Molecular Biology of the Cell I

MBG 301 zooms in on how cells actually talk to themselves and each other, working through receptor families and second messengers before showing how the same logic underlies development and cancer. Alongside the Lodish chapters you'll spend serious time dissecting around ten primary research articles, defending interpretations of ligand-receptor data, and giving a presentation, with two open-book midterms that reward thinking over memorization. It sits on top of your earlier cell biology and biochemistry, and it's the pathway-level foundation you'll lean on in developmental biology, cancer biology, and most wet-lab electives downstream.