General Biology I
Undergraduate · Biology
Syllabus focus
Topics typically covered
Standard syllabus
Molecules and cells
- Water, pH, and biologically important bonds
- Structure and function of macromolecules
- Prokaryotic vs eukaryotic cell organization
- Membrane structure, transport, and tonicity
- Endomembrane system and cytoskeleton overview
- Microscopy and cell fractionation concepts (intro)
Energetics
- Free energy, ATP, and coupled reactions
- Enzyme catalysis and regulation
- Cellular respiration pathways and ATP yield intuition
- Fermentation vs aerobic metabolism
- Photosynthesis light and Calvin processes (intro)
- Connecting energetics to organismal needs
Genetics foundations
- Mitosis, meiosis, and cell cycle control
- Mendelian genetics and extensions
- Chromosomal inheritance and linkage (intro)
- DNA structure and replication
- Central dogma: transcription and translation
- Mutation types and basic repair ideas
STEM / applied
Lab and quantitative skills
- Designing controlled biology experiments
- Using micropipettes, spectrophotometry, or gels (course-dependent)
- Graphing and statistics for biology labs (intro)
- Interpreting primary figures from papers (intro)
- Lab notebook and reproducibility habits
- Safety and bioethics of classroom organisms
Bridging applications
- Biotechnology tools survey (PCR, restriction enzymes)
- Medical case hooks for membrane/enzyme disorders
- Modeling population genetics at intro level (optional)
- Bioinformatics sequence viewers (survey)
- Communicating results in lab reports
- Capstone mini-investigation within Gen Bio I scope
Notes
Often paired with a lab co-requisite. Sequence vs Gen Bio II (ecology/evolution/diversity) varies by campus.