CBIO-GS 8324. Epithelial Pathobiology.

This is a highly popular class that is offered every other year by the Epithelial Biology Center (EBC) as part of the Cell and Developmental Department (CDB) curriculum. The class consists of 13 first- or second-year graduate students. Each week during the semester-long class the students critically review two recent papers from an outside PI. That Wednesday two students lead the discussion, but all the students are expected to have read the papers carefully. Their assignment is to critically evaluate the papers, finding any faults or concerns in the experimental design or figures. That Thursday the PI visits Vanderbilt and gives a general lecture to Vanderbilt community. On Friday, the PI has lunch with the students to discuss career development strategies and then there is a lively 1.5-hour exchange between the PI and students about the merits of their work. It gives the students the opportunity to meet one-on-one with elite investigators and the investigators enjoy being challenged. Visitors have included Eric Wieschaus, Norbert Perrimon, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Tomas Kirchhausen, Jerry Turner, Vann Bennett, and Mike Verzi, amongst others.