Сongratulations!

The first mass open online course of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University- “Methods of molecular biology” is published on the international educational platform Coursera

The first mass open online course of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University- “Methods of molecular biology” was published on January 2, 2021 on the international educational platform Coursera – the world leader in the field of online education.

Coursera is the world's largest provider of online educational courses with 65 million registered users, more than 3,200 courses and $ 2.5 billion in revenue in 2020. The course “Methods of Molecular Biology”, launched on the Coursera platform on January 2, 2021, is the first course developed by al-Farabi Kazakh National University in collaboration and with support of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. In fact, this is the first course on Coursera from Kazakhstan and the first course in English originally planned with Kazakh subtitles. This interdisciplinary course will be of interest to students and specialists in the fields of chemistry, ecology, mathematics, physics, medicine, and legal sciences, as well as to a wider audience, as it reveals various aspects of molecular biology and its methodological tools in an interesting and accessible language.

The course is presented entirely in English (to which, within the next three months, subtitles for videos in Kazakh will be uploaded; translation, editing, revision and upload of subtitles in Russian will be conducted). It consists of 5 modules with concentrated lectures: 1. Molecular biology of viruses; 2. Molecular biology of bacteria; 3. Molecular biology of plants; 4. Molecular biology of animals; 5. Molecular biology and medicine. Each lecture is accompanied by a video, text for additional analysis, list of references, as well as questions for the forum and a test for self-study. Each module has a graded test. At the end of the course there is a final assignment (essay with mutual assessment by students). There are also promo, introductory and closing videos.

After completing this course, students will be able to:

• See the relationship between molecular biology techniques and advances in related fields of science.

• Understand the specifics of methods related to the study, regulation and application of proteins and nucleic acids.

• Interpret information about the differences in molecular biological processes in pro- and eukaryotes.

• Analyze the interaction of regulatory and functional elements of molecular biological processes.

• Apply the knowledge gained during the course in simulation and modeling, risk assessment, writing articles, reviews, reports, developing cases and analyzing the information received.

The authors and developers of the course are employees of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology: senior lecturer, PhD Aizhan Zhussupova, Head of the Department, Candidate of Biological Sciences Zhazira Zhunusbayeva, Senior lecturer, PhD Izat Smekenov.

Chair of Molecular Biology and Genetics