Mitochondria and Metabolism in Human Health and Disease - BCH2135H

In this topics course we will explore the role of mitochondrial function and how it regulates many important biological pathways.

The format for this course is a little different from other topics courses you may have taken and will require greater sustained effort but will not involve a lengthy final assignment. I’m aiming for maximal student engagement which will in fact require you to assume much responsibility for development of the course curriculum as well as marking. Brief weekly written assignments will comprise a significant portion of your grade and will be evaluated by your classmates. The quality of the class you lead (as explained below) will comprise another major area of evaluation.

Course Objectives:

• Learn about molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial quality control (MQC).
• Discover how dysfunction of MQC leads to human disease.
• Develop your critical thinking, team work, presentation and organizational skills.

The basic outline for what will be covered in the six weeks is below.

In this course, we will discuss major advances in the field of mitochondrial quality control, the biological pathways impacted, and the ensuing diseases that result upon dysfunction of MQC.

Ideally we will have 12 students which will be divided into groups of  2, who will lead the 6 classes. Each group will pick (with advice from McQuibban if needed) a review article and a research paper (general range of topics will be discussed during first class) and distribute these on each Monday the week prior to when the class meets (i.e. 9 days before the class). When the class meets, the assigned lead students will provide a ~15’ introduction to the topic and then oversee a ~45’ interactive class presentation/discussion of the research paper. Following this, the lead students will present a ~30’ discussion of possible future directions for the topic (chalk talk format). The presenting students will design 4 study questions based on the assigned paper. These study questions will be provided to the class on the Monday prior to each Wednesday’s classes and discussion of these questions should comprise part of the ~45’ ‘journal club’ portion of the class. This format provides the presenting students a full week to design their study questions while they prepare their class presentations. Written answers for these study questions will be due at the start of each class and will be marked by the presenting students. Students will submit their answers anonymously using only their student number as identification.

Course Next Offered

Fall 2025

Course Time and Location
Course Location: MaRS West Tower, Room 1522
Course Time and Date: Thursdays, 12:00 – 2:00 P.M. Starts October 16th (organizational class), then two week break, then 6 weekly classes November 6th to December 11, 2025

Enrollment Limit
12 

Method of Student Evaluation
Marking Scheme:
• 5x written study question assignments: 10% each. 50% total
• 1x presenting students collective score: 20%. This is a mark assesses the quality of the collective presentation taking into consideration content and organization.
• 1x presentation individual score: 20%. This will consider the quality of the study questions you design as well as the presentation/discussion portion that you lead.
• Overall contribution: 10%. This reflects our assessment of your overall contribution to the course, which will take into consideration, largely, the quality of your participation in the discussions.

If you anticipate missing a class you must let me know in advance to adjust the assignment. Providing that you had a legitimate reason for missing the class, you will be provided with an assignment based on the reading for that week that you can use to make up for the lost class.

Course Coordinator: 
Angus McQuibban