Chevron Left
Back to Basic Principles of Cell Signaling

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Basic Principles of Cell Signaling by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST)

4.8
stars
82 ratings

About the Course

The coordination of life in multicellular organisms is precisely controlled by cells via various internal and external signals. Cells depend on different types of signals to regulate their growth, division, metabolism as well as death. Signals are growth factors or hormones produced and secreted by other cells. Some signals such as nutrients are in the form of molecules from the environment. Signaling molecules are sensed by direct binding to specific receptor molecules. Depending on the biochemical properties and ways of molecules changes, we can group various signaling events in defined pathways. Throughout specific signal transduction pathways, a signal can modulate cellular activities and gene expression, thereby leading to changes in cell growth, metabolism, differentiation, or many other cellular functions. When genetic mutations or biochemical changes occur in key proteins of certain cellular signaling pathways, cellular homeostasis can be disrupted, thus triggering tissue malfunctions, itiation or spread of cancer, or developmental anomalies. Dissecting biochemical principles of these cell signaling pathways is essential for us to better understand mechanisms of both normal cells and pathological conditions, therefore our knowledge on signal transduction will provide valuable information to develop effective therapeutic agents to fight against diseases.. This 6 week-course will give you a solid introduction to the basic fundamentals of cell signaling. I will first define the concept of cell signaling and introduces major types of cellular signaling events. Throughout 6 weeks, we will study biochemical basis of electrical signaling, chemical signaling as well as gap junction-mediated signaling pathways. We will also learn about key principles underlying signal transduction pathways by studying significance of protein-protein interactions and signaling second messengers. In the end of each week, dysregulated cell signaling in pathological conditions such as cancer and diabetes will be presented and discussed. Everyone knows that cell signaling is essential for sustaining life. How can you explain insulin actions in lowering glucose in biochemical details? What can be the fundamental mode of oxygen sensing in our body? Have you ever thought about ways of how we can specifically remove or kill certain types of rapidly-growing cancer cells? Cell signaling accompanies various biochemical strategies to sense and transmit signals inside our cells. Without fine control of those signaling processes, cells, tissues, and organisms cannot maintain life....

Top reviews

JN

Aug 1, 2021

Excelente! Me pareció que el curso proveee conocimientos muy adecuados para quienes empiezan con el estudio de las cascadas de senalización celular.

KA

Sep 20, 2023

It is my second course at KAIST. It is really good, course contains perfect pictures. I learned a lot of new information about cell signaling.

Filter by:

26 - 27 of 27 Reviews for Basic Principles of Cell Signaling

By Vickie R R

•

Aug 5, 2022

I enjoyed the class as it added to my knowledge and was organized nicely.

However, the transcripts were riddled with mistakes, worse than I've seen with any coursera course. I had some familiarity with the topic and was able to correct the translation from spoken to written but a better system needs to be installed when using a lot of very specific scientific terminology. What ever system you were using, it didn't work. I realize this course came from Korea and perhaps English was not the professor's first language but it was quite laughable to see the riducules mistakes made for words such as kinase (kindness( and binding (combined) when the professor was saying the correct term.

In addition, the quiz and exam questions were poorly written with a number of grammar mistakes making it difficult to interpret the questions.

By Stefan C R

•

Dec 12, 2024

This is not a well-prepared course. Instructor doesn't seem to be comfortable with the material (or maybe with the idea of being recorded) and just reads the slides adding very little to them. Most images are not explained or very superficially explained. They keep showing 3D structures of the various proteins for some reason - those images tell us nothing, and add no educational value to the presentation. The course is poorly organized - secondary messengers are not defined or explained until module 4 (Why?!?). This should and could be an interesting course - I hope they continue working on the content and presentation to make improvements for the future. In its current format, I feel sorry for any student who pays university-level fees to sit in that classroom.