How likely are you to develop diabetes if one of your parents had it? Do certain genes make you more susceptible to contracting severe COVID-19? Genetics can help you to answer these questions. Genetics is the study of heredity and the variation of traits passed from one generation to the next. Genetics improves personal and public health, contributing to disease diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. In this course, you will explore the structure and function of genes and chromosomes, and how we use genetics research to better understand basic biology.

  • Understand patterns of nuclear and extranuclear inheritance such as mitochondrial
  • Track traits through maternal and paternal ancestry
  • Identify genes, their function, and impact of mutations using model systems
  • Describe principles of population genetics
  • Decide the optimal method of genetic analysis to understand a gene’s function