Elective Courses

This is a student-directed, interdisciplinary course, based on weekly seminars during which we discuss a range of topics reflecting global challenges. The course aims to engage students in thinking about the challenges that confront our society and question the role of academic research and scholarship in meeting these challenges. Students will contribute to the content of the course and help set the agenda for the topics to be covered – it is your changing world.

Students will be expected to participate in discussion of key issues across discipline boundaries, and develop an understanding of the relevance and impact of their own subject in the broader context. Students will develop and test a range of academic skills on the course by researching different topics, participating in weekly seminars, submitting short written pieces of work and working in small groups to produce a collaborative project (a short-film) on a chosen topic.

This course may appeal to students who already have a strong foundation in all of the core subjects covered in first year and who consequently wish to engage with academic research in a broader interdisciplinary way.

The aims of this course are to demonstrate, through lectures and facilitated group discussions, the scientific basis of modern medicine; and the role of basic biological sciences in advancing medical knowledge. The course is suitable for first-year Biology students, as well as students with an interest in human biology and medicine from other Schools and Colleges.

Course Description

This course aims to provide an introduction to the scientific basis of modern medicine and the role of biological sciences in the understanding and treatment of disease. This will be delivered through a series of lectures, facilitated group discussions, a practical class and assessed written and oral reports. This course will provide an insight into various disciplines which may be studied in BSc Honours Biomedical Sciences degree programmes, i.e. give a taster of more advanced material covered in honours courses. It will provide a basic understanding of practical material relevant to biological sciences and enable you to develop personal skills in interpreting basic scientific research and communicating scientific ideas and information in a clear, accurate and well organised manner. Specifically this course will provide:

• Knowledge of the biological basis of a number of global health issues and diseases of current interest.
• The ability to develop skills in assimilating information related to particular research topics and to prepare balanced, concise written accounts based on understanding and critical evaluation of evidence obtained from reading scientific publications and from participation in group discussions.
• Development of oral presentation skills within a team setting.
• Development of practical skills in measuring biological variables in a laboratory, recording, collating and analysing the data statistically and graphically, and preparing concise summaries of the results. Reviewing, interpreting, integrating and discussing the findings in relation to published evidence, and presenting a referenced report as a project dissertation.

This course will support the Biomedical Sciences programme Year 2 theme 'Foundational understanding of Biomedical Sciences' and contribute to preparing students effectively for Year 3 Junior Honours. This course will support the School's objectives of enhancing the student experience and student support. Students taking this course will develop an understanding of core concepts in the disciplines of Physiology, Pharmacology, Reproductive Biology, Neuroscience, Infectious Diseases and Medical Biology as well as developing core competencies in scientific learning and disciplinary practice. Connections between disciplines (integrative approaches) will be emphasised and the experimental basis of scientific knowledge (‘how do we know what we know') will be introduced. This course will also - Place clear emphasis on formative assessment. - Implement timely and useful feedback opportunities. - Provide students with information and understanding required to make an informed choice of honours specialisation. - Incorporate group meetings to improve student support and encourage the development of a Biomedical Sciences learning community.

Course Description

The course will be structured as follows: - Lectures: Material to be covered will include scientific principles for each BMS discipline and will outline functions of major physiological systems, including the nervous system, reproductive system, renal, cardiovascular and respiratory systems. In semester 2, lectures will present a series of integrated topics which can be viewed in different ways in different disciplines (e.g. the neuromuscular junction from Neuroscience, Physiological & Pharmacological perspectives; reproduction from Physiological and Endocrinological perspectives and so on). - Practical classes and statistics workshop: Stand-alone units closely integrated with the lecture materials and designed to enhance students' understanding of the experimental basis of scientific knowledge and introduce them to data analysis and interpretation. - Tutorials: Interactive sessions aimed to support the development of generic academic skills such as researching a topic, writing an essay, using feedback efficiently and critical thinking. Students will also be introduced to reading contemporary scientific literature. - Essay feedback sessions: Small group sessions with the marker of the student's submitted essay. Opportunities for students to understand and discuss the marker's expectations and to appraise their work in a small group context. - Review quizzes: Automated online weekly quizzes. Students will be encouraged to answer a short series of questions (on Learn). By receiving automated feedback on their answers, students will have timely opportunities to check their understanding of the lecture materials. - 'Choosing your Honours programme' sessions during Flexible Learning Week: Opportunity for students to learn about and discuss Honours programmes with Honours programmes representatives and current Honours students.

The overall aim is to show how cells work together to form functional tissues and organs and how this is important to normal functioning of organisms.

Course aims:

• Students will develop an understanding of core concepts in cell biology relevant to the understanding of multicellular organisms.
• Students will be strongly encouraged to form an integrated view of the topics presented (rather than seeing lecture blocks as standalone topics)
• The experimental basis of scientific knowledge will be emphasised (“How do we know what we know”)
• To support the School’s objective of enhancing the student experience and student support, the course will place clear emphasis on formative assessment
• Implement timely and useful feedback opportunities

This course will provide a foundation in the biology of micro-organisms, how micro-organisms infect and interact with their hosts, an overview of the immune system and how it fights infection, and how disease may develop if the host fails to effectively deal with infection.

Course Description

The broad intentions and outcomes of the course are as follows:

• To describe the diversity, and fundamental structural and physiological characteristics of microorganisms, with an emphasis on microorganisms that infect humans. To give an overview of the strategies and processes by which microorganisms infect and survive within their host.
• To describe how the mammalian immune system detects and kills infecting microorganisms.
• To overview the processes by which infection can result in disease and immune pathology, and the consequences of failing to control infection
• To describe how the immune system can be harnessed for the therapeutic treatment of infections or diseases (E.g. vaccines) and how components of the immune system are used for research and diagnostics. The course will start by giving an overview of infection, and how the immune system is organised (Section 1: Infection and immune System overview). Following this it will detail the characteristics and diversity of micro-organisms, including viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites (Section 2: Diversity and characteristics of microorganisms), and then describe how the immune system exploits these characteristics to identify, respond to, and develop memory towards diverse types of infectious micro-organisms (Section 3: How does the immune system detect infection?). It will then demonstrate how the biology of microorganisms allows them to infect, survive and expand within their host, and the consequences of failing to control infection (Section 4: Microorganism physiology and infection). The course will then discuss the cells of the immune system, and the mechanisms by which they control and kill infectious microbes (Section 5: How does the immune system control infection?). Finally, the course will cover how we are able to harness and use microbes and the immune system for our own goals (Section 6: Harnessing microbes and the immune system). Including environmental and industrial uses of microbes, and how infections and diseases can be controlled through vaccination and immune therapies. The lecture content will be reinforced through a combination of lecture review questions, practical sessions, and tutorials. The tutorials are focussed on developing the skills required to read scientific literature. **Year 2 course - can only be taken by students in their second year of study**