Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Upon successful completion students should be able to:

Interpret and evaluate information about bioscience technology across the broad spectrum of current applications
Make informed decisions that relate to applications of bioscience that have impact on self, family, community and the environment.

This course will focus on a broad range of topics that are relevant to bioscience  technology today. Topics may include newsworthy articles and current events in the media as well as ethical issues surrounding discoveries and practices in bioscience technology.

? Presentation or document describing and explaining a bioscience product, company or policy issue.
? Writing assignment in which a defined ethical question raised by advances in bioscience technology is evaluated.
? Participate in, and contribute to, all class and team discussions and activities.
? Homework assignments
? Scheduled examinations

Themes:
? Application of basic principles in the generation of useful biological tools
? Ethical, legal, global, and social issues in the application of biotechnology
? Driving forces relevant to the bioscience industry
Concepts:
? Genetic information
? Control of gene expression
? Structure/function relationships
? Technology (application of science)
Issues:
? New and emerging technologies
? Alternative or conflicting points of view
? Ethical decision making
? Impact of international and cultural differences
Skills:
? Provide examples of traditional and modern biotechnology. Distinguish between biotechnology, genetic engineering, and bioscience technology.
? Demonstrate a working understanding of the relationship between DNA, RNA and protein and explain why this is central to genetic engineering.
? Define and be able to use the terminology of basic biochemistry and molecular biology and key terminology in biotechnology.
? Describe the key steps in the production of a recombinant pharmaceutical product.
? Explain applications of bioscience in agriculture, medicine, environmental science, and forensics.
? Describe the impact of biotechnology on the agricultural industry, medicine, and the environment.
? Describe examples of bioremediation and biotreatment, and discuss the role of naturally occurring vs. genetically engineered organisms in
bioremediation
? Describe current advances and issues in personalized medicine.
? Provide several applications of stem cell technology in medicine and research.
? Recognize ethical, legal and/or social issues which may arise as a result of advances in bioscience technology.