Introduction to the physiological and biochemical action of insulin signaling and its role in the fasted/feeding response and in obesity and diabetes.
Learning objective
The students will obtain an overview about the current topics of research in insulin signaling and how it impacts on growth, metabolism and cell differentiation. They will learn to design experiments and use techniques necessary to analyze different aspects of insulin signaling,including physiological actions in whole animals as well as in tissue culture. Through lectures and literature seminars, they will learn about the open questions of insulin signaling research and discuss approaches to address these questions experimentally.
In practical lab projects the students will perform physiological in vivo studies as well as biochemical experiments. Finally, they will learn how to present and discuss their data. Student assessment is a graded semester performance based on individual performance in the laboratory, a written exam and the lab data presentation.
Performance assessment
Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again)
Repetition only possible after re-enrolling for the course unit.
Additional information on mode of examination
Students are obliged to be present throughout the block course. Cancellation: If you have to deregister from a course that has been assigned to you (just emergency reasons), please notify in written the course coordinator at least four weeks before the course starts, for courses in the 1st quarter, a cancellation period of one week applies. The study secretariat D-BIOL must also be informed (email CC to studies@biol.ethz.ch) so that the enrollment is deleted. Otherwise the course is considered as "failed".
Performance assessment as a semester course