Teaching
Plant Molecular Biology
Invited guest lectures and field trip!
Description: Molecular biology is a branch of biology involved in explaining biological phenomena in molecular terms. Plant molecular biologists often use biochemical and physical techniques to investigate genetic problems in plants.
Units: 1. Cell Compartments 2. Cell Reproduction 3. Energy Flow 4. Metabolism & Development 5. Plant Environment Interactions.
Learning outcomes: This course will help you understand the fundamentals of plant molecular biology presented in relation to plant development, nutrition, and response to stress, among other topics. You will use tools to analyze, organize, and visualize plant molecular biology data. Course goals include providing you with a solid understanding of the biology in and between plant cells at the molecular level and familiarize you with the utilization of current experimental plant molecular biology tools.
Labs: Visualizing plant tissues and cells, genotyping Arabidopsis plants, analysis of cell wall polymers using liquid and gas chromatography, visits to MU Core Facilities (genomics, metabolomic, proteomics, and microscopy).
Please direct any questions to course instructor (jaime.barros@missouri.edu)
Plant Stress Biology
Graduate course instructed by my colleague David Mendoza. This course covers the fundamental principles of abiotic and biotic plant stress agents and discusses methodologies for conducting research with these stress agents, both individually and in combination.
Jaime contributes to teaching a class on the roles of the cell wall in plant development and defense responses. The lecture covers topics such as cell wall architecture, cell wall signaling, responses to various cell wall components, and the different classes of cell wall receptors.
Credit Hours: 3
Biomanufacturing Technologies
Undergraduate course instructed by my colleague Ellen Wan. This course is an introduction to biomanufacturing technologies and processes for manufacturing biological products (e.g., vaccine, antibodies, and therapeutic proteins). It mainly covers cell expression systems, process development, unit operations, product evaluation, facilities, and regulatory compliance. It is an interdisciplinary course of biochemistry, microbiology, and engineering. The purpose of this course is to help the students acquire the knowledge of modern biomanufacturing and prepare them for rapidly growing fields in biomanufacturing.
Jaime contributes to teaching a lecture on plant biochemistry and genetic engineering. The lecture covers topics such as the biosynthesis of plant secondary metabolites, the engineering of metabolic pathways for increased production of bioactive compounds, strategies for using plants as bioreactors for the production of proteins, and advances in CRISPR-Cas9 technology for precision genome editing in plants.
Credit Hours: 3
COLUM-ORG-FRiPS - Fall & Spring (2022-2023)
Freshman Research in Plant Science
Co-taught with Sarah Humfeld. The MU Freshman Research in Plants (FRIPs) program is an NSF funded and specially designed program to expose new college students to the vital and exciting research being done with plants at Mizzou and to encourage them to consider a research career in plant biology. In addition to working as undergraduate researchers in a lab, students meet weekly to develop as a community of scholars and to gain professional skills relating to research and science. Ten minutes of each meeting is dedicated to ‘checking-in’ and helping students to build community.
Dani Gafford and Rachel Weber joined the Barros lab through this excellent program. We look forward to welcoming many FRIPs students in the future. Applications are accepted annually by September 1: Application form
