The central theme of the course is to use the discussion of emerging model systems to illustrate important concepts in microbiology. The format of the course will combine lectures and the discussion of primary literature/review articles. An important goal of the course is to introduce graduate students to potential topics for post-doctoral research and to meet some of the faculty that work in these areas. Each course period will focus on an individual topic in some depth. There will be a ~1 hr lecture followed by ~1 hour for the discussion of papers related to the topic of the day. Students will be expected to present papers in one class and discuss these papers in the context of material covered in the lecture portion of the class. I will also invite 2-3 people as part of the Microbiology Seminar Series that work on model systems discussed in the class. The schedule of the course will be arranged such that the papers are discussed the week before the visiting speakerís seminar. The students will meet with the speaker immediately after the seminar for an informal discussion and reception. Attending this discussion/reception will be required for the students in the class, but open to any students that want to attend. The class will be open to graduate students at all levels.

Possible Topics and Model Systems to be Covered in the Course.

Students can also suggest an area they might be interested in studying.

The invited speakers this year are: