This course examines the structure and function of the cell nucleus and the eukaryotic genome, and their role in organizing biological information. A special emphasis is placed on covering how major concepts in gene expression and regulation were developed. Topics covered include:

• The discovery of the molecular basis of inheritance, genetic information flow (DNA, rRNA, tRNA, mRNA)
• Ribozymes, splicing
• The origin of the eukaryotic nucleus, the spliceosome, introns
• The role of population genetics on genome organization
• Chromatin organization, the 3D-architecture of the chromosomes
• The nuclear pore complex, nuclear trafficking (with an emphasis on mRNA nuclear export)
• Mitosis
• Nuclear envelope breakdown and reassembly during cell division
• Nuclear movement during cell polarity