Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students
Renee LeClair, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Copyright Year: 2021
Publisher: Virginia Tech Publishing
Language: English
Formats Available
Conditions of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA
Reviews
This is an excellent resource and overview of simple cell and molecular biology, basic genetics and a great introduction to clinically-relevant biochemistry. read more
This is an excellent resource and overview of simple cell and molecular biology, basic genetics and a great introduction to clinically-relevant biochemistry.
The content, including diagrams, appear to be accurate and well-labeled.
The current content is up-to-date, and by the nature of the material will remain relevant for the foreseeable future. The format will also allow for additional sections to be added if new information should be included.
The text is written in language that undergraduate students will find accessible, while remaining scientifically accurate. Descriptions and definitions are clearly explained throughout.
The text is consistent and makes consistent references; additionally, the diagrams are similar and consistently drawn/labeled, which makes then simple to follow and relate to other sections of the text.
Subheadings are used very well, and present easily digestible sections of content that can be assigned and addressed independently. It should be very simple to reorganize as needed for a particular course or study needs.
The three major sections (biochemistry, genetics and cell biology) are very nicely organized by subtopic, and presented in a logical and easy to understand order.
There are no issues with navigation, and all images and charts are clear. Additionally, the image text descriptions (when hovering over image) are very nice summaries of the content for readers who rely on audio information.
No grammatical errors detected.
This text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. However, no reference to race other than a mention of the cystic fibrosis incidence in Caucasians. Since this text does contain correlations with clinical situations and medically-related statistics, it might be helpful to include some reference to differences that might be racially relevant when teaching students. It might also be beneficial to include gender/sex differences and age-related difference for clinical values (lipid profiles, for example) so students understand that other factors can influence the values as well as pathological states.
This in an incredible resource for any student studying cell biology, genetics and biochemistry! I would also highly recommend this as reference material for courses that expect students to have a foundation in the above topics. The clinical perspective is also very helpful and hopefully makes the material more interesting and engaging for students in pre-clinical courses.
Table of Contents
1. Biochemistry basics2. Basic laboratory measurements 3. Fed and fasted state 4. Fuel for now 5. Fuel for later 6. Lipoprotein metabolism and cholesterol synthesis 7. Pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), purine and pyrimidine metabolism 8. Amino acid metabolism and heritable disorders of degradation9. Disorders of monosaccharide metabolism and other metabolic conditions10. Genes, genomes, and DNA 11. Transcription and translation 12. Gene regulation and the cell cycle 13. Human genetics 14. Linkage studies, pedigrees, and population genetics 15. Cellular signaling 16. Plasma membrane 17. Cytoplasmic membranes 18. Cytoskeleton 19. Extracellular matrix
Ancillary Material
About the Book
Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge across the disciplines of genetics, cell biology and biochemistry. This USMLE-aligned text is designed for a course in first-year undergraduate medical course that is delivered typically before students start to explore systems physiology and pathophysiology. The text is meant to provide the essential information from these content areas in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have completed medical school prerequisites (including the MCAT) in which they will have been introduced to the most fundamental concepts of biology and chemistry that are essential to understand the content presented here. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts.
The 276-page text was created specifically for use by pre-clinical students at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and was based on faculty experience and peer review to guide development and hone important topics.
Instructors reviewing, adopting, or adapting parts or the whole of the text are requested to register their interest at: https://bit.ly/interest-preclinical.
Instructors and subject matter experts interested in and sharing their original course materials relevant to pre-clinical education are requested to join the instructor portal at https://www.oercommons.org/groups/pre-clinical-resources/10133.
Suggested Citation LeClair, Renée J., (2021). Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students, Blackburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing. https://doi.org/10.21061/cellbio. Licensed with CC BY NC-SA 4.0.
About the Contributors
Author
Renée J. LeClair is an Associate Professor in the Department of Basic Science Education at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, where her role is to engage activities that support the departmental mission of developing an integrated medical experience using evidence-based delivery grounded in the science of learning. She received a Ph.D. at Rice University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in vascular biology. She became involved in medical education, curricular renovation, and implementation of innovative teaching methods during her first faculty appointment, at the University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine. In 2013, she moved to a new medical school, University of South Carolina, School of Medicine, Greenville. The opportunities afforded by joining a new program and serving as the Chair of the Curriculum committee provided a blank slate for creative curricular development and close involvement with the accreditation process. During her tenure she developed and directed a team-taught student-centered undergraduate medical course that integrated the scientific and clinical sciences to assess all six-core competencies of medical education.