SYLLABUS
GENERAL VIROLOGY – MULTIPLICATION OF VIRUSES
Oncology / Microbiology / Plant Pathology 640
FALL SEMESTER, 2018
1:20 pm Mon, Wed, Fri / Room 125 McArdle Bldg, 1400 University Ave (not WIMR)
Number of credits per semester: 3
How credit hours are met by the course: Traditional Carnegie Definition – Per credit, one hour (i.e. 50 minutes) of classroom or direct faculty/instructor instruction and a minimum of two hours of out of class student work each week over approximately 15 weeks, or an equivalent amount of engagement over a different number of weeks.
Instructors
Paul Ahlquist 841A Bock Labs; Tel: 263-5916; Email: ahlquist@wisc.edu
Professor Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:10-3:00 PM
Robert Kalejta 641A Bock Labs; Tel: 265-5546; Email: rfkalejta@wisc.edu
Professor Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:10-3:00 PM
Nathan Sherer 501A Bock Labs; Tel: 890-2551; Email: nsherer@wisc.edu
Assoc. Professor Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:10-3:00 PM
Discussion Leader Office hrs: Mon and Wed 2:10-3:00 PM. Exam review sessions will be arranged.
DATE TOPIC
(Sessions in regular type are led by Ahlquist, in italics by Kalejta; in bold by Sherer; others as indicated)
Wed Sept 5 Course Introduction / Why and how we study viruses
Fri Sept 7 Viruses in the Real World: Ebola – Peter Halfmann and Amie Eisfeld
Mon Sept 10 Icosahedral virion structure
Wed Sept 12 dsRNA viruses
Fri Sept 14 dsRNA viruses
Mon Sept 17 Picornaviruses (Poliovirus, rhinovirus, hepatitis A virus, etc.)
Wed Sept 19 Picornaviruses / Zika virus
Fri Sept 21 Alphaviruses (Sindbis, chikungunya, various encephalitis viruses, etc.)
Mon Sept 24 Alphaviruses
Wed Sept 26 Coronaviruses (SARS, MERS, etc.)
Fri Sept 28 Exam 1 (100 pts)
DATE TOPIC
Mon Oct 1 Papillomavirus
Wed Oct 3 Papillomavirus/Adenovirus
Fri Oct 5 Adenovirus
Mon Oct 8 Retroviruses/HIV
Wed Oct 10 Retroviruses/HIV
Fri Oct 12 Retroviruses/HIV
Mon Oct 15 Retroviruses/HIV
Wed Oct 17 Herpesviruses
Fri Oct 19 Herpesviruses
Mon Oct 22 Herpesviruses
Wed Oct 24 Exam 2 (100 pts)
Fri Oct 26 Rhabdoviruses
Mon Oct 29 Rhabdoviruses
Wed Oct 31 Filoviruses
Fri Nov 2 Orthomyxoviruses
Mon Nov 5 Orthomyxoviruses
Wed Nov 7 Pandemic flu preparations
Fri Nov 9 Plant viruses – initiation and spread of infection
Mon Nov 12 Plant resistance responses: relation to animal innate immunity
Wed Nov 14 Plant & invertebrate resistance responses: RNAi
Fri Nov 16 Genetic variability in viruses
Mon Nov 19 Exam 3 (100 pts)
Wed Nov 21 Antiviral Drugs
Fri Nov 23 – Thanksgiving recess, no class –
Mon Nov 26 Intrinsic immunity
Wed Nov 28 Intrinsic immunity
Fri Nov 30 Innate immunity
Mon Dec 3 Innate immunity
Wed Dec 5 Adaptive immunity
Fri Dec 7 Vaccines (TA)
Mon Dec 10 Poxviruses (TA)
Wed Dec 12 Emerging viruses
Fri Dec 14 Comprehensive Final Exam (150 points)
2:45 pm – 4:45 pm
125 McArdle
[The final covers the last 9 lectures (~75 pts)
plus comprehensive questions on earlier material (~75 pts).]
Course Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Identify the major classes of viruses infecting animals and plants, and summarize their basic replication strategies.
- Identify the major innate and adaptive antiviral immunity mechanisms of animals and plants, and examples of viral countermeasures against these.
- Summarize the burdens and threats of viruses to public health, agriculture, etc.
- Identify the major approaches and challenges to virus control at the single organism and host population levels, including why viruses are generally harder to control than bacteria, and major steps in developing new antiviral agents.
- Illustrate beneficial uses of viruses and their genes in research, biotechnology and medicine.
- Read and evaluate primary literature papers in virology.
- Design and evaluate basic experiments to address specific questions in virology.
Suggested Texts and References
Principles of Virology: Molecular Biology, Pathogenesis, and Control (Fourth Edition, 2015)
Flint, S. J., Racaniello, V. R., Rall, G.F., Skalka, A. M., Enquist, L. W. ASM Press.
Fields Virology (Sixth Edition, 2013)
Knipe, D. and P. Howley (editors). Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.
Selected Websites
“All the Virology on the WWW”
Universal Virus Database of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ICTVdb/index.htm
NCBI Viral Genomes Resource
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/VIRUSES/viruses.html
Virus World – Structures and Images (UW-Madison Institute for Molecular Virology)
http://rhino.bocklabs.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/virusworld/virustable.pl?
Grading
- Grading is based on exam performance.
- There are three hour exams (100 points each) plus a comprehensive final exam (150 points) for a total of 450 points.
- Separate curves are used for graduate and undergraduate students.
- Examples of prior year exams can be found on the course website. To access this, log on to the MyUW portal at http://my.wisc.edu/ and click on your academic tab. In the list for current courses, this course should contain a link for “library/reserve.”
Sample Distribution of Test Scores and Letter Grades in Previous Years
The following grades and scores are listed for illustration only and do not necessarily reflect how grades will be given this year.
Year | % of total course points required for indicated grade | ||||||
A | AB | B | BC | C | D | ||
Graduate | 2017 | 88 | 82 | 72 | |||
2016 | 86 | 83 | 73 | 67 | |||
2015 | 86 | 82 | 70 | 66 | |||
2014 | 83 | 81 | 72 | 56 | |||
2013 | 89 | 85 | 75 | 65 | |||
2012 | 85 | 82 | 72 | 63 | 56 | ||
2011 | 87 | 82 | 72 | 65 | |||
2010 | 86 | 81 | 72 | ||||
2009 | 83 | 80 | 70 | 65 | 56 | ||
Undergrad | 2017 | 85 | 77 | 67 | 63 | 55 | 45 |
2016 | 83 | 80 | 70 | 60 | 54 | ||
2015 | 83 | 80 | 66 | 63 | 51 | 42 | |
2014 | 81 | 77 | 69 | 60 | 55 | 43 | |
2013 | 85 | 81 | 70 | 63 | 55 | ||
2012 | 82 | 76 | 66 | 60 | 52 | ||
2011 | 82 | 75 | 67 | 60 | |||
2010 | 81 | 76 | 67 | 60 | 50 | 45 | |
2009 | 80 | 75 | 66 | 60 | 53 | 45 | |
Number of students with indicated grade | |||||||
A | AB | B | BC | C | D | ||
Graduate | 2017 | 9 | 8 | 2 | |||
2016 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |||
2015 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 1 | |||
2014 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 1 | |||
2013 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | |||
2012 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 1 | ||
2011 | 5 | 8 | 18 | 3 | |||
2010 | 6 | 7 | 3 | ||||
2009 | 14 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 1 | ||
Undergrad | 2017 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
2016 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 | ||
2015 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |
2014 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
2013 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | ||
2012 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 3 | ||
2011 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |||
2010 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
2009 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |