Syllabus

Season 7 Semester 2 (2026–2027)

Season 7 Semester 2 (2026–2027) USABO course syllabus — weekly lecture topics and Campbell Biology chapter assignments.
Week	Date	Lecture Topic	Extended Topics	Campbell's Chapters
21	9/19/26	Histology and Digestion	Pentose Phosphate Pathway	40
22	9/26/26	Digestion and Excretion	Nutrient Metabolism	41, 44
23	10/3/26	Circulation and Respiration	Cardiac, Kidney, and Respiratory Math	42
24	10/10/26	Immune System	Blood Histology and Hematology	43
25	10/17/26	Endocrine System	Glucose Metabolism	45
26	10/24/26	Reproductive System	IVF	46
27	10/31/26	Development	Drosophila Development	47
28	11/7/26	Nervous System 1	Neuronal Ion Channels	48
29	11/14/26	Nervous System 2	Temperature Regulation and Fatty Acid Catabolism	49
30	11/21/26	Sensory and Motor Systems	Immunology Topics	50
31	11/28/26	Anatomy and Physiology Review	Membrane Potential	N/A
32	12/5/26	Plant Development	Basal Ganglia Circuits and Brain Disease	35
33	12/12/26	Plant Transport and Nutrition	Muscle Physics	36, 37
34	12/19/26	Plant Hormones	Vascular Math	38
35	12/26/26	Plant Technologies	Plant Hormone Synthesis	39
36	1/2/27	Plants Review	Quantum Yield and Agriculture	N/A
37	1/9/27	Ethology	Optimal Foraging Theory	51
38	1/16/27	Ecology I	Game Theory	52-54
39	1/23/27	Ecology II	Lotka Volterra	55,56
40	1/30/27	Overall Review	Productivity and Production + Final Tips	N/A

*Syllabus is tentative

Past Syllabi

Season 7 Semester 1 (2026) USABO course syllabus — weekly lecture topics and Campbell Biology chapter assignments.
Week	Date	Lecture Topic	New Concepts OH	Skill Building OH	Campbell's Chapters
1	5/2/26	Introduction to Biology	Introduction + Chemistry Primer 1(Atoms, Molecules, and Bonds)	How to read a graph (and a paper)	1
2	5/9/26	Biochemistry	Chemistry Primer 2 (Thermo + Intro Orgo)	Bioelectronics (ion Channel stuff)	2-5
3	5/16/26	Cell Biology	Kinetics	Microscopy	6,7
4	5/23/26	Catabolism	Catalysis	Flow Cytometry	8,9
5	5/30/26	Anabolism	Lipid Biochemistry	Pulse Chase Experiments	10
6	6/6/26	Cell Communication	Protein Synthesis and Degradation	FRET, FRAP and Related Techniques	11
7	6/13/26	Biochem and Cell Bio Review	Cell Signaling	Paper Review	N/A
8	6/20/26	Classical Genetics	Compartmentalization and Vesicle Trafficking	PCR, qPCR and sequencing	14,15
9	6/27/26	Molecular Basis of Genetics	Cytoskeleton	Microarray and RNAseq (or other proteomic techniques	16-18
10	7/4/26	Laboratory Techniques	Cell Cycle	So Blong-t and Thanks for all the FISH (Blotting and Electrophoresis)	20
11	7/11/26	Population Genetics	DNA Repair and Recombination	GWAS	21,23
12	7/18/26	Genetics and Mol Bio Review	Apoptosis and Cell Death	Paper Review	N/A
13	7/25/26	Evolution and Speciation	Chromatography	Sequence Alignment and BLAST	22,24
14	8/1/26	Phylogeny and Taxonomy	Epistasis	Phylogenetic Reconstruction/Lineage Tracing	25,26
15	8/8/26	Microbes and Viruses	Tetrad Analysis	Mutagenesis	19, 27
16	8/15/26	Protists and Fungi	Quantitative Genetics	Paper Review	28, 31
17	8/22/26	Plant Diversity	HIV	Gene Editing and Knockout	29, 30
18	8/29/26	Introduction to Animals	Intro Statistics	Hox Genes	32
19	9/5/26	More Animals	Epidemiology	Principle Component Analysis	33
20	9/12/26	Diversity Review	Invertebrate Dissections	Paper Review	N/A

Season 6 Semester 2 (2025–2026) USABO course syllabus — weekly lecture topics and Campbell Biology chapter assignments.
Week	Date	Lecture Topic	New Concepts	Campbell's Chapters
21	9/20/25	Histology and Digestion	Pentose Phosphate Pathway	40
22	9/27/25	Digestion and Excretion	Nutrient Metabolism	41, 44
23	10/4/25	Circulation and Respiration	Cardiac, Kidney, and Respiratory Math	42
24	10/11/25	Immune System	Blood Histology and Hematology	43
25	10/18/25	Endocrine System	Glucose Metabolism	45
26	10/25/25	Reproductive System	IVF	46
27	11/1/25	Development	Drosophila Development	47
28	11/8/25	Nervous System 1	Neuronal Ion Channels	48
29	11/15/25	Nervous System 2	Temperature Regulation and Fatty Acid Catabolism	49
30	11/22/25	Sensory and Motor Systems	Immunology Topics	50
31	11/29/25	Anatomy and Physiology Review	Membrane Potential	NA
32	12/6/25	Plant Development	Basal Ganglia Circuits and Brain Disease	35
33	12/13/25	Plant Transport and Nutrition	Muscle Physics	36, 37
34	12/20/25	Plant Hormones	Vascular Math	38
35	12/27/25	Plant Technologies	Plant Hormone Synthesis	39
36	1/3/26	Plants Review	Quantum Yield and Agriculture	NA
37	1/10/26	Ethology	Optimal Foraging Theory	51
38	1/17/26	Ecology I	Game Theory	52-54
39	1/24/26	Ecology II	Lotka Volterra	55,56
40	1/31/26	Overall Review	Productivity and Production + Final Tips	NA

Season 6 Semester 1 (2025) USABO course syllabus — weekly lecture topics and Campbell Biology chapter assignments.
Week	Date	Lecture Topic	New Concepts	Skill Building	Campbell's Chapters
1	5/3/25	Introduction to Biology	Introduction + Chemistry Primer 1 (Atoms, Molecules, and Bonds)	Paper Intro	1
2	5/10/25	Biochemistry	Chemistry Primer 2 (Thermo + Intro Orgo)	Paper Review	2-5
3	5/17/25	Cell Biology	Kinetics	Paper Intro	6,7
4	5/24/25	Catabolism	Catalysis	Paper Review	8,9
5	5/31/25	Anabolism	Lipid Biochemistry	Paper Intro	10
6	6/7/25	Cell Communication	Protein Synthesis and Degradation	Paper Review	11
7	6/14/25	Biochem and Cell Bio Review	Cell Signaling	Paper Intro	N/A
8	6/21/25	Classical Genetics	Compartmentalization and Vesicle Trafficking	Paper Review	14,15
9	6/28/25	Molecular Basis of Genetics	Cytoskeleton	Paper Intro	16-18
10	7/5/25	Laboratory Techniques	Cell Cycle	Paper Review	20
11	7/12/25	Population Genetics	DNA Repair and Recombination	Paper Intro	21,23
12	7/19/25	Genetics and Mol Bio Review	Apoptosis and Cell Death	Paper Review	22,24
13	7/26/25	Evolution and Speciation	Chromatography	Paper Intro	25,26
14	8/2/25	Phylogeny and Taxonomy	Epistasis	Paper Review	25,26
15	8/9/25	Microbes and Viruses	Tetrad Analysis	Paper Intro	19, 27
16	8/16/25	Protists and Fungi	Quantitative Genetics	Paper Review	28, 31
17	8/23/25	Plant Diversity	HIV	Paper Intro	29, 30
18	8/30/25	Introduction to Animals	Intro Statistics	Paper Review	32
19	9/6/25	More Animals	Epidemiology	Paper Intro	33
20	9/13/25	Diversity Review	Invertebrate Dissections	Paper Review	N/A

Season 5 Semester 2 (2024–2025) USABO course syllabus — weekly lecture topics and Campbell Biology chapter assignments.
Week	Date	Lecture Topic	New Concepts	Skill Building	Campbell's Chapters
21	9/21/24	History and Digestion	Pentose Phosphate Pathway	Histology	40
22	9/28/24	Digestion and Excretion	Nutrient Metabolism	PET, CAT, and MRI Scanning	41, 44
23	10/5/24	Circulation and Respiration	Cardiac, kidney, and Respiratory Math	EKGs	42
24	10/12/24	Immune System	Blood Histology and Hematology	Mouse Models	43
25	10/19/24	Endocrine System	Glucose Metabolism	Paper Review	45
26	10/26/24	Reproductive System	IVF	Cell Lineage Tracing	46
27	11/2/24	Development	Drosophila Development	Embryonic Manipulation	47
28	11/9/24	Nervous System 1	Neuronal Ion Channels	iPSCs	48
29	11/16/24	Nervous System 2	Greycen's Choice	fMRI	49
30	11/23/24	Sensory and Motor Systems	Pediatric Biology or Brain Disease	Voltage Clamping	50
31	11/30/24	Anatomy and Physiology Review	Muscle Physics	Paper Review (Case Study)	NA
32	12/7/24	Plant Development	Mr. Stele yo girl	Plant Histology	35
33	12/14/24	Plant Transport and Nutrition	Vascular Math	Chromatography	36, 37
34	12/21/24	Plant Hormones	Hormone Synthesis	Protoplast Formation and Plant Transformation	38
35	12/28/24	Plant Technologies	Agriculture	Selective Breeding	39
36	1/4/25	Plants Review	Quantum Yield	Paper Review	NA
37	1/11/25	Ethology	Optimal Foraging Theory	Game Theory	51
38	1/18/25	Ecology I	Lotka-Volterra	Cohort Tables	52-54
39	1/25/25	Ecology II	Production and Productivity	eDNA	55,56
40	2/1/25	Overall Review	Final Tips	Paper Review	NA