Unit information: Research Training in 2017/18

Unit name	Research Training
Unit code	BIOC30002
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Professor. Kelly Moule
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	Molecular Cell Biology BIOC20001, Macromolecular Structure, Dynamics and Function BIOC20002, Recombinant DNA Technology MOLG22100 and Gene Expression and Rearrangement MOLG22200
Co-requisites	Advanced Cell Biology BIOC30601 The Dynamic Proteome BIOC30604 Cellular Information BIOC30602 Advanced Options in Biochemistry BIOC30600
School/department	School of Biochemistry
Faculty	Faculty of Life Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

This unit provides Research Training to prepare students for the Extended Research Project in the final year of the MSci programme. Students will work in groups to solve practical problems such as the expression, purification and characterisation of a particular protein. Work will be supervised by a member of staff and supported by a technical manual.

Students will:

• Develop independent, team working and problem solving skills
• Gain advanced practical and technical skills in preparation for their independent research project in Year 4
• Develop project planning and execution skills
• Gain important data analysis and interpretation skills
• Gain skills in recording and presenting scientific data in a variety of different formats

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

• Undertake advanced practical work in a supervised environment to solve research problems
• Maintain accurate and detailed records of their experimental work and results
• Work both independently and as part of a team
• Collect, analyse and interpret data
• Write up their experimental findings as a research report
• Undertake self-directed background reading of the primary scientific literature to inform their laboratory write-up
• Present their findings in the form of a scientific poster

Teaching Information

Supervised practical sessions

Assessment Information

For learning (formative)

Staff supervisor will provide formative feedback on their work.

Of learning (summative)

Completed lab book (20%): students will submit their completed lab book at the end of the unit for

assessment

Advanced laboratory write-up (70%) Students will write up their laboratory work individually in the form of a brief research paper. The maximum word count is 5,500. The project is marked independently by the lab supervisor and a second marker. The mark awarded by the supervisor counts 60% towards the overall project mark and includes an assessment of their input into group work. The mark awarded by the second marker counts 40% towards the overall project mark. Explicit marking schemes are used by markers for both projects.

Poster presentation (10%) Teams will present their findings or future directions of their work as a scientific poster communication

Reading and References

Reviews and articles from the primary scientific Literature