Humans and genes 3700-AL-CZG-QPR

The course aims to present major trends in contemporary human biology in an approach that is compatible with scientific method, in a way ensuring comprehensibility to anyone without a specialist background in biology. The course covers the following topics:
1. Basic concepts of biology – information, structure and general features of living organisms. History of knowledge about inheritance – from antiquity to the 21st century.
2. Scientific method in natural sciences, in human biology and in medicine. Standards of scientific research – control, blind sample, statistics, meta-analyses.
3. Mendelian and multifactorial inheritance – genetic determinism and human predictability. What knowing the human genome is and what it is not.
4. Genetic tests and consultations, test sensitivity and specificity. Screening tests – biological and ethical issues.
5. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) tests – biological and ethical issues.
6. “Alternative medicine”, homeopathy etc. versus evidence-based medicine.
7. Vaccinations and anti-vaccine movements.
8. Assisted reproduction techniques, pre-implantation and prenatal tests.
9. Stem cells, IPS cells, therapeutic cloning – hopes and doubts.
10. GMO – facts and myths.
11. Communicable diseases and combating them.
12. Cancer.
13. Gene therapy and medical biotechnology.
14. Behavioural genetics and evolutionary psychology.