Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life

My class was taught by Dr. Eric Lander. If you don't know who that is, look him up on Wikipedia and be prepared to be impressed. It's the equivalent of taking beginning guitar lessons from Eddie Van Halen. As a teacher, Dr. Lander has the gift of making the complicated and technical seem simple and exciting. This was, hands down, my favorite class ever.

The class lists no prerequisites, but you really need at least high school chemistry and biology. Dr. Lander will take it from there. The first part of the course is spent on chemistry that is needed to understand the rest of the class. Then the class moves on to classic genetics, the structure of DNA, the mechanics of DNA replication, how DNA codes proteins, and how proteins form biochemical pathways within our cells to perform tasks like metabolism.

This is not the kind of class where you can just watch the videos once and ace the quizzes. Be prepared to work, and be prepared to be richly rewarded in return.

[2021-05-19 Update] I just finished taking this course, in its entirety, for the second time - the only class I've ever repeated. There's no reason to change anything in my original review, which was based on taking the class "live" as it was offered in 2013.

This time, I pondered what makes this class the best that I've experienced - not just among online courses, but everything from kindergarten through a master's degree in electrical engineering. Dr. Lander is the key. He's a storyteller; you don't just learn scientific facts, but the history behind them: the people involved, the challenges they faced, and the importance of their contributions to a well-woven story that culminates in what is now called Genomics. Lander genuinely enjoys teaching. He goes at a comfortable pace, preferring that you understand what is being taught over trying to cram in as much information as possible. His audience engagement is excellent; he takes ideas from the class - often giving more credit than is actually due - and uses them to arrive at the solution to some challenge (like how to isolate a particular gene). Thankfully, there isn't a whiff of ideology to be found; his class is purely about science.

Each lecture is broken into segments; each segment is followed by one or more questions to see if you absorbed the key idea(s). I'm not ashamed to say that this often caused me to re-watch the clip! Each "unit" of 2-3 lectures is followed by "practice problems"; doing them is a learning experience in which you actually solve problems using what you've learned (as opposed to regurgitation). A simple example would be determining if a gene is dominant or recessive, based on a family tree. I usually found working these problems to be fun.

About every 3 units, there's a practice exam, which is also a learning experience. I really like the way they give some big challenge like "solve alkaptonuria"; my first reaction was usually what yours would be ("I have no idea how to do that!"), but it's actually a guided tour in which the problem is broken down into pieces that you're fully capable of doing, based on what you've been taught to that point. In that way, the course is designed to build your confidence.

I took the free "audit track" version of the class. It is a bummer that I'll lose access to the course in a few weeks, but there are costs involved with offering the class; being able to take the class for free is a privilege, not a right, and I'm super grateful to have been able to take this amazing class twice for no charge. If the "upgrade" was $50 instead of $150, I'd do it.

Bottom line: I highly recommend this fantastic class.

If you’re looking for a class where you can simply take notes and pass tests by rote memorization, read no more: this is NOT the class for you. If you are looking to be challenged, to be engaged, and to actively have a concrete understanding of the concepts presented, you’ve come to the right place.

So that you understand my perspective going into this class, let me first say that while I did come into this course with high school biology and chemistry under my belt, high school was so long ago (over 20 years ago), I’m nearly starting from scratch. I have an undergraduate degree that did not require biology or chemistry classes (and the science courses I did take then were, again, a really long time ago). So I had no expectations that I could excel in an MIT class, I took it simply to “refresh” on biology and got more than I bargained for in the best way possible. I completed this 15-week course in 6 weeks (with the exception of the final, which needs to be taken during a certain week - be aware of that when signing up).

Even though I grew up just after the stone age when the internet was just a baby, I’ve taken numerous online courses, in a variety of formats, before and after this one. This is not only the best online course I’ve taken, it’s the best course I’ve taken, period. The only downside is that every course I’ve taken since then falls far short of the high bar Dr. Lander has set.

Okay, so about the actual course: What I really appreciated about the course that’s different from many other online courses are the problem sets and practice tests. Yes, they are challenging, but all of the information you need is covered in the lectures. This is not one of those courses where the questions on the test are unrelated to the lectures and you basically have to teach yourself the material. As I said above, if you want to be tested only by parroting back information and not by actually understanding, you won’t get it in this class. “Test yourself” questions come after each video and there are problem sets after each section of material. In the “test yourself” areas, you can view the answer to get an explanation and a more clear understanding of the material (again, something not offered in many online courses). Each problem set builds on the last, building a much deeper understanding than a typical intro class.

Dr. Lander is a very engaging instructor and it’s clear he really enjoys teaching and the subject. He presents the material in plain language, interwoven with interesting stories, that makes it much easier to grasp. Something that’s unique to the MIT online courses I’ve taken as compared to other courses is that they are recorded in front of an actual classroom of students who were taking the class at the time. This is far more useful (in my experience) than an instructor lecturing to camera in a way that is hard to define. I think it is because the instructor is getting real-time feedback from the students, who can ask questions during the lecture, which allows topics to be clarified before the courses are even published online. I also appreciate seeing students learn and ask questions that I might have asked had I been there in person. It makes it all feel more like I’m taking the class in person.

I’m very confused about the review saying no one fixes mistakes or cares – that is not the experience I had at all. There are real people associated with MIT on the course staff that can help you along the way. There are discussion forums on EACH page where the staff and other students can help with questions and even an email address where you can get clarification or get errors corrected (I once pointed out a typo in the Cerego flash card set that goes along with the course and it was fixed within a day). I’d also like to clarify what someone else said about 12 hours for the final: this just means you have a 12-hour window in which to take the exam once you start. It does not mean it is going to take you 12 hours to complete, they just know that life happens and you’re going to want to take breaks and the like. Also, can start by auditing the class and are not restricted from material, except for the final exam, if you don’t verify.

I learned a tremendous amount in this class. What I took as just a “I guess I should take this” class turned out to be challenging and exciting for me. I originally was going to audit the class but I ended up being so engaged that I signed up to verify. I am not overstating it when I say that this course changed my outlook on what I thought I could understand and achieve as someone coming to science learning later in my life. I hope others do too.

tl;dr: I highly recommend this course. :)

It is an amazing course if you need to learn the fundamentals in order to take more advanced courses or if you just want to have a good grasp of biology to understand some exciting current developments that are going on. That doesn't mean it's easy, if you have not taken a course like this you will most definitely have to put in the work, and you should have relatively good high school chemistry and biology foundations, and I would also recommend to brush up on math and basic probability to make the most of the Genetics unit.

The course, at least when I took it, it was self paced, which was very fitting for my schedule. I took the audit course to brush up on some things I had forgotten since I went to university, and it went completely beyond my expectations. The interactive exercises and the graphics used are better than what I've seen in many academic contexts or online videos. Special mention to Prof. Lander, that takes all these elements and uses them to teach classes that, in my opinion as a scientist and someone who loves to teach, were nothing short of amazing. I was already familiar with most of the topics and yet the approach of Prof. Lander usually made them seem almost brand new, highlighting them as elements of a bigger story still unfolding. Really, what an amazing teacher.

It is my first experience with a fully online course, so I don't really have a point of comparison for the price for the verified track that earns you a certificate, and I don't know how they test you for said certificate (I only took the audit course). But as far as the learning experience goes, I found it an amazing course and I would recommend to anyone interested at least to give the audit course a try.

One of the best classes in Biology that I have taken since high school! This is the first Biology class I took on a MOOC on the edX platform from MIT. I took this first in 2013 when it first came out on edX. Never thought, I would find Biology so interesting and engaging.

Since I took this class in the instructor paced mode, I continued this class once again in the self-paced mode, as, I wanted to work on the real-life examples that were available to only registered students.

This class introduced me to molecular biology and genetics, taught by Prof. Eric Lander. A great teacher and a researcher in the field of genetics. Well, this became an anchor class for me to spark my interest in Biology, which was the least favorite subject for me in high school! Well, a lot has changed since then in this field. Since then on various MOOCs, I have taken several classes in Biology and related fields, where the foundational knowledge acquired in this class is extremely useful.

I would recommend this class to anyone interested in getting a good foundation in current day Biology and even if you want to apply to MIT for undergraduate studies, this may help --as 7.00x is one of the GIR (general Institue requirement) classes in Biology! Well, still take it to learn, and not just for college admission. It is a hard class, still, you will learn a lot!

I found this course to be difficult but know it was because my level of biology and chemistry study ended in grade 10 over 20 years ago. I took the course with the idea that, at the very least, I would learn some information that could help me be successful in an in-person university environment. I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging Prof. Lander was and how quickly I became captivated with the subject matter. The "test yourself" questions were fairly straightforward and I skipped along the course excitedly.

When I got to the first problem set I was alarmed at how much more thinking I needed to do beyond information regurgitation and it took me several hours to complete the questions. However, the notes I took during lectures, along with the deep dives were enough to answer the questions as long as I was willing to take the time to think, draw things out, and experiment. By the last problem set I was so excited upon completion as it was clear to me that things were actually making sense in my brain! While I'm not at complete understanding, I recognize the massive growth I have achieved and I am very proud of myself.

In regards to my engagement with the class, I am sad that it is over as I looked forward to my free time in my day-to-day where I could open my laptop and sit down with Prof. Lander and the class and learn something new about the world. My only wish was that it was continually updated so that he could be sharing stories of events and discoveries that are happening now as opposed to nearly a decade ago.

As for the content of the course, I found it to be incredibly well planned and well laid out. Prof. Lander made difficult concepts exciting and interesting. He takes a regular intro to Biology course and throws it out the window and instead brings you real life.

Thank you, MIT and Prof. Lander, for this incredible course and the confidence and intrigue it has sparked within me.

Unfortunately, this course designed not to teach, but only to earn money.
There is no support or feedback from people behind of the course. Nobody cares if you will get a question or will find an error.
Many problems designed ungainly, lubberly, have mistakes, some problems are too tedious, take to much time not actually teaching something, but ask to copy paste hundreds of times or simply don't work at all because of technical problems.

The exam will be available only for a week. If you make decision to pay them and will try to pass the exam, you should bear in mind that exam will take 12 hours, not 6 hours as claimed, so you should take couple days off to pass it. Also, you should understand that this course is below the minimum required to pass the exam. This course will not prepare you for the exam at all. In my case, despite I took another similar course in parallel and read a book, I got only 82% while 80% is minimum.

To get the certificate you have to pay 150$ 3 weeks before the exam will be available. That's made to take off student's right to ask money back. Edx give only 2 weeks for refund.

It was a good course if priority were not earning money but the care of a student. Not the case. After you complete the course, you will not get even chance to leave a review. This is another red flag something really wrong with the course.

Shame on MIT!

This was my first time using Edx and trying to learn online, and before taking this course I had no interest whatsoever in biology. At that time, I thought of biology as a boring and exhausting subject where you need to remember a hell lot of concepts and words, which doesn't have anything to do with my own life. But this course changed my attitude towards biology. I never realized that biology can be so interesting. Thanks to professor Lander, not only did I learn the basics of modern biology, I also learned the history behind biology and how the biotech industry started, the important discoveries and efforts that made up what we know today, as well as the path that biology and its applications is taking on in the near future. The course is full of pure and rich knowledge, and professor Lander is able to teach them in a way that's captivating and clear to the students. There are plenty of difficult concepts, but if you put in the effort, you will understand most of them.

Overall, the course is excellent for those just starting with biology, because it provides a systematic view of the most relevant fields in biology today, and provides you with the tools to explored more advanced areas of biology. I would highly recommend this course to anyone!

This course combines exciting, cutting-edge content with such a well-crafted format that even over the net it feels like a group-learning exercise. Professor Lander is probably the best of the numerous graduate and post-graduate lecturers I've experienced over the years. Seeing biology at the molecular-process level, and in particular the near-universal and therefore 'ancient' genetic code (which was new to me), makes it ever more challenging to accept that macro-evolution could have achieved what it's generally credited with. I loved doing this course - thank you so much to Eric Lander/MIT for providing it!

(Having now read a few of the other reviews, some seem to think that the test questions should contain nothing beyond the lecture content. That's never been my experience with other uni courses, and this one was no exception - I couldn't have done the course without buying and referring to the excellent recommended course book "Molecular biology of the cell" published by Norton (fyi the course material includes links to a free on-line version of the book text))

Unlike most people who took this course, I am only about to attend college in a field relating to biology. So with that in mind, as well as the fact that I have no confidence in my skills in this subject, I decided to take Professor Lander's course in order to prepare for what's to come. And I have absolutely loved it. I've never seen a teacher teach a class as passionately and enthusiastically as Professor Lander. All those concepts I've once been so scared about because of my lack of knowledge have been explained to me so simply. I was able to quickly grasp the topics and throughout the course, gave me more confidence in trying to understand such a diverse subject. And all because the professor and the whole edX team made it possible for this course to be accessible to anyone around the globe.

This is my very first MOOC. And I'm very happy it is. Thank you so much for this opportunity you gave us, Professor Lander, the edX team, and the MIT students who attended this course.

The lectures are really great, and Eric Lander is knowledgeable and engaging, but there is a disconnect between what it taught and what is tested on. It seems like what is taught is very generalized, but the problem sets and exams are exceedingly detailed and nitty gritty, and much of the time it feels as if youre being tested more on nomenclature than concepts.

I would not recommend this to anyone who doesnt already have a pretty large base of scientific knowledge (both chemistry and biology). Although its classified as a beginner course, requiring no prerequisites, in order to be successful, you need to already know your stuff.

All that said, Lander's commentary on the discovery of things now held to be scientific facts is to die for. Its very informative, and he teaches a useful critical mindset. I dont regret taking the course, even though its seriously stressing me out.

This is the first course I have audited. I took it without certification test, largely out of curiosity to educate myself to better understand CRISPR technology. I am a recently retired physician, MD 1973. I learned Kreb's Cycle as a black box series of catalyzed reactions. What a difference forty years has made.

This has been a great experience for me. I found the lecture format wonderful. Being able to pause and review (at various video speeds) is better than sitting in a class. Text accompanying video is a useful tool. The home assignments (I did them all, as "open book" tests...I don't feel the need to memorize amino acid structure) definitely helped ingrain conceptual understanding.

This experience was very similar to my memory of undergraduate instruction in large lecture halls. Dr. Lander's enthusiasm reminded me of the best of my lecturers in college and medical school. My intent is to look for more intellectual challenge from EdX. Thank you MIT, Eric Lander, EdX.

I graduated with a B.S. in Biological Sciences in 1973 and decided to refresh myself with this class in order to pursue molecular biology and bioinformatics after a long career in IT. I have been blown away with the design and delivery of the course. Innovative, like Feyman's Lectures on Physics (arguably a revolution in how introductory physics was taught). Brilliant and just complex enough to get to know the material at sufficient depth, like Leonard Susskind's Theoretical Minimum (grand sweep of physics from classical mechanics to string theory). Dr. Lander and staff, this is the most inspirational class I have ever taken which includes what I remember of my undergraduate days (from the late Pleistocene) and the dozens of online classes I have taken in the last few years. I'm thinking hard about what could be improvements and promise to write a note on that when I have enough that is worth considering. Thank you.

I found 7.00x to be a great learning experience. The reasons I took it were to learn more about cancer biology and treatments as I am in recovery from leukaemia, and to understand more about viruses due to the pandemic. I also wanted to get a deeper understanding of cell biology and the biochemical reactions and interactions in our cells. I found the course challenging, even though I'm a scientist for many years, but also accessible so it's a good level for anyone interested in the area I think. I also followed all the youtube videos on the pandemic and found these really excellent, well done to all involved! Thank you sincerely to Eric Lander, I found you to be a great teacher and an inspiring person from whom to learn. Thanks also to all the contributors and organisers at MIT and edX, this is a brilliant resource and I'm really grateful for the opportunity. Finally, well done to every student who has completed this course!!

If you have questions about the origin of life you will definitely find the answers. More importantly you will find out how we came to know these facts. Prof.Lander is a Musician orchestrating a piece of high quality music in the class. I wish to meet him someday.

My main motive doing this course is to understand about the DNA, its properties, how it is replicated and translated to proteins. The course covered that with many other cools stuff so it definitely exceeded my expectations.

The course is not easy and the exam was tedious. So prepare your self before taking the exam and take time between both exams. I left the two exams to the last two days and was not a good idea at all. I failed the course but zero regret. The learning I had was amazing.

My first MOOC. It was superb! What a great thing to do to stimulate the brain while laying low because of COVID! As a retired pediatrician with a MSC in biochem pharmacology (late 70's), this was so good, I would like to be young and starting my career again! Dr Lander is an excellent teacher (rare these days). I thought the organization and flow was really great and I have no suggestions on delivery, order/flow or content. The questions & problems were challenging but well within the course content (though prob set on Genomics a bit long/tedious/repetitive - could just put in more answers yet maintain integrity of problem). I started late and completed in 8 wks, few hours most days . Did not do final as started so late (mid Oct for Nov 3 exam). My only suggestion is: time for an update - now 7 yrs old! Thank you for this great course. Dr Lander, it is so very commendable that you would teach a basic undergrad course with all the impressive things you have done and continue to do. I would have loved to have done my MSc work in such a brilliant and exciting environment.

Very proud to be a student for one of the professors who worked in the great "Human Genome Project". All my thanks and respect to Dr. Eric Lander who showed how biology is interesting and important.

The first picture a person could imagen when he hear about biology is that this science is old, boring and full of memorizing. However, this course had completely come over this thoughts and showed how the importance of biology could exceed the medicine itself,, it is the secret of life.

Such this course learned us not to have the pure information as is it, instead, we were now able to think about how to use all this accumulated knowledge in order to come up with solutions to chronic and life threating diseases, like cancer.