Bio 200 lecture 1

Academic & Research Context: Biology Department at UW. Integrates engineering and biology across plants, yeast, and human cells to understand cellular signaling, improve health, and increase food access.
Personal Background & Anecdotes: Raised in Portland, OR; met lifelong friends at age $16$ \,years old in middle school. Favorite botanical example: Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), whose stamens snap under physical tension to hurl pollen at insects. Closed buds resemble Japanese Kompeito candy.
Art & Science Intersections: Collaborations across dance and painting; lab artist-in-residence created Transcription Translation. Enjoys visual misdirection (e.g., hamburger cakes).

Assignment & Curriculum Intent: Scaffolding design builds foundational skills for scientific careers rather than busywork; requires active engagement.
Ethical Considerations & AI Policy: Open dialogue regarding digital tools and AI, starting from a baseline of mutual good intent.
Core Pedagogical Principle: The person performing the intellectual work acquires the learning.
Course Logistics: Weekly Thursday discussions, Piazza, weekly study guides (with YSBAT objectives and vocabulary), and Friday Demonstrations of Knowledge (DOK) exams.
Scheduled Unbiased Group Call System: Groups of $4$ \,students are called on a predictable schedule (~ $3$ \,times/quarter) to share group discussion points, confusion, or connections without individual high-stakes questioning.

Scale in Space and Time: Emphasizes small physical scales (molecules to interacting cells) and rapid temporal scales (biochemical/cellular reactions).
National Biology Education Core Concepts:
1. Evolution: Differential survival/reproduction shifting gene frequencies.
2. Structure and Function: Biological properties dictated by physical and chemical architecture.
3. Information Flow, Exchange, and Storage: Transmission of genetic instructions.
4. Pathways and Transformations of Energy and Matter: Metabolic pathways governing energy capture.
5. Systems: Complex networks giving rise to emergent properties.

Model Building and Abstraction: Creating visual diagrams to distill biological phenomena.
Network Thinking (Cause and Effect / Genetic Logic): Predicting systemic outcomes when components are increased, decreased, or knocked out.
Structure and Function Thinking: Deducing macro-level biological function from atomic/molecular properties.
Pedagogical Reframing: Pedagogy shifts static memorized facts into active ways of knowing, doing, and being.

Central Dogma & Evolutionary Schema:
- $\text{Genotype} \times \text{Environment} \rightarrow \text{Phenotype}$
- $\text{Phenotype} \times \text{Environment} \rightarrow \text{Fitness}$
Core Definitions:
- Genotype: Underlying DNA sequence / collection of alleles.
- Phenotype: Observable physical, physiological, or behavioral attributes.
- Environment: Sum of surroundings and conditions.
- Fitness: Relative ability to survive and reproduce; allele persistence over time.
- Allele: Specific sequence variants of a gene.
- Mutation / Variation: Permanent changes in DNA sequence.
Schema Demonstration:
- Environmental Variation: Identical genotypes ( $100\%$ identical DNA) in light vs. dark environments yield distinct phenotypes.
- Genetic Variation: Distinct genotypes in identical controlled environments yield distinct phenotypes.

Experimental Overview: Research by Hopi Hoekstra comparing light-colored beach mice (Peromyscus polionotus leucocephalus) and dark mainland mice.
Dual Biological Perspectives:
- Biochemical / Molecular: Point mutations in coat-color genes alter protein structure/expression, reducing melanin production.
- Evolutionary / Ecological: Natural selection favors light coats for visual camouflage against predators, driving higher fitness and allele persistence.