ! :)
An amazing journey throughout the recent science in biochemistry and molecular biology fields. This course shows us how close is the normal life os a scientist with his mind, work and discoveries that change our point of view that many times we consider that science is just for "selected" people, but is quite the opposite, science is for people with the determination to understand vital concepts of our surroundings and try to explain nature phenomena.
A historical vision on molecular genetics taken from the original papers. Two important facts of this excellent course are: 1) the description of all the stories surrounding the lives of the researchers at the time of performing the experiments; and 2: the detailed analyses of the papers commented by Professor Dominique Belin pointing out the crucial point to be taken into account. I consider that Professor Belin is a great teacher.
Through this course you will be able to understand (and appreciate) better many things of the day-to-day work as a molecular biologist. This course offers you a very detailed description of scientific and social aspects behind key discoveries in the field. Professor Belin classes remind me of SJ Gould readings. So far, the best class in coursera.
This is one of the best courses I have ever done. I did it a while ago but it has stick with me. The classes were great, the professor was fantastic and I loved the course and it only made me admire and love even more deeply the area of genetics. Thank you so much Professor and everyone involved in the making of this course, I learned so much and it was a really good experience!
Amazing course! I am not a biology/medical student, I am a software developer and completed this course out of curiosity. Loved every minute of it - Professor Belin has a rare talent of explaining complex things in approachable way.
Gave a good insight of the subject.So much of historical papers reviewed on one platform is really good.
I really enjoy this course, great material that drives you through the development of what could be known as modern genetic, greatly presented by the lecturer. If you like genetics, this is certainly a must!!
Amazing course! Very well designed and delivered. It was specially delightful to have some historical context to the papers, as well as insight into the biography of the scientists themselves.
I found the course quite interesting, I had good complementary material, good videos explaining the scientific articles and the classes were very well understood
The professor was excellent and dedicated. I request the professor to take a course on fundamental papers in Biochemistry.
Thank you professor Dominique!
Outstanding: the classic papers are always the best primary source of information!
Hello!
The course topic is very interesting but the quality of the subtitles is mediocre.
If you need help to review or write the English, French or Italian subtitles of Biology/Genetics/Biochemistry/Chemistry/ Medicine etc... courses I'll be glad to help. Should I get in touch with a specific department ?
Stay safe and happy,
Paola Malaspina Antinori
I only got into the second week, and I decided to drop this course. I did not wish to devote any more time to it.
I was hoping to hear some good stories of the history of science. And I was looking for some understandable explanations of complicated material, but I was disappointed in several ways.
The explanations were sometimes clear and sometimes not. The illustrations were not particularly good and vastly too complex for me to follow. They were mostly pulled from textbooks and papers and were not adapted specifically to the online environment. It seemed like they were not used because they were good examples for teaching, but because they were readily available.
The transcription was autogenerated by a transcribing engine and had many mistakes and misspellings, including the names of the scientists, proteins and enzymes. No one had taken the time to read the transcription and make the needed corrections.
The technical aspects of the course...the audio quality and the video quality...were good.
I still like the topic and the idea of using this topic in a Coursera course. But the execution of the teaching was not good enough to warrant spending much time on this.
This course helped me to understand the hard work and vision of different scientists all over the world. Their passion to make the truth more revealed changed the way we look at nature. Thus contributed to the development of knowledge and helped us to understand our Universe.
The course is well organized, articulated, with great inspiration to read the classical papers in molecular breeding. I enjoyed reading the recommended papers and watching the video. I like to say Thank you for your hard work. With Sincere regards.
Best course to learn about scientists and there way of thinking and designing experiments and research in molecular genetics. I loved the course as it gave me great insights into molecular genetics topics and read many papers on the same topic. Thanks to Dr. Dominique Belin from University of Geneva and coursera for such a great course on genetics.
I like how Dominique can speak with such fascination on the topics he chooses and even gives background on the people that have done the research. It is a tough course but worth it to anyone interested in learning more about genetics. Educative for the beginner and compelling for more advanced persons.
The course is very good! I really learned a lot and the teacher made me laugh more than once with the stories! It helped me understand the origin of various tests, ideas, and experiments within molecular genetics, thank you so much for such excellent material.
Beautifully presented! Dominique sir has managed to give a lot of exposure to the papers both from a scientific and historical perspective. Thank you! Feeling very lucky to have read the works of these classic geneticists..