Welcome to the OER Activity Pool for a General Biology II laboratory Due to COVID, the nature of the labs has shifted from face-to-face to a virtual/online format. The instructors have pivoted and began to develop virtual lab modules. Over the next year, they will continue to update and develop both face-to-face and virtual labs.Two faculty members have worked to create a repository of materials that can be used in place of a textbook, photo atlas, and lab manual. The faculty members are working on the exercises to create alternative laboratory exercises for each content piece.  The content is constantly being updated to reflect revisions based on student feedback and student data analysis. The objectives for each exercise align with the majority of the publisher's Student Learning Objectives. The material is organized by content (subject matter) in modules. Each Module will contain 1) the different versions of the exercises 2) Teacher Material and 3) Student Material

How do scientists discover the basic biology underlying human diseases? Simple organisms such as baker's yeast, nematodes, fruit flies, zebrafish, mice and rats have allowed biologists to investigate disease at multiple levels, from molecules to behavior. In this course students will learn strategies of disease modeling by critically reading and discussing primary research articles. We will explore current models of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, childhood genetic diseases such as Fragile X syndrome, as well as models of deafness and wound healing. Our goal will be to understand the strategies biologists use to build appropriate models of human disease and to appreciate both the power and limitations of using simple organisms to analyze human disease. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching.