HUMB3140
Cell Motility
10 credits

Taught Semester 2,

Year running 2002/03

Pre-requisites Normally successful completion of all compulsory 2nd year HUMB modules, or completion of first two years of MBChB/Medical Sciences programme of study.

Co-requisites None

This module is available as an elective

Objectives
On completion of this module, students will be familiar with the mechanism of crawling cell locomotion, other forms of motility such as vesicle movement, cell shape and cell adhesion in a range of cell types. They will be able to describe the different contribution of myosin and the actin cytoskeleton, kinesin and microtubules, and intermediate filaments to these processes. They will be able to describe the organisation of the actin cytoskeleton and how its assembly is regulated by factors such as Rac and Rho, members of the Ras superfamily which is known to be involved in malignant transformation of cells. They will be able to describe other mechanisms of regulating the activity of the actin based, and microtubule based motors. They will also be able to describe the molecular basis of motor function for myosin and actin. They will be able to identify functions of the myosin superfamily in motility. Finally, they will be able to describe abnormalities in the functions of these cytoskeletal proteins in disease states such as cancer. In addition, students will have acquired/developed skills in written and verbal presentations, IT skills, data analysis and presentation of data as part of the practical work, and group work skills via planned group work.

Syllabus
This module will cover the following topics in lectures and in tutorials: features of cell locomotion and other features of cell motility; cell shape and cell adhesion, the contribution of the actin cytoskeleton and myosin to cell motility, the contribution of microtubules and microtubule based motors such as kinesin to cell motility, function of intermediate filament, assembly and structure of actin and microtubules, structure and properties of myosin and kinesin, the regulation of motile processes including the roles of the small G proteins rac and rho, and abnormalities in cell motility in disease. In addition to lectures, there will be tutorials. Students will be divided into groups and each group will have on e tutorial. In these tutorials each student will be asked to give short (5 min) presentations of current papers in the field and there will be a group discussion. In the same groups, the students will analyse video recordings of crawling cells in 4 practical sessions and present an individual written report, and a group poster presentation on their findings, presented in relation to published work.

Form of teaching
Lectures 1 x 2 hour, 8 x 1 hour; seminars 1 x 2 hour, tutorial 4 x 1 hour; practical classes

Form of assessment
1 tutorial presentation 15%; 1 x individual written report (wk 11; 1000 words) together with 1 poster presentation given by a group, to assess the practical work 20%; 1 x 2 hour written exam 65%

Last updated: 03/03/04 17:04:37

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