Unit information: Concepts and Skills (pharmacology) in 2016/17

Unit name	Concepts and Skills (pharmacology)
Unit code	PHPH30005
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Dr. Usowicz
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	PHPH20011 Principles of Pharmacology 2A PHPH20012 Principles of Pharmacology 2B
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience
Faculty	Faculty of Life Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

This unit aims to provide training in core skills and techniques that are vital to effectively read, interpret and criticise the scientific literature, as well as to analyse and communicate scientific findings. It includes: statistics, data quantitation, critical reading of research literature and ethics of animal and human experimentation.

In addition, there are lectures, practicals and demonstrations to provide training in practical techniques used in pharmacological research. This includes advanced technical workshops taking place in research labs, where students gain hands-on experience of the latest techniques.

Intended Learning Outcomes

• An understanding of and the ability to apply common statistical and analytical methods relevant to biomedical science
• The ability to demonstrate a critical approach to reading scientific publications
• The ability to design scientific experiments
• The ability to analyse and interpret data

Teaching Information

Lectures, practicals, technical workshops and tutorials

Assessment Information

The unit will be assessed through:

• 1.5 hour summative examination in January (50%), consisting of multiple choice questions based both on the students statistical understanding and prior statistical analysis of a range of datasets. This summative examination assesses statistical understanding and is preceded by a formative examination in November, using the same format.
• Continuous assessment (50%) consisting of data analysis, data/paper interpretation and eBiolabs-based exercises assessing the integrative pharmacology component of the unit. These assessments will be supported by formative assessments using the same format.

Reading and References

Intuitive Biostatistics (Harvey Motulsky, Oxford University Press: ISBN:978-0-19-973006-3)

Understanding the New Statistics: Effect Sizes, Confidence Intervals and Meta-analysis (Geoff Cumming, Routledge, New York; ISBN:978-0-415-87968-2)

Reviews and primary articles from the current scientific literature.