Ethical Issues in Biology (ALWAYS UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

BIOL 4260--01 Spring 2026

Syllabus

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Explore current issues in biology.

2. Analyze current issues in biology.

3. Analyze personal paradigms related to issues in biology.

4. Write a scholarly analytical paper on an ethical issue in biology.

5. Examine data that support various positions on ethical issues in biology.

Schedule (Subject to Change)

Week Dates Topic Due Dates
1 Jan. 5

Jan. 7

Jan. 9		 Intro. & Syllabus

What is "ethics" in biology?

No in person class		 Week 1 Reflection
(what issues interest you most)
due Jan. 9
2 Jan. 12

Jan. 14

Jan. 16		 No in person class

No in person class

Discussion on GATTACA		 Sign up to lead discussion
due Jan. 14

Guided reflection on GATATACA
due Jan. 16

Term Paper Book Selection
due Jan. 16
3 Jan. 19

Jan. 21

Jan. 23		 MLK Jr. Day
NO IN PERSON CLASS

Frameworks for Ethical Analysis

Discussion on Frameworks and Expectations
 Term Paper Proposal
Due Jan. 23
4 Jan. 26

Jan. 28

Jan. 30		 Eugenics

No in person class

No in person class
aWork on Annotated Bibliography		 Precis Jan. 31
5 Feb. 2

Feb. 4

Feb. 6		 Human Subjects, Consent

Case Study--HeLa Cells

Discussion on Research, Medical Innovations, and Consent		 Reflection Due Feb 6

Annotated Bibliography
Due Feb. 13
6 Feb. 9

Feb. 11

Feb. 13		 Genomic Privacy & Data Ownership

Case Study--Golden State Killer

Discussion on Should Law Enforcement
use public DNA databases		 Reflection due Feb. 13
7 Feb. 16

Feb. 18

Feb. 20		 HOLIDAY--NO CLASS

Ethics of Ancestry Testing

Discussion on How to best approach data privacy/security
 Reflection due Feb. 20
8 Feb. 23

Feb. 25

Feb. 27		 Biotechnology patents,
data availability, etc.
Case Study--The race for the Human Genome Sequence

Discussion on Should genes and sequences be patentable
 Reflection due Feb. 27
9 Mar. 2

Mar. 4

Mar. 6/td> 		Human Variation and representation in Medicine

Case study--Hearing Patients

Discussion on How to best account for variation in humans--Medicine		 Reflection Due Mar. 6
- Mar. 9

Mar. 11

Mar. 13		 SPRING BREAK--NO CLASS
10 Mar. 16

Mar. 18

Mar. 20		 CRISPR, Gene Editing,
and Human Enhancement
Case Study--He Jiankui gene-edited babies

Discussion on Human genome modification		 Reflection Due Mar. 20
11 Mar. 23

Mar. 25

Mar. 27		 Bioinformatics and Algorithmic Bias

Case Study--Polygenic Risk Scores

Discussion on How to approach GWAS and Population Studies		 Reflection due Mar. 27
12 Mar. 30

Apr. 1

Apr. 3		 Applications of AI in Bioinformatics and Medicine

Applications of AI in Bioinformatics and Medicine

Discussion on Ethical Applications of Artificial Intelligence		 Rough draft of Paper due Mar. 30

Reflection due Apr. 30
13 Apr. 6

Apr. 8

Apr. 10		 Biodiversity Genomics and Conservation Ethics

Case Study--Earth Biogenome Project, Parachute Science

Discussion on Should we Sequence Everything		 Peer Review of Paper due Apr. 6

Reflection due Apr. 10
14 Apr. 13

Apr. 15

Apr. 17		 Where do we go from here?

Lightnight Presentations

Lightnight Presentations		 Lighting Presentations Due
15 Apr. 20 Lightning Presentations Final Paper Due-April 20