543 -- Fall, 2013

Stephen Devoto	sdevoto@wesleyan.edu
Office hours: Tues, 2-4	685-3461 306 Shanklin

Required texts: Zinsser, On Writing Well (2006). Collins Press. AND Williams and Colomb, Style, The basics of Clarity and Grace (2012). Longman.
All other reading will be handouts and PDFs

Class.Date	Topic	Readings (all class handouts, except forZinsser)	Science Communication Assignment
1. Sep 5	Intro, goals, expectations The Motor Unit	Bear, Connors, Paradiso Neuroscience, 3rd Ed, pp 422-450	.
	WRITING WELL	Zinsser, Chapters 1 to 3	in-class (ungraded): re-writing the passive voice (passive bad)
2. Sep 12	Muscle cell biology and function; Muscle Physiology	Hill, Wyse, and Anderson Physiology, 2nd Ed., Chapter 19: Muscle (pp 489-512) Chapter 20: Muscle at Work (pp 513-29)
	COMMUNICATING SCIENCE TO NON-SCIENTISTS	Essay: The Tangle, by Jonathan Weiner, from The New Yorker Zinsser, Chapters 4 to 10	1A. Re-writing the passive voice 1B. Outlining. Write a one-page Outline of Weiner Essay.
3. Sep 19	The Neuromuscular Junction	Synapse Formation and Electric Function, From Sanes, Reh and Harris. Development of the Nervous System Burden, 1998. The Formation of neuromuscular synapses. Wu, et al., 2010. To build a synapse: signaling pathways in neuromuscular junction assembly. Research Paper: Henriquez, et al., 2008.Wnt Signaling promotes AChR aggregation at the neuromuscular synapse in collaboration with agrin.	Please come prepared with 3 questions about the research article.
	COMMUNICATING WITH POWERPOINT	Power point in the military Sue McConnell's advice for a good PowerPoint Scitable's advice	2. Create a power point that gives your "rules" for a good PowerPoint presentation. Email to me by 4PM at the latest, I will collate the best ideas.
4. Sep 26	Development of muscle: embryology and molecular biology	Gilbert, Developmental Biology, Chapter 11 excerpt. Alberts et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell, Chapter 22 pp 1305-1320. Tapscott Review, 2005: The Circuitry of a master switch....
	READING ORIGINAL RESEARCH	Research Paper. Lepper, 2009: Adult satellite cells and embryonic muscle progenitors have distinct genetic requirements And some writing advice: GRAMMAR RULES	3. 1000 to 1500 word non-fiction about almost anything. Please come prepared with 3 questions about the research article.
5. Oct 3	Stem Cells and Satellite Cells	Sharner 2011. The muscle satellite cell at 50: the formative years. Shadrach 2012. Stem cells for skeletal muscle repair. Pannérec 2012. Stem cells in the hood: the skeletal muscle niche. Research Paper. Lepper, 2011. An absolute requirement for Pax7-positive satellite cells...	Please come prepared with 3 questions on the research article 15 - 30 minute meeting with Professor to discuss previous writing assignment and possible topics for grant proposal.
		Zinsser, Chapters 11 to 19	4. Essay about a neuromuscular disease
6. Oct 10	Motoneuron development and death	Gilbert, Developmental Biology (10th ed), pp394-414. Generating neuronal specificity Dion, et al. (2009). Genetics of motor neuron disorders: New insights into pathogenic mechanisms. Papadeas and Maragakis (2009) Advances in stem cell research for ALS. Research Paper. Di Giorgio et al., (2008). Human stem cells and ALS
	GRANT PROCESS	Zinsser, Chapters 20 to 25	5. Summary of a research paper. You may choose from any of the research papers you have read in class (Henriquez, 2008; Lepper, 2009; Lepper, 2011; Di Giorgio, 2008)
7. Oct 17	Muscular Dystrophy	NY Times article on Muscular Dystrophy therapy Emery, 2002. The muscular dystrophies. Spence et al., 2002. Muscular dystrophies, the cytoskeleton and cell adhesion. Research Paper. Darabi, et al (2012). Human ES- and iPS-Derived Myogenic Progenitors Restore Dystrophin.... Research Paper. Cirak, et al (2011). Exon skipping and dystrophin restoration in patients...
8. Oct 24	GRANT REVIEW SESSION	Old grants, handout.	6. Grant reviews due In-class: discussion of grants
9. Oct 31	Devoto Intro		7. Summary of a research paper. You may choose any paper. It should be the same format as assignment 5.
	Karley Dutra	Research Paper: Bravo-Ambrosio et al (2012) Motor neuron exit
10. Nov 7	Gabe Beaudoin Veronica Birdsall	Research Paper: Podbregar et al. (2013) Il-6 and muscle regeneration Review Paper: Pedersen and Bebbraio (2008): Muscle as an endocrine organ Research Paper: Chen et al. (2008). Robo and midline crossing Review Paper: Ypsilanti et al (2010). Moving away from the midline	8A. Specific aims due Grant writing tips Cummings School, Tufts The Research Assistant
11. Nov 14	Devoto Intro
	Short presentations Eliot Coffey Aviv Fraiman Alex Heyison Victoria Fong	Research papers Filareto et al. (2013). Muscular Dystrophy therapy stem cells Lokireddy et al (2013). Myostatin and muscle wasting. Cinnamon et al (2007). Dermomyotome and adhesion Kahane et al (2013). Dermomyotome and sonic hedgehog	8B. Draft of grant due by Nov. 20. Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT)
Biology/NS&B Seminar
12. Nov 21	Devoto Intro		.
	Short presentations Rachel Fox Jessie Haestad Frances Williams Mfundi Makama	Research Papers Re, et al (2006). Prions and neuromuscular junction Rhoads et al. (2013) Satellite cells, angio, aging, musc dys Charvet et al. (2013) Collagen and muscular dystrophy in zebrafish Ciura et al. (2013) Unknown protein and ALS zebrafish	9. Friendly critique due.
Nov 28	Thanksgiving
13. Dec 5	To be determined	An introduction to zebrafish muscle research, with living embryos. Stellabotte and Devoto 2007. The Teleost Dermomyotome Research Paper. Windner et al., 2012. Fss/Tbx6 is required for central dermomyotome cell fate in zebrafish
			10. GRANTS DUE
Dec 12, 7PM. ?????	Grant reviews		11. Two grant reviews due. Grants and instructions

powerpointpresentation.pptx

		GRANT REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS (PDF)	GRANT SCORING GUIDELINES (PDF)
Grading		Reading a scientific paper	Grant writing Guidelines	Scientific writing