The purpose of the course is to give students an introduction to the most up-to date concepts, techniques and applications in molecular biology, and to provide a description of the historical milestones in this field. In the four main parts in this course the emphasis is on human molecular biology. In the first part the fundamentals of molecular genetics and the control of gene expression will be discussed. In the second part, participants will be exposed to the essentials of genetic engineering, including principles, methods and selected topics discussing research and applications which require genetic engineering. In a brief third part we will present basic concepts in molecular cellular biology. In the last part, we will evaluate a new era in molecular biology which deals with genome research. We will have a glimpse into genomic biology and in particular into genomic approaches towards understanding the "transcriptome", the "proteome", the "interactome" and the field of the epigenome. Finally, in this last part, as well as throughout the entire course, we will evaluate the contribution of gene cloning and the process of manipulation of gene expression towards determining the functions of individual genes. Such research may lead to inspection as to whether selected genes may have biotechnological benefits. Thus, selected genes may be used to produce certain medicines, or in other cases the expression of a selected genes can be manipulated in order to achieve specific medical benefits.