Cell Signaling

By Prof. Ram Kumar Mishra | IISER Bhopal

Learners enrolled: 395 | Exam registration: 6

ABOUT THE COURSE:

The course will emphasize on the fact that all living beings respond to environmental as well as cues initiated from other living organisms. Our growth (post-partum and embryonic more so) is well connected to responses we mount to the signaling. In this Course I will primarily focus on how living beings engage in signaling to stay healthy and grow normally. The focus will largely be on the receptors prevalent in the animal kingdom primarily in Mammals, but I will also introduce aspects of microbial and plant signaling events.

PREREQUISITES: A course in Cell Biology and Molecular Biology

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Anti-cancer and physiology related drug developing industry, Biosimilars

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	8 weeks
Category :	Biological Sciences & Bioengineering Biosciences
Credit Points :	2
Level :	Postgraduate
Start Date :	18 Aug 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	18 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	29 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	25 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Cell signaling, components and types of signaling

Week 2: Types of ligand, regulation of ligand, receptor binding proteins, G-proteins and signaling

Week 3: Kinases, Types of receptors, Mechanoreceptors, Structure and Function, Receptor activation, modes of intracellular signaling

Week 4: Signaling in Microbial world, Two-component signaling,

Week 5: Receptors Serine-threonine kinase, diversity in receptor activation

Week 6: Discovery of Tyrosine kinases, Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling ,diversity in RTKs

Week 7: Growth factor signaling, cancer and diseases due to RTK malfunction,

Week 8: G-protein coupled receptor (GPCRs), G-proteins type, regulation of GPCR signaling

Books and references

Molecular Biology of Cell by Bruce Alberts Published research and review articles

Instructor bio

Prof. Ram Kumar Mishra

IISER Bhopal

Ram Kumar Mishra is the instructor for this course. He is serving as an Associate Professor in the department of Biological Sciences at IISER Bhopal. After finishing his higher studies from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Chemistry and Biotechnology, he obtained his PhD degree in Molecular Biology from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Mumbai. Later he moved to NICHD, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda for his postdoctoral training in Cell biology. His research at IISER Bhopal focuses on understanding protein modification in cell growth and protein functions in early developmental events in Drosophila. He experience in Cell and Molecular Biology also has a component of teaching at undergraduate/graduate level courses like Cell Biology, Animal Physiology and Cell Signaling at IISER Bhopal.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: October 25, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 6 assignments out of the total 8 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IISER Bhopal .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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