Molecular and Cellular Biology

Course Research Project Guidelines and Requirements
Objective:
You are to write a course research paper on a disease/syndrome/abnormality of your choice. There should be enough details on the molecular mechanism and cause of this disease/syndrome/abnormality in scientific literature for you to decide to do a paper on it.

Format & Content:
The paper should be typed, double-spaced, with a 0.5-inch margin on all four sides of each page. If your paper is not typed and/or not stapled in proper order together, IT WILL NOT BE GRADED.
Your paper will not be accepted and credited if the following guidelines are not followed strictly. [Hint: use the following numbered list as a checklist!] 1. Title Page – This should include the title of your paper, your name, the course name, section, Fall 2023.
2. Abstract – One paragraph (and one paragraph only!) to describe the main/key points of your paper; nothing important should be left out. Do not be wordy; it is a summary of your paper. It is good to list the interesting key points of your paper before writing a paragraph about it. In the end, you should be able to identify for me what it is you have achieved with this paper in this one paragraph.
3. Main Body –
· What is the name of the disease/abnormality? What is/are the origin(s) of the name?
· How many people in the US or in the world are afflicted by it?
i. Is there any population bias? If so, is there a reason? e.g. genetic, environmental reasons?
· Is there a disease-causing agent (pathogen), such as a virus, or is it genetic?
i. If there is a pathogen, state the name and explain the molecular mechanisms (so far as we know in the latest research reports) that it uses to cause such disease;
ii. If it is genetic, state the name of the gene(s), the protein(s) it encodes and what goes wrong with this gene(s)/protein(s) compared to their normal counterpart and their downstream effects to cause this disease.
· What are the characteristics and symptoms of it? If available, relate disease molecular mechanisms to symptoms.
· Is there a drug to treat and cure the disease?
i. If there is a drug, state the name, the dosage, and the regiment it takes to fully cure the disease; if mechanisms of action are known about the drug, describe it in molecular details.
ii. If there is no drug to cure, explain why not and look for drugs that alleviate symptoms, also state the name, the dosage, and the regiment of the drug(s).
· How does this disease affect a patient: i) physically, ii) psychologically, iii) socially? Can the patient carry on normal everyday life activities?
4. Discussion
· Discuss why you pick this disease/syndrome/abnormality when this term paper is assigned.
· What did you know before you started researching on the disease?
· What did you find out about the disease that is/are different from what you knew about it?
· How does your knowledge of molecular biology come into play when researching the disease?
· What do you find interesting about this disease after you know more about it?
· Anything you want to talk about the process of this research paper.
5. References
• There should be in-text citation in the body of your paper in addition to a list of references for all the papers you used. The instructions on the proper format to do in-text citation and citing sources in a list of references are provided in the “Research Project” folder.
• You should have at least 10 sources for your paper. Scientific journals should be the main sources, with textbooks as a supplementary source (no more than 1) if absolutely necessary. No Wikipedia entries, videos, random websites, blogs, or personal interviews cited as references please!

PowerPoint Presentation
On December 7th, the last lab (wk 12) of this course, you are to present your paper in the form of a 10min PowerPoint presentation (8min talk, 2min questions). Your presentation will be graded on:
• Content – how well-researched the topic you pick is in your oral presentation.
• Organization – progression of the presentation should be well-paced and able to guide the audience to understand the information you want them to know about your topic.
• Presentation skill – you should be confident about the knowledge you want to share with the class, your voice should be clear and at suitable volume, appropriately attired for presentation.
• More about this will be discussed in class and lab as the course progresses.

Deadlines:
· The disease you pick should be announced to me by email no later than by 11:59pm of Thursday, October 5th, 2023 (time stamp of email should be 11:59pm latest). (2 pts)
· The title, abstract, and references of your paper is due by the end of the lab on Thursday, October 19th, 2023. (8 pts)
o A list of references you have so far must be turned in with the abstract.

<** Your Research Paper is due by Thursday November 30th in lab! **>
o Hard copy should be turned in by the end of the lab session.
o Electronic copy of your paper in PDF or MS Word format should be submitted at Blackboard designated paper submission link by before 9am Thursday, November 30th. No excuse is accepted for ANY delay.
o Your submission should include:
 Main paper document – title page (1pg), abstract page (1pg), main body & discussion (10-15 pg), updated and final version of references (1pg)
 Papers from references – The exact pages of each reference that you use to extract information for your paper must be copied, with information you used highlighted, and attached to and turn in with the final version of your paper.
Grading:
· This paper is worth 15% of your final course average.
· As pointed out in the “Deadlines” section above, if you turn in your disease name and your abstract by the indicated deadlines, you earn 10 pts toward the final paper; if not, you lose the 10 pts.
· Late papers will not be accepted; if I don’t receive hard copy of your paper by the end of the lab on the due date, it will not be accepted.
· You can use scientific journals and, to a smaller extent, textbook (no more than one!) as reference. No Wikipedia.com, blogs (even educational), videos, personal interviews, or random websites please!
· You must submit a copy of all the pages of each reference you cited information from for your paper, with specific information you used for your paper highlighted in each.
· Your final paper will be graded upon by the following criteria:

Title page 3
Abstract 5
Main Body 30
Discussion 12
Grammar & spelling 5
Title + abstract turn-in 2 + 8
Strictly following guidelines 5
Presentation 25
Reference & Citation 5
Total 100