This class is an easy A (unless you have a bad TA, in my case). Dr. Lee provides in-depth study guides for both the midterm and final and takes exam questions straight from the lecture slides. The lecture reading isn't necessary, but can be interesting. Definitely do the discussion readings. There is one group project, which is easy and is split between 20 people, so the workload is light. TAKE THE MIDTERM PAPER SERIOUSLY. I got an A on all exams and 100% for participation and I still finished the class with a B+ because I was slightly off topic on the midterm paper. The class is about 65% biology and 35% ethics/moral philosophy.

This is one of the best classes I've taken, and by far my favorite I've taken at UCLA. I highly recommend taking this class with Dr. Lee, it's incredibly interesting and Dr. Lee is a lovely professor.

LECTURES
Lectures were held asynchronously for the most part, with 2-3 synchronous lectures. It was very nice to get to connect with Dr. Lee during these synchronous lectures, and helped restore the feeling of a normal class. For the asynchronous lectures, I typically just looked to the slides and took notes from them, going back to the lecture occasionally if an assignment question references something I missed.

DISCUSSIONS
Discussions were optional and honestly, I only attended about 3-4 of them (which I feel bad about because I really loved my TA). Typically we would just go over and answer questions from the readings and lectures that week and sometimes discuss in breakout rooms what we thought/answer questions the TA provided for us -- which we would put on a slide and then go over with the rest of the class/slides in the main room.

ASSIGNMENTS/READINGS
At the end of each week, there were assignments on CCLE regarding the class's content from the week prior (usually about 3-4 questions, as the quarter went on there would be less and less each week but the appropriate responses would get longer for each question). They were never too hard, could always be answered using the lectures/readings from that week and sometimes were opinion-based. I would usually just skim the readings and it never really caused any problems.

MIDTERM PAPER
This was no problem for me, just start early and address the prompt fully. We had about two weeks to do it, and I got a really great grade just from managing my time with preparing it and the content I included.

FINAL GROUP PROJECT
This wasn't too bad either, you and your group are assigned a degenerative disease that could potentially be treatable with stem cell therapy and you could make a poster, website, or a 15 minute video about the disease following guidelines provided by Dr. Lee. Compared to other finals, this was incredibly easy.

No tests or quizzes and an incredible manageable workload; I can't recommend this class enough. :-)

The first part of the class, phylogenetic analysis of the unknown gene, is sort of difficult because the gene is previously uncharacterized and you have to justify its placement in a tree and how it relates to a homologous gene in another organism. Lectures aren't bruincasted, so you may have to harass your TAs in the lab for tips to get you started (But don't harass them too much, they're kind and one of the highlights of the course!) This was the first quarter that the class worked individually on the gene hybridization, but I preferred it that way because I got to learn each technique in more detail. The downside is that you have to do many of the steps yourself, including redoing PCR if it fails, remaking PCR products if you run out, etc. Be prepared to come in quite often outside of class, especially week 7-9. Make friends with your bench if you want to keep your sanity by having them help with failed steps. If you finish early, you can potentially be done with the class by the end of week 9, which is really nice.

Great GE! Professor Lee was great. The subject matter was interesting and the work was easy.

-one midterm paper, one group oral presentation, one group final presentation, weekly mini quizzes
-little bit of bioinformatics in the beginning and then all wet lab
*Take this class (besides getting lab credit) if you:
-want to get DIFFERENT types of research experience (I was in a research lab and I mostly did protein stuff but in 104AL, you do more of DNA/RNA stuff)
-want to experience the wet lab life (ie. 8+ hrs in lab/week)
*Don't take this class (yet) if you:
-have a busy schedule
-don't work well in a team (there is a lot of group work and communication within your team)
*Tips:
-know your team mates early on
-keep your non-lab days relatively free in the afternoon because if you fail experiments, its really helpful for you to come in and catch up
-communication!!
-read the manual before lab/class
-plan with your group esp. the last couple weeks

This class would be a really tough GE for anyone who does not have a strong foundation in molecular biology. I would not suggest you take this course if you are looking for an easy GE, the tests are pretty much just memorization based. The professor is a great lecturer, the class has practically no homework, but you will end up just spending your time memorizing all of the intricate details of everything she goes over in lecture.

I took MCDB 104AL with her. The lab was on tuesdays and thursdays but we spent EVERY SINGLE DAY in the lab often from morning to 6-7pm. This class required so much work that I couldn't spend enough time on my other classes. I got all A's in my weekly lab reports, papers and quizzes and I was 100% sure I was gonna get an A. I was shocked when I saw I got a B on myucla. I just couldn't believe it! She had taken points off from lecture participation, lab conduct and final research to get me from a definite A+ to B+. It was not fair and I just had to write this review cuz I'm really upset. Btw I had attended all the lectures and answered most of the questions she asked in class. 😒😡

Dr. lee is great but this class was a whole lot of work. Challenging quizzes every lecture on material we hadn't covered, lab reports that took hours to complete and were due at midnight the same day we had lab, and a ridiculous time commitment. You absolutely WILL be in lab for longer than the lab period you signed up for. Be prepared for this. So if you signed up for lab on tuesday and thursday from 1-5, you or your group members will most likely be coming into lab a bit earlier at 12 on those days AND also at any time from 1-5 on mondays and wed (when the lab is open for the other section) to redo experiments so try to keep those times open in your schedule as best as possible. Even if you're skilled, it's no guarantee that experiments won't fail or mistakes won't happen. There's really no way around not having to redo experiments since the course is project-based and doesn't consist of discrete, unrelated experiments. In order to proceed to the next step in the project you have to make an experiment work.

Keep in mind you work in groups and even though you might not be responsible for a failed experiment, the whole group suffers. It's frustrating, but part of the key to having a smooth quarter is being able to work well with your group mates even when things go wrong.

The first week of class you get right into it performing phylogenetic analysis which scares a few people away since you're kind of thrown right into it without a clear idea of what you're doing.

There are 2 papers and 1 group presentation. The first paper is the phylogenetic analysis paper which is around an 8 page paper and is meant to prepare you for the second paper. The second paper is in lieu of a final and averages around 40 pages including figures which is to say it is a beast of a paper and depending on time management has the ability to really impact your other finals. These papers aren't hard per se, just tedious due to the amount of detail.

The class will be frustrating but just stick it out. As the quarter goes on, you adjust to the amount of work involved, become more efficient at performing experiments, and hopefully develop a sense of trust for your group mates.There's the UAs. TAs, and Dr. Lee all there to help.

I personally have some mixed feelings about this class, but I took it for the lab requirement and ended up doing well. Befriending your group is SO important, because you will depend on each other a lot for sharing data and breaking up the workload when you need to make up experiments. You will also be doing a presentation on an experiment together, as well as a final presentation with all your data, so working well together on that is necessary.
You 100% will be coming in on your own time to keep your project on schedule, so try to keep your non-lab afternoons open. Her quizzes were manageable if you studied, she loves lecture participation and will call on you if you're not participating enough, and the midterm paper is a beast to write but I don't think she graded my class's papers too harshly. She can be a little blunt when critiquing you, but she's a really engaging lecturer and I liked the way she explained things during class. This class was definitely tough and time-consuming, so maybe schedule it during one of your lighter quarters, but I don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be.

Easy A GE. Prof Lee is super nice and gives fun lectures. I learned a lot by attending the lectures, but they are also bruin casted. Participation worths a lot, breaking down to discussion, clicker questions, and a in-class presentation. The tests are straightforward, and there's also a decent amount of extra credit(like you can get 110% on the midterm and final). Nice and interesting class, strongly recommended.