The joint course by St. Petersburg Polytech and Kazakh National University ranks among top 100 at Coursera

Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) together with Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) have made the first unique online course “Methods of molecular biology” for the international platform Coursera. The course is in English and ranks among the platform’s 100 best courses that started in 2021.

Molecular biology is one of the most fascinating sciences, where each day brings new discoveries. Development of this branch contributes inestimably to the progress in medicine, cutting-edge technology, and even agriculture.

The course covers points like the interaction between the regulatory and functional elements of biomolecular processes, specifics of the methods related to the research, regulation and application of proteins and nucleic acids, and many other issues.

“Coursera is actively developing cooperation with universities. St. Petersburg Polytech has solid experience in producing courses for this international platform, and we eagerly accepted the invitation to cooperate with Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. We are delighted to see that our course is appreciated by students and specialists in chemistry, ecology, mathematics, physics, and medicine from different countries and parts of the world. The course explains various aspects of molecular biology in a lively and comprehensible language” – says Svetlana Kalmykova, director of SPbPU’s Center of open education.

Aizhan Zhusupova, a representative of KazNU’s department of molecular biology and genetics at the faculty of biology and biotechnology, believes that one of the program’s peculiarities is that this is the first English-language course from the very beginning designed with subtitles in the Kazakh language. This reflects its global meaning with a dash of national flair.